The Words Together series
We asked SaLT and consultant Kate Freeman to tell us more about her new book series.
“As a speech and language therapist, I know the importance of good communication skills and their impact on learning, friendships and successful lives. I also understand how these skills develop and the key stage which involves children moving from being able to say individual words to connecting two words together. Some children do this very easily and some children find it very difficult, but all children benefit from having a model to follow.
I couldn’t find any books that supported this stage of development. I could only find picture books with individual words and story books with longer sentences, but nothing in between. It was then that I decided to write some!”
There is a set of four books for children at this very early stage of language development: Hello!; Sleep Time; Gone to the Park; Down the Slide. Helping Children Find their Voices is the guidebook for practitioners and parents.
www.routledge.com/Words-Together/book-series/WTOG
For your Diary
February
- Send us your news and tips for our next School Spotlight feature
- Continue to work through recommended Speech and Language Link interventions with pupils identified using the Speech and Language Link online assessments
- Get your ticket for The Link Live 2023 SLCN conference www.speechandlanguage.info/linklive
March
- Friday 10th March – Join us for The Link Live 2023 online event
April
- Make sure that all intervention results are entered onto the system after completing a language group or a speech programme
Thank you
We would like to thank everyone who took part in our first Link Live session in November to help us to test our platform for The Link Live 2023. Nearly 100 people tuned in to watch a presentation by Jean Gross CBE.
The Link Facebook Group
Join the conversation with 600+ members and receive weekly videos and posts from our speech and language team, take part in fun, short polls and surveys and share good practice.
https://m.facebook.com/groups/thelinksupportingchildrenwithslcn?wtsid=rdr_0tBFt9Yo4MY3RQJGn
School Spotlight: Fun SLCN Games!
Louisa Rowlands is Deputy Head and SENCo at Wimborne Primary in Southsea.
Louise says, “Portsmouth is the UK’s only city island. Furthermore, it is the most densely populated city in the UK. Our school’s motto is Reach for the Stars and we have 556 children on role. I have used Language Link for over fifteen years.”
We love to… Play the Barrier Game.
This game is brilliant because you can use it for ANY lesson!
How to…
Children sit in pairs with a screen between them. Someone reads out instructions and the children draw or move objects on a whiteboard or paper.
Lift the barrier to see if both children have the same picture/sum/model. Guess what? NO PREPARATION IS NEEDED!
We love to…. Use Mind Maps!
When sharing content or information with a group of children, an adult can start to mind map.
How to…
Capture some of the important words or even draw a simple picture to represent part of the content. The children then don’t have a blank piece of paper to start their work, key spellings are ready for them and….NO PREPARATION IS NEEDED!
Simple! Always start to mind map in the right-hand corner and work clockwise – it’s how the brain works apparently!
Out and about
It’s great to head out and about to meet likeminded companies and say hello to our lovely Speech and Language Link school subscribers. This past term has been busy with events…
The team headed to the Tes SEND Show in London where we celebrated the launch of our new Link CPD speech and language training course.
The nasen awards were held in Birmingham where we were shortlisted for the Innovation for Technology award for Infant Language Link.
We held a coffee morning for International DLD Awareness Day. Our speech and language therapists, Juliet, Sophie and Niamh were on hand to provide lots of information to all who joined us for a cupcake.
Nancy and Claire were at The Education People show in Kent where they caught up with lots of our Speech and Language Link subscribing schools.
The Link Live annual online SLCN conference is back on Friday 10th March 2023
We are offering The Link readers a very special ticket price of £45+VAT speechandlanguage.info/linklive (normal price £80+VAT per ticket).
Is your school a Speech and Language Link subscriber? Visit your homepage for your very special discount code.
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