Speech, language and communication
What are speech, language and communication skills?
The pyramid below shows those stages of communication development. The skills at the bottom provide the foundation for the skills at the top of the pyramid. It’s important to get the foundation right before moving onto the other skills. Conversation and interaction skills are important at every level.
Improving Speech, Language and Communication Skills
The best way to improve these vital skills is to have exposure to lots of language and to get as much practise as you can. The great thing is that one of the easiest ways to do this is through play.
At Kingsbrook View, we assess children using a programme called Language Link in KS1. If your child’s assessment shows that they need support, then we will inform you at parents’ evening and your child will receive intervention to support their language or speech needs.
We also assess speech needs through speech link.
In KS2, we use in school interventions to support your child including Black Sheep Press resources, (e.g. semantic links).
Speech and Language Link have a parent website which has lots of activities and advice to support you at home from when your child is in reception to when they are in Yr6. They have some great advice about attention and listening.
https://speechandlanguage.info/parents
Speech and Language Therapist Buckinghamshire
The speech and language therapist in Buckinghamshire lead useful webinars that parents can attend (some of the webinars are pre-recorded on the website and some happen on a specific date.) They include support with vocabulary, developing joint attention, receptive language and communication skills.
https://www.buckshealthcare.nhs.uk/cyp/therapy/training-for-parents-early-years-and-school-staff/
They also provide resources to support children on their website.
Parents can attend virtual advice sessions alongside the school. If you have a concern that you would like to speak to a speech and language therapist about, then please contact your child’s class teacher.
