Working with the Speech and Language Therapist at Primary Level

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Working with the Speech and Language Therapist at
Primary Level

• Jeanne Reilly
• Speech and Language Therapist
• Helen Arkell Centre
• Southampton Conference May 2007
• JR/HADC/07

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How do you work with the Speech and Language
Therapist?

• Face to face
• On the phone
• Report or written advice
• Practical resources
• Long wait for help
• You havent got one!
• WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE?

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What children say

• Sometimes my words are a bit wobbly
• My mouth said juggle when I wanted it to say
  jungle.

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What children say

• I cant actually find it I lose it whenever I
  think of it.
• My brains full.
• After this day backwards one. (yesterday)

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Language Communication

• Children who are unable to communicate
  effectively through language are further
  handicapped socially, educationally and, as a
  consequence, emotionally.
• Byers-Brown Edwards 1989

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Language and Literacy

• Children with dyslexic difficulties often have
  associated speech and language problems. .
• Quote Joy Stackhouse 1996, in Snowing and
  Stackhouse

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Language and literacy

• It is therefore not surprising that young
  children with speech and language problems are at
  risk for later literacy difficulties.

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Shared skills between teachers and therapist

• How children learn
• Social and emotional issues
• Communication
• Memory
• Vocabulary
• Phonological awareness

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Help with Speech and Language.Where should the
focus be?
?

• Often focus on what we hear or see the child do,
  when it is the understanding of language which is
  the real difficulty.

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Early language problems

• Bishop 40 of language problems at 4 years
  resolved half way through 5th year.

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Risk

• If language problems persisted at 5 years, high
  risk of problems at 10 years

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Clues to language difficulties.
naughty spiteful
aggressive
stupid not very bright acts the clown
withdrawn in his own world
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Later consequences

• Cohen (1998)
• 40 of children aged 7-14 who were described as
  aggressive delinquent behaviour had undetected
  Speech and Language difficulties.

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Speech, language and communication difficulties

• Child might
• not take part in class discussion
• get very little done in class
• not understand all that is going on
• have poor speech sounds
• act immaturely
• have other difficulties besides speech and
  language

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Whats the problem? - 1

• He needs to speed up as he finds it hard to
  finish work in the allotted time (Organising
  ideas?)
• She struggles with vocabulary (Vocabulary and
  concepts?)

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Whats the problem? - 2

• Shes a good reader compared to her written
  work. (thinking and organising)
• He disrupts others in literacy (organisation,
  self esteem)

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Whats the problem? - 3

• When problems are too word centred he cannot
  work out what to do. (vocabulary, organisation)
• He must make every effort to listen carefully so
  he can follow the instructions. (listening and
  vocabulary)

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Listening and UnderstandingSkills

• Listening and Attention
• Phonological Awareness
• Memory
• Vocabulary and Concepts
• Understanding
• Communication

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Thinking and SpeakingSkills

• Thinking of ideas
• Organising ideas
• Finding the right words
• Speaking in sentences
• Speaking clearly
• Thinking and speaking in conversation

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Thinking

• If a child cant think it, he wont be able to
  say it, and consequently he wont be able to
  write it.

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Listening and AttentionA Key Skill at Primary
level
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Attention

• attention is like the conductor of an orchestra
  who .......controls a vast number of thinking
  players,
• Mel Levine

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Good listeners

• Look
• Listen
• Understand
• Have good short-term memory

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Poor listeners

• Dont know what to listen to.
• Dont know who to listen to.
• May not make eye contact
• Easily distracted.
• Unhappy and bewildered.

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Listening and Attention Strategies to help

• Think of ways to make the class quiet.
• Get eye contact before you speak.
• Tell the child what to listen out for.
• Write important words in different colours.
• Ignore minor fidgeting.
• Let the child sit comfortably.

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Memory, organisation and language

• Child
• Poorly organised
• Forgets homework and belongings
• Confused about time and sequences
• Cant remember instructions
• Cant repeat information

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Helping Memory and Organisation with Language

• Talk
• Make links
• Record information, write, draw, act it out

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Organising ideas

• Making sense of the world
• Memory
• Planning for
• thinking
• talking
• writing

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The National Literacy Strategy

• Year 2, Term 1,
• Text level, Writing composition Objective 11
• to use the language of time to structure a
  sequence of events,
• e.g. when I had finished, suddenly,

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Time and organisation

• Specific
• On Friday
• tomorrow
• yesterday
• the next one
• January
• at 4 oclock
• last week

• Non Specific
• soon/later
• Once upon a time
• then
• in a while
• in the summer
• at some stage
• at the weekend

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National Literacy Strategy

• Year 4, Term 1
• Word level, vocabulary extension objective 11
• to define familiar vocabulary in their own
  words, using alternative phrases and expressions

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Sophie, Age 7

• Poor at expressing ideas.
• Limited vocabulary.
• Very little written work produced.
• Reading OK.
• Weak attention.

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Sophie - how to help

• Talk through the work/story.
• Ask lower order questions.
• Offer vocabulary and write it down.
• Talk through how to organise he vocabulary and
  ideas.
• Make a plan with her.

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Questions

• Lower Order
• What?
• Where?
• When?
• Who?
• How many?
• What does it mean.

• Higher Order
• Why?
• How do you know?
• What reasons?
• Can you think of another solution?
• What do you think?

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Tim, Age 9

• Clumsy, poor pencil control
• Speech problems
• Reading average cant decode words
• Good vocabulary
• High non-verbal skills

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Tim how to help

• Focus on his language strengths (vocab and
  knowledge)
• Teach spelling through meaning, not decoding.
• Scribe for him when possible.
• Teach touch typing.
• Let him use PC to create work.

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Why?

• Family history
• Hearing problems
• Pregnancy and birth trauma
• Childhood illness
• Childhood trauma
• Lack of stimulation
• Dont know

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Conversation
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Conversation

• A social activity
• Listening, understanding, thinking and speaking
  all at once.
• Sticking to the topic
• Finding the words
• Adapting to the audience
• Non-verbal clues.

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Helping conversation

• Improve the individual skills.
• Practise in a safe environment.
• Make expectations very clear.

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Ask the Speech and Language Therapist to

• Explain the tests used.
• Demonstrate an activity
• Organise a group e.g. vocabulary, listening,
  conversation
• Do an in-service
• Talk at a staff meeting
• Suggest a resource/book
• Advise on any speech articulation problem.

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Finally

• Speech, language and communication supports
  thinking literacy.
• Understanding before expression.
• JR/HADC/2007