1. SLCN and Exclusion
Is there a link?

2. Children facing exclusion
>60% of children facing school exclusion had SLCD (Clegg et al. 2009)
Children excluded from mainstream school (PRUs, DPLS etc)
90% of children and adolescents excluded from m/s school due to behavioural difficulties had language impairments (majority unrecognised) (e.g. Burgess & Bransby, 1990).

3. and Communication Needs
The impact of Speech,
Language
and Communication Needs

4. Impact of Poor Communication Skills
BCRP - commissioned as part of the better communication action plan, the government’s response to the Bercow review of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) 40 recommendations . This had recommended a programme of research ‘to enhance the evidence base and inform delivery of better outcomes for children and young people’.
Task: Give time to read slide
*Good strategy – don’t talk while pupils read, encourage discussion in talk partners or trios
SLCN not resolved at 5 1/2 almost certain to have lifelong literacy difficulties
Vocabulary at 4 is best predictor of attainment: low SES have 25% less vocabulary on entry to foundation
More than half of children starting nursery school in socially disadvantaged areas of England have delayed language - while their general cognitive abilities are in the average range for their age, their language skills are well behind (Locke et al, 2002)
A survey of two hundred young people in an inner city secondary school found that 75% of them had speech, language and communication problems that hampered relationships, behaviour and learning (Sage, 1998)
Vocabulary at age 5 has been found to be the best predictor (from a range of measures at age 5 and 10) of whether children who experienced social deprivation in childhood were able to ‘buck the trend’ and escape poverty in later adult life (Blanden, 2006).
Researchers have found that, after controlling for a range of other factors that might have played a part (mother’s educational level, overcrowding, low birth weight, parent a poor reader, etc), children who had normal non-verbal skills but a poor vocabulary at age 5 were at age 34 one and a half times more likely to be poor readers or have mental health problems and more than twice as likely to be unemployed as children who had normally developing language at age 5 (Law et al., 2010).
It is never too late. Re-conviction rates for offenders who studied the English Speaking Board’s oral communication course fell to 21% (compared to the national average of 44%) - greater than the fall to 28% for offenders who followed a general education course (Moseley et al, 2006). 4

5. Impact on life chances of poor early language
and communication
If I’m late talking and come from a home with not much money, I’m much more likely to be behind my friends in reading and writing at 5 than my friends from better off families
Limited vocabulary at two = at six, likely to be doing much less well academically and socially than other children,
by seven I will be reading much less well than they are.
Family socially disadvantaged = higher risk of not developing good speech, language and communication skills.
I am a Newborn
I am 2
I am 3
Talking about a generation – Gascoigne and Gross (2017)

6. Talking about a generation – Gascoigne and Gross (2017)
If I have poor communication and language skills when I am 5, then by the time I’m 11 I’m six times less likely to do well in English and ten times likely to do well in maths tests than my more chatty friends.
If I struggle to understand language when I’m six, I may start to be rejected by my peers and as a result show behaviour problems when I am ten.
If I have poor communication and language skills at 5, by the end of Key Stage1, when I am seven, I’m likely to enjoy school less.
If I have a poor vocabulary when I’m five, I’m more than twice as likely to be unemployed in my thirties as a similar child with a good vocabulary. I’m one and a half times more likely to have mental health problems.
I am 5
I am 6
Talking about a generation – Gascoigne and Gross (2017)

7. The Vocabulary Gap? Hirsch (1996)
Children from the poorest fifth of homes are on average 19 months behind children from the richest homes in their use of vocabulary by age 5 (Washford & Waldfogel 2012)
Vocab at 5 strongest predictor of qualifications at school leaving age (Feinstein and Duckworth 2006)
At age 6 gap of few months between RA of children (good vs poor oral language skills) By 14 gap has widened to five years
Hirsch (1996)

8. The 30 Million Word Gap? Hirsch (1996)
Children from the poorest fifth of homes are on average 19 months behind children from the richest homes in their use of vocabulary by age 5 (Washford & Waldfogel 2012)
Vocab at 5 strongest predictor of qualifications at school leaving age (Feinstein and Duckworth 2006)
At age 6 gap of few months between RA of children (good vs poor oral language skills) By 14 gap has widened to five years
Hirsch (1996)

9. The bottom 25th percentile
Age 5 years
The top 25th percentile
The bottom 25th percentile
Come into school knowing
7100 root words
3000 root words
Each day learn
3 new root words
1 new root word
For the children in the bottom 25th percentiles to catch up by year 5 they would have to learn nearly 3 times as many words a day.
However there is also clear evidence that a consistent structured daily approach to vocabulary development can make a difference (Block & Mangieri, 2006).

10. Immature communi-cation Weak literacy Low attainment
Poor attention
Immature communi-cation
Weak literacy
Low attainment
Behaviour/ mental health
Trajectory :
Poor attention and listening + vocabulary in F
Poor phrases at KS1
Literacy difficulties at KS2
Behaviour problem at KS3
Adult outcomes poor – employment, mental health, criminality

11. Impact of Speech, Language and Communication Needs
SLCN cuts across the whole of development
Vocabulary difficulties
Poor conversational skills
Poor social understanding
Learning and Attainment
Impacts on sequencing
Difficulties with peer interaction and friendship
Behaviour, inclusion and self esteem
Impacts on concept formation
Risk of rejection and isolation
Independence and long term life prospects
Impacts on mathematical understading
Bullying and social exclusion

12. Do we know who these young people are?
Is SLCN identified and supported throughout a child’s academic journey (pre-school to secondary)?

13. Doing Justice to Speech, Language and Communication Needs
Despite the significant prevalence of young people with SLCN in secondary schools, national SEN data consistently report a fall in the numbers of young people identified with SLCN compared to primary school – evidence of associated behaviours becoming the focus instead.
DfE 2014 SEN Statistics
Doing Justice to Speech, Language and Communication Needs

14. Talking about a generation – Gascoigne and Gross (2017)

15. Ongoing identification, assessment and support
As a child’s age increases, good ‘surface’ language skills or clear speech might make everyday conversations manageable, effectively masking underlying SLCN.
Associated behaviour, emotional and social difficulties (SEMH) or literacy difficulties may be most visible and be identified as priorities.
The lack of specialists such as speech and language therapists (SLTs) in secondary schools coupled with lack of confidence of school staff and limited knowledge of typical language development in adolescence, mean that it is hard for schools to identify when students are behind in this area.
Doing Justice to Speech, Language and Communication Needs

16. Moving Forward

17. Impact on life chances of poor early language
and communication
My parents learned from antenatal classes how important it is to talk, sing and read to me, right from the start.
We go to speech and language therapy parent and child interaction sessions where my parents can get lots of ideas to help my talking and listening.
I get a free place at nursery where staff have had lots of training and know how to help me.
I am a Newborn
I am 2
I am 3

18. My reception class teacher keeps a record of my progress in important areas of learning including communication and language. That means that they know if I need extra help.
I take part in special small-group sessions in my nursery, to help my listening and talking. A children’s centre worker visits my mum and dad at home to show then good ways of sharing books with me.
In class I have lots of chances to learn new words. My teacher knows all about teaching talking.
I am 4/5
I am 6

19. Moving Forward
Ongoing parental awareness, information and training – pre natal and throughout educational journey
Staff awareness and training - Staff knowledge and understanding of SLCN and it’s impact. Link between oracy and literacy and life outcomes.
Ongoing assessment – Ongoing identification of and assessment of language needs
Clarity over underlying difficulties resulting in behaviour
Focus on vocabulary development – Impact of vocabulary as a real factor that can make a positive change

20. http://www. thecommunicationtrust. org