Speech, Language & Communication Pocketbook (PDF)

Most children develop speech, language and communication skills instinctively, a process that begins at birth and continues into adulthood. However, in most classrooms there are children - as many as 50% in some areas - who have not acquired the fundamental spoken and written skills that underpin all types of social interaction, skills that are essential for success in education and at work. This book shows teachers how to support pupils with SLCN - speech, language and communication needs. Written by a speech and language therapist and a secondary teacher working in mainstream schools, this highly illustrated Pocketbook begins by defining SLCN and placing it against a backdrop of normal language development. The authors identify who has SLCN and explain how weak communication skills lead to academic, social, emotional and behavioural problems. Language is both received and transmitted; both input and output pose problems for pupils with SLCN. A chapter on attention and listening covers hearing impairment, auditory memory, teacher talk and active listening skills. It is followed by sections on receptive language difficulties - understanding concepts and inference, reasoning and deduction - and expressive language difficulties: building sentences and narrative in speech and writing. Speech difficulties such as stammering, phonological difficulties, articulation and voice disorders are also covered. Learning, storing and retrieving vocabulary are given a section of their own as is social communication. The book concludes with ideas for implementing a whole school approach. Cartoons, diagrams and visual prompts support the text throughout.