Question: No space, no time, no budget… so how can we support our children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN)?

Answer:

Unfortunately, there is no ‘silver bullet’; no surefire way of making the books balance whilst meeting the needs of your children. There are, however, many low cost (or even no cost) ways that we can all use to support children with SLCN. Here are a few…

Embrace the whole school approach

Fostering an environment where communication is supported and embraced is the key to sharing good practice and providing children with the right conditions for talking, listening, and learning to flourish. This can take many forms, but a few examples are:

• Schools which embrace a ‘pens down talking time’ (e.g., no pens day every Wednesday)
• Schools which utilise resources that promote talking at less structured times of the day (break time, lunch time, in the playground)
• Schools that promote conversations between parents and their children
• Schools where everyone is on board with the communication vision – children, teachers, parents and carers, the office staff and the site team

New subscribers to our Infant and Junior Language Link packages receive a ‘Spread the Word’ pack, which is crammed with posters, activities and resources to do just this.

Invest in your resource bank to save time later There are many times, when working with a child, that I have thought “If only I had a resource for this”. Resources are a vital thread for supporting children with SLCN. If you create something or source something that works, don’t just save it in your own resource bank, share with your colleagues too.

Invest in your resource bank to save time later

There are many times, when working with a child, that I have thought “If only I had a resource for this”. Resources are a vital thread for supporting children with SLCN. If you create something or source something that works, don’t just save it in your own resource bank, share with your colleagues too.

Luckily for our Speech & Language Link subscribers, alongside our fully resourced intervention groups, is an immense bank of ‘Classroom Resources’ which can be used throughout the school. A universal set of resources, used throughout the school, provides a clear message to all: we care about communication, and we’re all on board!

Build independence and multiply the result

‘Onboarding’ the wider school community significantly increases the impact of communication support in your school. As children move into key stage 2, they become more able to be part of the vision themselves. Every child with a communication need can build their own ‘toolkit’ of strategies and supports that will help them throughout their lives.

These might be:

• A blank task management board, that a staff member helps a child to complete, to break down what they have been asked to do
• Cards, wording or strategies to help when they haven’t understood
• A system to help them to remember the most important bits of information when listening to a story or instruction

Use what makes you unique

Town or country, large or small, your school and its community are unique. Perhaps you have fantastic outdoor spaces that can be enriched with communication strategies, or maybe you have access to amazing city buildings nearby. You may have wide range of different languages spoken, or perhaps a larger number of children with SEND. Your school community has the ingredients to be communication champions.

• Use the knowledge of children in a large, diverse school to learn vocabulary related to religion, culture, and diversity
• Large grounds lend themselves well to word walks whilst smaller playgrounds might have walls that can be used for words
• Small village schools often have great community links, to extend communication out into the community

We’d love to hear how your school supports SLCN. Please email the editor with your tips and ideas and we will feature them in the next issue. claire.chambers@speechlink.co.uk

Speech Link and Language Link subscribers: Look no further! Our website is packed with classroom resources and fully resourced interventions.

Free trials are available for schools who don’t currently subscribe – just contact our Speech & Language Link Help Desk for further information.