Signs of SLCN Help Sheet
A help sheet to help parents and teachers identify signs of a Speech, Language or Communication Need. This can support you to know when to refer a child to Speech and Language Therapy and be able to explain what concerns you have.
Supporting Children with SLCN
A help sheet to identify ways that you can support your own child or a child in your class with their Speech, Language or Communication Need. Discussing both general strategies and specific strategies related to understanding, producing language and speech sounds
Early Communication Strategies Help Sheet
A help sheet to give you ideas to support a child to develop ways to communicate such as turn taking and choice making
Supporting Children with Difficulties with Attention Help Sheet
A help sheet to give you ideas and strategies that may support a child to both support and develop their attention skills.
Supporting Children’s Understanding Help Sheet
A range of different strategies and activities to both support and develop a child’s understanding.
Supporting Children’s Expressive Language Help Sheet
A help sheet designed to give you every day strategies and more specific activities to help develop and support a child’s expressive language/ production of language
Vocabulary Help Sheet
A help sheet to talk through ways to help a child develop and expand their vocabulary. It includes general strategies and activities that you can have a go at and should make vocabulary learning FUN!
Supporting Children who have difficulties with Speech Sounds Help Sheet
If your child has a difficulty with speech sounds, this help sheet will talk through a range of advice and activities that you can use to support your child. This includes listening games and methods to help them produce their sounds.
Selective Mutism Help Sheet
Selective mutism is when a child can speak in one environment but does not ever speak in another and is classified as an anxiety disorder. This help sheet will help you to support an individual with selective mutism.
Fluency Help Sheet
A help sheet that guides you through what is a stammer, the causes of stammering, factors that increase stammering and ways that you can support an individual who stammers.
Autism Help Sheet
If your child or a child in your class has received a diagnosis of autism, then this help sheet will give you some advice and strategies that can help you to support them both at home and in the classroom.
Auditory Memory Help Sheet
If your child has difficulties retaining and recalling spoken information, then this help sheet should give you advice and strategies around the ways in which you can support them both at home and in the classroom.
Intensive Interaction Help Sheet
If you have been advised to use intensive interaction, this help sheet will guide you in the ways to carry this out and benefits including developing pre-intentional communication skills such as shared attention and turn taking.
Increasing Confidence Help Sheet
Some ideas and ways that you can support children to build and develop their confidence. This should be children that are already speaking. If you have concerns about a child not speaking in one environment, please see the Selective Mutism Help Sheet.
Thinking Skills Poster
Display this poster around school as a reminder of higher order thinking skills and how these are broken down into different levels. This poster has examples of which questions go into each level. Use this as a prompt to ensure you are asking children questions that match with the level they are at.
Early Vocabulary Symbols
Use these cards as visual support for key vocabulary. When you say the word in everyday life, show your child the corresponding card to help them to understand what you are saying. Your child could also use these to ask for what is pictured on the card. You could also use a sign, an object of reference or a photograph of a key object depending on your child’s level of understanding.
SPACE Story Prompt
Use this resource as a prompt to encourage your child to include all the important elements of a story or narrative. This could be used when retelling one of their favourite fairytales or when describing what happened in their day. If your child has missed something out, for example ‘where’ it happened, show them this on the prompt as ask them to add this in so you know exactly what happened.
Categories Sorting Activity
Do this activity to work on your child’s semantics skills and vocabulary. Cut out all the pictures and ask your child to sort them into groups. Each group has a main title card so that your child will know what each of these groups contain (for example ‘sports’). If you want to make this activity harder, remove these cards. If this activity is too difficult, stick to just two categories to begin with. Talk about any words your child has not heard of before.
Now/Next Board
You can use this board to show your child what is going to happen ‘now’ and ”next’. This will help them stay motivated and remain focused on their current task. Use photographs, symbols or words to represent each activity, depending on your child’s level of understanding.
