Why is it important to support and extend children and young people’s speech, language and communication development? Speech, language and communication skills are vital building blocks for other areas of their development Speech, language and communication are central to children and young people’s ongoing development into adulthood The impacts for children and young people who have difficulties with speech, language and communication are many and varied Supporting notes: There are three particularly important considerations as why adults need to support and extend SLC skills Speech, language and communication skills underpin many of the areas of development – they come first and need to be in place to enable children to build upon them. If their speech, language and communication skills are not supported, or are not developing well, the foundations for the other areas of development, such as literacy, behaviour, social and emotional development can be shaky. This can also affect a child or young person’s confidence and self-esteem and impact on their attainment, enjoyment and achievement. Within any setting, so much of what happens has speech, language and communication centrally, so these skills are essential on an ongoing basis. Learners may find it useful to think about real-life scenarios to think about how important communication is. For example: What role does communication play when we meet people for the first time, or make friends? What role do language and communication have in their learning on this unit? If they have a problem to work out, how much do they ‘talk it through’ – either in their heads or with someone else? The impacts for children who have difficulties with communication can include: social, emotional development, confidence, self-esteem, difficulties learning and attaining academically, behaviour etc. Difficulties with SLC really do impact on all areas of children and young peoples’ lives and can affect their opportunities and life chances into and throughout adulthood It’s also important to highlight that children develop their skills through responsive interactions with adults and others, not passively in a vacuum, so adults’ roles are essential

Speech, language & communication Speech, language and communication skills continue to be central to development and learning Speech, language & communication Play Social Emotional Thinking Problem-solving Behaviour Learning Reading & writing Supporting notes: Learners could consider the role of speech, language and communication for these areas, as relevant to their setting

Activity 2d: What’s typical for a 2 year old? Uses 50 or more single words Points to get your attention Babbles sounds like ba-ba-ba Asks lots of questions Understands between 200 and 500 words Understands questions like ‘where’s teddy?’ Plays with other children Talks about something that happened in the past Makes short sentences of 2-3 words Supporting notes Learners could also be asked to decide if the statements which they feel are not typical, are more likely to be skills for an older or younger child/young person. The ages and stages posters can help with this.

Activity 2d: What’s typical for a 2 year old? Answers Uses 50 or more single words Asks lots of questions Understands between 200 and 500 words Understands questions like ‘where’s teddy?’ Makes short sentences of 2-3 words  

The importance of speech, language and communciation development

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Step 2. Universally speaking Whole class Information on what is typical across the age groups How to check out these skills in the classroom What to do to support communication in the classroom

Speech, language and communication How do children and young people develop their speech, language and communication skills? Speech, language and communication Develop right from birth Develop through interacting with others Follow expected patterns Continue developing through adolescence Supporting notes There are several different academic theories about how children develop language (eg Learning theory – eg Skinner; Nativist eg Chomsky; Interactionist eg Vygotsky) The information here takes an interactionist view – we are predisposed to learn language and this is developed through our social interactions with others. These skills develop right from birth – attachment is very important for speech, language and communication development and early interaction skills are the foundation for future development They develop through interacting with other people – one person responding to what another one does or says They follow expected patterns of development - skills develop in a particular order at particular times. This is true whatever the language a child is learning – each language has a typical sequence of development Skills develop throughout a child’s early years, childhood and through adolescence. Understanding generally precedes use – so a baby will understand the word ‘milk’ before he or she can say it; children and young people, especially in the earlier stages of language development may understand more than they are able to yet say.

Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) Most children follow the expected pattern of development for their speech, language and communication at the expected times. Some, however, do not. These are described as having Speech, Language and Communication Needs - SLCN Supporting notes: There is more information and examples in two Communication Trust publications, ‘Misunderstood’’ and ‘Don’t get me wrong’ available to download at www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk

Recognising children and young people who may have SLCN Recognising children and young people is based on Having a good understanding of the ages and stages of speech, language and communication development Observing and recording what a child can do, as well as the things they may find difficult Considering speech, language and communication if a child or young person is having difficulties in ANOTHER area of their development or life Getting the views of the child, young person and their parents Using tools and resources to help you Sharing any concerns with others Supporting notes: Being familiar with language development is the key to spotting children and young people who are struggling. There are many resources available which set out these ages and stages and which people can refer to during their work It’s also really important to try and gain a picture of the child/young person’s skills in different contexts and with different people – you may see different things. Obviously, seeing that a child or young person is not where you’d expect in their slc development is a really strong indicator – however, if a child is struggling with learning, literacy, behaviour, social relationships etc, it’s also really important to take a step back and also think about their slc skills, as these may in fact be a ‘cause’ or key factor in these other areas. As well as specific tools and resources to help recognise children, such as checklists, including slc within the setting’s existing monitoring processes is really useful – again, placing slc within every day practice and processes

Children and young learning more than one language Children and young people do not have SLCN simply because they are learning more than one language. Additional language learning is not an indicator for SLCN, nor are limited English skills, where the home language is developing as expected However, some children who are learning more than one language will have SLCN. This is because developing speech, language and communication skills is difficult for them whatever the language and they would have difficulties whether they were learning 2 languages or one It is really important to identify these children's needs, but it can be quite difficult Supporting notes: There is more detailed information about this in unit 302 There is evidence that mother tongue development does not hinder, but indeed can support second language acquisition (Cummins, J 2000) Research, again by Cummins suggests that children and young people who start learning a second language after they start school may acquire a good level of fluency in everyday conversation within two years. However it may be considerably longer (around 5 years) before they fully develop the more sophisticated and ‘technical’ language associated with cognitive and academic proficiency. Another important consideration is the pattern of migration a child or young person may have had, which may also impact on their language development – for example, if a child changed regions in their home country, they may then have learnt a different dialect; they may then have moved to a different country and started to learn a new language before ultimately moving to the UK – Frequent moves and changes in dialect and language may also have an impact on the development of their home language. So, good information on a child or young person’s skills in both or all languages is essential to help identify any SLCN

Resources and tools SLCF Talking Point