Juliet Leonard, resident specialist speech and language therapist, discusses how we can support children to take what they have learned in interventions, and ‘make it stick’.

So, you have completed a successful term of language groups with identified pupils, and they have all made great progress. But you’ve noticed they are only really using these new words, concepts, ideas or sounds within the intervention. This is a promising start… but what’s next?

Generalisation of skills back into the classroom, and beyond, is the key to successful intervention and, more importantly, to making a difference to that child. And yet this is sometimes the hardest part of the intervention cycle to complete, and an area on which we focus the least. It is less timetabled, more spontaneous and by its very nature must be functional and intuitive.

We all know that a new pattern, be it a change in diet, exercise, thinking or new learning, requires time and patience to embed and generalise. This is just the same with speech and language skills acquired during intervention sessions. We cannot expect these skills to just naturally float over into practice, although we perhaps hope they might…

Consolidation of skills is vital for both speech and language. A child who has acquired a sound, either on its own or maybe in words, within an intervention needs to learn to use that sound across all words—in sentences and in conversations to the point of unconscious competence—to change their code and embed this into their everyday life.

Similarly, new vocabulary, concepts and thinking patterns need the same attention. Children also need to learn how to embed language pragmatically; to think about how the meaning and the context changes, and to use that new learning in many different forms

5 TOP TIPS

…to support pupils to make their new learning “stick”

1) Explain it to someone else

The power of teaching or explaining new learning to someone else is enormous. As we explain, we grow in confidence, as we realise that we know something new. Children love to take on this role in a safe space, where they become the expert. Conversely, they might realise their knowledge gaps. This is ok too! This awareness is a golden opportunity for adults to help children to recognise and fill in the gaps.

2) Repeat, repeat, repeat

A new concept takes time to embed and the more we use it within different contexts, the more it is likely to “stick”. Repeating also gives children the opportunity to use new ideas in a wider range of situations, aiding not only retention but also retrieval of words and ideas for next time.

3) Use a routine upon which to map the new skill

Sometimes, it is the regular routine or habit of generalisation which is the hardest thing to fit into a child’s day. This is where already established routines can be of enormous benefit. Practising a new language skill, or a new speech sound in the car on the way to school, during a particular lesson, whilst in the queue for assembly or in the playground can be a great way of starting to use pockets of the day to think about generalisation. As the new skill starts to embed, these pockets can increase.

4) Make a contract

This is a great way of instilling a sense of autonomy and ownership with a child who has learned new language or acquired new sounds to their system in interventions. Our Secondary Language Link users will be familiar with the “Communication Contract”, which the student holds and completes after a block of intervention, explaining what they have learned and how teachers and those around them can help them to embed their knowledge. Teaching staff can then “sign up” to supporting that child with the areas they have identified, thus promoting awareness, communication and ownership.

5 ) Talk it out explicitly

Externalising thoughts into words is a powerful generalisation tool. There are sizeable benefits to children who explain their thinking out loud. This not only helps the child to reach conclusions, whilst practising language structures, but it helps those around them to understand how they reach viewpoints and what processes of deduction they are using to reach them. These skills are vital for embedding new words and ideas into lots of different contexts, reading situations and developing positive interactions.

The pinnacle of generalisation is when a child starts to use their new learning, new words and new sounds within a natural conversation without even thinking about it. Striving for unconscious competence is a journey which should be given the same level of importance as the intervention itself