Author: Edwards, Alice

Supporting Parents
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As there is a vast amount of learning happening at home at the moment, the local authority have put together some top tops.
The top tops this month are aimed at supporting children with speech and language difficulties at home.
Research shows that for children with poor language / highlighted speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), a slower speaking rate helps them to process spoken information.
Pause time: Take 2 - 6 seconds after asking questions for your child to think of an answer. They should be quiet during this time to give them chance to think about their response. Maybe this is something you could try with the whole family, see what other responses are?
Slow down speech by 25%: Slow down speech by 25%: A slower rate of speaking help students with SLCN to process spoken language. It’s a balance to speak slowly enough to support understanding without sounding patronising. You can try out how this feels by taking a passage of text, time yourself reading through it and mark where you get to in 20 seconds. Then read through again but aim to get to the same point in 25 seconds.
Simplify teacher talk: Lengthy sentences are harder for students with SLCN to process. Break down sentences into chunks and give instructions one at a time.
Simplifying adults’ language: Reducing the amount of talk, creating space for more dialogue. Breaking down instructions into a series of separate sentences (chunking) and / or using visual support to help sequence them. Visual support can be a series of doodles in cartoon frames representing a series of instructions, or more simply, a brief sequence of instructions.