www.leicspart.nhs.uk

Developing Expressive

Language Skills

Alice Templeman

Speech and Language Therapist

Aims of today

• To think about what ‘SLCN’ means.

• To consider the impact of expressive

language difficulties.

• To think about strategies and activities you

can use to support children in the classroom.

• To signpost you to resources and further

information.

What does it mean?

‘Expressive Language’

‘Receptive Language’

‘Speech and Language’

‘Communication’

‘Speech’

‘SLCN’

What does it mean? SLCN – ‘Speech, Language and Communication

Needs’

Speech – the sounds in words.

Language – the actual words/sentences which

are understood and used.

Receptive – understanding spoken language.

Expressive – using spoken language.

Communication – the exchange of thoughts and

ideas.

What is ‘expressive language’?

May not be ‘language’ or words!

• Vocabulary – learning new words and

retrieving learnt ones

• Syntax and grammar

• Telling a story (narrative, sequencing)

• Prediction

• Inference

Why is it important? • 7% of children around five years of age have speech,

language and communication needs (SLCN).

• In 2013, SLCN were the primary special educational

needs in state-funded primary schools.

• Vocabulary difficulties at age five are significantly

associated with poor literacy, mental health and

employment outcomes at age 34.

• Children with language difficulties have an

impoverished quality of life in terms of moods and

emotions, and are more at risk in terms of social

acceptance and bullying.

• Changes that we might make can have a huge impact on the communication of the student.

• Different strategies may need to be used to meet differing communication needs

• They may help a student’s receptive AND expressive skills.

You can help!

PausingAllows extra processing time (the

average teacher waits just 2 seconds

before saying something else).

Gives time to process.

Reduces pressure on child to talk.

Students may give fuller answers.

10 SECOND RULE!

Matching and expanding

Keeps the conversation going.

Gives the child models and examples that they can use.

Encourages their language development.

Reduces pressure –acknowledges/rewards what they are doing.

Expansion

Keeps conversation

going.

Encourages vocabulary

development.

Encourages

grammatical

development.

It shows the ‘next step’.

“ pebbles”

“Yes, smooth

pebbles”

“home”

“Oh, he went home”

Commenting

Reduces pressure to talk.

Focuses on the ‘here and now’.

Aids vocabulary development.

Provides language models.

1 IN 5: It is suggested that adults should aim to

make at least five comments for each direct

question that they ask.

He looks

fierce

ActivityThink of comments that you could make

about these things that would promote a

child’s communication.

Giving InstructionsGet child’s attention

Keep it easy

-Short, simple sentences.

-Stress key words.

-Use other supports.

-‘Chunk’ information in chronological / logical order.

-Check for understanding.

-REPEAT – don’t rephrase!

Asking Questions

Is your question appropriate to the students level of understanding?

Is it in the ‘here and now’?

Will your question encourage communication?

Why are you asking it?

Is the language concrete or abstract?

Has the student got a way of answering?

Vocabulary (Biermiller in Beaumann and Kame’enui (2004)

Understanding a spoken word

Representation in the mind of :

Phonology - sound

Semantics – meaning

Syntax - grammar

Build word knowledge from multiple

exposures at least 6 in context

We can make a difference –

‘Word Aware’Anchor words (small group)

-thorough understanding/spontaneous use, may not need to be pre-taught.

Goldilocks words (whole class)

-not too easy or too hard – just right.

-used by average adult – will be encountered again.

-topic specific but core to the topic.

Step on words (whole class/specific teaching)

-beyond the average adult – topic specific.

Activity – history topic (Romans)

– year 3

Put the following into the 3 categories

(anchor, Goldilocks, step on):

Hill fort, Roman, Anglo- Saxon, mosaic,

trade, troops, invade, transport, forum,

settle, immigration, a long time ago,

basilica, legion, refugee, Celtic, tribe,

hypocaust.

Selecting Vocabulary

Goldilocks

Anglo-Saxon

Celtic

Roman

Refugee

Tribe

Trade

Mosaic

Troops

Invade

Settle

Immigration

Anchor

Long time ago

Transport

Step on

Hill fort

Hypocaust

Forum

Basilica

Legion

Word Finding Activities

• Category sorting/generation

• Dice Games

• What am I?

• Word webs

• Same/different

• Synonyms (same meaning) and antonyms

(opposites).

Word Webs

Narrative To support children’s story telling or

reporting skills

Can be used to retell familiar stories or

events in their own lives or current

affairs

Oral and written story sequences

Narrative promptsEncourage longer narratives by using a simple

story telling format

Who?

Where?

When?

What happened?

What next?

The end

(Black Sheep, Colourful Semantics)

How can you support?

• Pre-teaching vocabulary – look at anchor

words.

• Revisiting anchor words and Goldilocks

words – 1 by 1.

• Sequencing – understanding concepts of

who, where, what, when etc.

• Practise language with peers.

• Implementing strategies.

Information / Advicewww.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk – The

Communication Commitment, ‘Other Ways of

Speaking’

www.talkingpoint.org.uk – resources, progress

checker, strategies.

www.afasic.org.uk – parental support, professional

information/downloads.

www.stammering.org – British Stammering Association

www.rcslt.org – Royal College of SLTs (‘Giving Voice’

campaign)

Resourceswww.blacksheeppress.co.uk – resources

www.elklan.co.uk – books, courses

www.alexkelly.biz Talkabout –social

communication

http://www.leicspart.nhs.uk - ‘Speech and

Language Therapy’ – Early Intervention Resources

http://www.londonspeechtherapy.co.uk/workspace/

uploads/resources/colourful-semantics-

programme-march-2011.pdf - Colourful Semantics

www.twinkl.co.uk – resources

Any comments or questions?