Speech Practice Chart
Ask your child’s Speech and Language Therapist what sound your child should be working on and at what level (for example at the beginnings of CVC words). Then use this practice chart as a motivator to get your child to say that sound as much as possible! If your child is trying to put their sound into conversation, you can put the chart on the wall and tick every time you hear them say a good example of their practice sound. You can also use this for a specific speech activity, so your child can see when the activity will be finished.
Blanks Level 3 Bookmark
If you have been told your child needs to work on ‘Blanks Level 3’ or ‘Language for Thinking level B’ then use this bookmark as a prompt. When reading with your child, ask them questions similar to the examples on the bookmark. You can also ask these questions in everyday conversations. This will help develop their higher order thinking skills.
Blanks Level 4 Bookmark
If you have been told your child needs to work on ‘Blanks Level 4’ or ‘Language for Thinking level C’ then use this bookmark as a prompt. When reading with your child, ask them questions similar to the examples on the bookmark. You can also ask these questions in everyday conversations. This will help develop their higher order thinking skills.
Phonological Awareness First Sound Listening Activity
Using this activity will help your child improve their listening skills and their phonological awareness skills which is essential for speech. Ask your child to find/draw/cut and stick items from around the house that begin with each sound. Break this activity down by just focusing on one sound at a time. If this is too difficult, give choices.
Expressive Language Board Game
Play this game to work on your child’s simple sentences. Take it in turns to roll a dice (you can find one online if you don’t have one) and move around the board. When a player lands on a square, they need to make a sentence that describes what is happening. If this is too easy, encourage your child to make their sentences more complex by including describing words or conjunctions. Whoever gets to the end of the board first is the winner!
Blank levels of questioning
Marion Blank described four levels of understanding that children move through. Level 1 is the most concrete, moving up to Level 4, which is the most abstract. Children’s understanding develops following this order. This poster describes the four levels and you can use it at home or in the classroom to help ask questions at the right level for your child.
Superwords A6 cards
Superwords can be used to help children learn new vocabulary. To learn a new word you have to store information about the meaning of the word and the structure of the word. These cards have three superheroes on them. Choose a word and ask the child to say something about the sound (structure), the meaning and then put the word into a sentence. The questions on the arms and legs of the superheroes can be used to help the child think of information.
Superwords A4 cards
Superwords can be used to help children learn new vocabulary. To learn a new word you have to store information about the meaning of the word and the structure of the word. These cards have three superheroes on them. Choose a word and ask the child to say something about the sound (structure), the meaning and then put the word into a sentence. The questions on the arms and legs of the superheroes can be used to help the child think of information.
These Superwords Superheroes cards are in A4 size. Perfect for on the wall in the classroom!
Activity cards for understanding
These activity cards give you some ideas for developing understanding. Start with the ‘1 key word’ and work your way up in line with the child’s language level. You can do the activities 1:1 or in a small group.
Talking Tips Sheet
These tips apply at home and in the classroom for all children. Follow these tips to encourage your child/children to talk more and develop their language skills.
A one-page poster – perfect as a reminder in the classroom or on the fridge!
Activity cards for expression (Early Years)
These activity cards cover a range of ideas to develop young children’s expressive language skills (their talking). You can do the activities 1:1 or in small groups or as a whole class. Group activity cards together for a talking group.
Activity cards for expression (Primary)
These activity cards cover a range of ideas to develop children’s expressive language skills (their talking). The cards are aimed at Year 1-6 pupils, but please use in line with your child’s level of talking.
You can do the activities 1:1, in small groups or as a whole class. Group activity cards together for a talking group.
Activity cards for specific times of the day
These activity cards cover different parts of the day and ideas for developing communication skills at those times.
Early Years Activities
With schools currently closed due to the Covid-19 outbreak, here are some ideas for developing speech and language skills with children in Early Years (Nursery and Reception).
KS1 Activites
With schools currently closed due to the Covid-19 outbreak, here are some ideas for developing speech and language skills with children in KS1 (Years 1 and 2).
KS2 Activities
With schools currently closed due to the Covid-19 outbreak, here are some ideas for developing speech and language skills with children in KS2 (Years 3-6).