SEN Hub Webinar Literacy and SLCN Jean Gross CBE The webinar slides can be downloaded and printed from: Do your colleagues need to use the Hub? Your subscription includes 6 log-ins. Make sure you’re using them all. For help call the Hub Line and speak to our friendly team!

Jean Gross CBE, 2014

Explore the links between literacy and language Discuss what you can do to help improve both the language and literacy skills of pupils in your school Aims

Children and young people cannot succeed in literacy unless they have good oral language skills ‘A common feature of the most successful schools in the survey was the attention they gave to developing speaking and listening’(Removing Barriers to Literacy, Ofsted, 2011) ‘Where inspectors saw links between oral language, reading and writing in lessons, standards at GCSE English Language were higher’ (Excellence in English, Ofsted,2011)

Improving literacy in secondary schools, Ofsted 2013 ‘How to teach pupils to write well is first to get them to speak well.’,

The Effects of Weaknesses in Oral Language on Reading Comprehension Growth (Hirsch, 1996) Reading Age Level Chronological Age Low Oral Language in Kindergarten High Oral Language in Kindergarten 5.2 years difference

 Pupils with dyslexia  Those with poor reading comprehension and difficulties in knowing what to write

Communication, language and reading For Year 5 children with poor reading comprehension, an intervention to boost oral language skills made more difference to reading comprehension than an intervention directly teaching reading comprehension skills Developing Reading Comprehension, Clarke et al, Wiley, 2013

Recent evidence Nursery/YR children who took part in an oral language intervention (Nuffield Early Language Intervention) showed significantly better reading comprehension in Y1 than control group (Fricke, 2012)

Practical steps Screen every child who is struggling with literacy to check whether they might or might not have an underlying SLCN that has not been picked up. You can use the freely downloadable ‘Universally Speaking’ materials from The Communication Trust for this check. esources/resources/resources-for- practitioners/universally-speaking.aspx esources/resources/resources-for- practitioners/universally-speaking.aspx

Or have a look at the excellent computer- based screening-plus-intervention programmes from

The simple view of reading

Increasing number of literacy interventions aimed at comprehension ‘Language for thinking’ by Stephen Parsons and Anna Branagan (Speechmark), which provides strategies for teaching the inference skills that help children comprehend both speech and text. Reciprocal reading Inference training

Check on the literacy interventions you use Do they also promote language development? Repeated reads 1-1 conversation with an adult Phonological awareness

Check your three wave approach to language Wave 1 Everyday practice in settings and classrooms that develops communication skills All children Wave 2 Small group additional intervention delivered by well trained and supported teachers, TAs or early years practitioners Just below age-related expectations Wave 3 Individual intervention with a trained and supported teaching assistant Struggling Intensive intervention on an individual basis with a trained language specialist Lowest attaining

Wave 1 Talk Frames Whole-school approach to teaching new vocabulary Time to talk, Jean Gross, Routledge /nasen 2013

Talk frames Year 1 They are the same because………… ……… They are different because………… ………is…………an d…………is……… …… Older … In some ways………and…..are alike. For instance they both……………………….. Another feature they have in common is that……………………… However they also differ in that…. For example……………..whereas……………. The similarities/differences seem more important than the similarities/differences because…….

Vocabulary acquisition

STAR - Select Too easyGoldilocks wordsToo hard Everyday words- ones a child might use to another child Not too easy and not too hard, but just right Likely to be encountered again Average adult has a good knowledge of this word Average adult does not have much knowledge of this word Highly topic- specific

STAR - Select Too easyGoldilocks wordsToo hard Children Toys Petticoat Hoop Gruel Workhouse

The STAR Approach Word Aware, Anna Branagan and Stephen Parsons, Speechmark 2013

Teaching vocabulary Semantic - meaning Phonological Grammatical Motor programme Orthographic (Written form) Orthographic (Written form)

What it sounds like Begins with: Sound: Letter: Rhymes with: Ends with : Sound: Letter: Number of syllables:

What it means How does it feel? Sign/symb ol What do you do with it? What does it look like? Where do you find it? What category is it?

Put it in a sentence

Words that go with it

Wave 2 Do you have evidence-based small group language interventions in place?

Evidence-based primary Wave 2 language interventions Key Stage 1 Narrative, Key Stage 2 Narrative (Black Sheep Press) Languageland (Black Sheep Press) Talk Boost ( Language for Thinking (Speechmark) SPIRALS (Routledge) Talking Partners (

Evidence-based secondary Wave 2 language interventions orks.org.uk) orks.org.uk) ELCISS (Speechmark)

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