Having worked as a Speech and Language Therapist in schools for well over a decade and there are certainly trends or patterns of speech, language and communication needs that we see in different age/year groups in education and childcare.
Early Years
With younger children, language development and early language skills are the biggest area that need support. Many children can be a little late with their talking and need a boost with their communication.
This is the main focus of my Early Years Speech and Language course which shows EYFS practitioners the ages and stages of language development, complete with a milestones checklist which can be printed off and used to monitor the development of your children.
Children with this area of need will acquire language through play and there are a whole range of different activity ideas, along with specific strategies for staff to use to support language development in my Early Years Speech and Language Course.
You can find out more and get instant access to the online CPD training course here.
Key Stage 1
Speech Sounds tends to be the biggest area of need for children in EYFS and year 1, but with many children having waited on lists for SALT support for a long time, this is now an issue that continues to impact many children in year 2 also.
Unclear speech has knock-on impacts with phonics and literacy skills, as well as safeguarding (you can read all about speech sounds & safeguarding here).
Speech sounds, or as we call it in Speech Therapy world: phonology & articulation is one of my specialisms and I have given lectures on this area in the past to student Speech Therapists, and then I combined lots of that information with specific ways education and childcare staff can help children with unclear speech into my Speech Sounds Steps to Success course.
I created this course as there’s so often a wait for therapy sessions which can actually be provided by ‘trained professionals’ in school. So that can be you now and then the children won't have to wait so long and they can get on with making progress with their phonics and literacy skills.
Become a ‘trained professional’ here.
Key Stage 2
The pattern of difficulties in the junior year groups see more memory & processing difficulties. That’s not to say that younger children don’t also have these difficulties (ditto for vocabulary) but this is where the gaps between pupils reality and age-related expectations really start to widen.
Spotting processing skills is quite easy but knowing what to do to help can be a little more tricky. You’ll get plenty of advice, information and confidence from my Supporting Children with Memory & Processing Difficulties course.
Find out more and sign up for instant access here.
In addition to memory skills which impact on comprehension and processing, children in older year groups with poorer vocabulary skills, wither lack of word knowledge or difficulties with recalling words that they already know, are highlighted much more here.
We see children with lower reading levels or poorer quality or quantity of written work. I’ve also seen children with challenging behaviour as a result of underlying speech and language difficulties in this age group (see my webinar on SEMH and SLCN here).
Secondary School
There will inevitably continue to be children in secondary school who have ongoing speech and language difficulties but in many regions of the UK there is little provision of statutory SALT support without EHCP or specialist educational placement.
My experience of working in a large secondary school, as well as a secondary Pupil Referral Unit, revealed difficulties in the following areas:
Memory & processing
Vocabulary
Social skills
Stammering
You’ll find courses on all of these subjects in the Secondary Schools Training Package (social skills is covered within the SLCN Impact Pack). Check out the training package here.
ACROSS ALL YEAR GROUPS
There will be children with a range of speech, language and communication need in all year groups and often teachers move classes and year groups. Or you may teach one year group but your own children (who live in your house) may have a difficulty and you could do with some help to identify what that is and some strategies to use to help them.
The whole area of SLCN is covered in my SLCN Impact Pack. It's ideal for Early Career Teachers and experienced Teaching staff alike, and will equip you with confidence, skills and tools to uplevel the quality of teaching in your classroom.
Get quick-start access to the SLCN Impact Pack here.
GET ALL OF THE COURSES
Many schools and early years settings have taken advantage of the training packages I have created which include CPD courses and resources to help your school raise it’s level of provision in identifying and supporting children with SLCN. Click below for your school stage to find out more about the training options for your setting.
Early Years
If you’d like to have a chat about the training and CPD needs of your school or setting, send me an email to book a call.
Beth Morrant
Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist
Hi I'm Beth, a Highly Specialist Paediatric Speech & Language Therapist.
I help education and childcare staff identify Speech, Language & Communication needs in the children they work with and show them how to support those needs through my online CPD training & resources.