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Speech, Language and Communication Needs and Phonics

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Wendy Lee,Professional Director, The Communication Trust

Faith StoneSpeech and Language Therapist, Symbol UK

www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk

The phonics test

• The Phonics Checklist, also known as the Phonics Test or Phonics Screen is being administered to Year 1 children from 2012.

• The Department of Education has supplied universal guidance for administering the checklist and for interpreting and responding to the outcome.

2www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk

Year 1 Phonics Screening CheckResponding to the results: planning what to do next

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Children with SEN / SLCNMany will struggle, for example, children who…

• Need language teaching or other specific strategies and support

• Will benefit from phonics approaches at a later date

• May be negatively impacted upon by a focus on phonics without careful interpretation

• Can blend sounds but speech difficulties make interpretation difficult

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TCT phonics guidance

• Developed by members of the Communication Consortium, it provides guidance for

administering the checklist– administering the checklist – interpreting and responding to the outcomes

for children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

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Section 1

The first section, Speech, Language and Communication Needs and the Phonic

Screening Test contains generalScreening Test contains general information and principles relevant to

children with SLCN.

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Section 2

The range of SLCN, contains specific i f ti l t t h f 14 t finformation relevant to each of 14 types of

SLCN

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Section 3

Quick reference guide giving the key issues d d d fand recommended responses for

accessing and responding to the checklist by type of SLCN.

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SECTION 1Section 1

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The risk for children with SLCN• Individual differences in language development affect the

course of learning to read.

• Children with poor phonological skills are at risk of decoding difficultiesdecoding difficulties.

• Children with broader oral language difficulties, particularly weaknesses in vocabulary knowledge and grammatical skills, are at risk of reading comprehension difficulties

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A range of issues...Children may…• Need to develop basic speech and language skills • Need specific, alternative approaches to access the test, for example visual

or multisensory support;• Have comprehension difficulties that mean they do not understand the

instructions or concepts involved;p ;• Have a reduced working memory which affects their capacity to access

the test;• Have processing difficulties, so need more than the time specified to

respond accurately;• Lack the communicative confidence needed;• Have a specific difficulty in using phonic routes, struggling to discriminate

between words and sounds;• Have speech output difficulties that can mean they cannot produce the

target sounds, blend them or may be inconsistent in doing so.• Have particular difficulties with saying, or repeating, pseudo words 11

Typical development

Age Task Example

5½

Blending onset and rime

"What word?"th-umbqu-een

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/28759/12

h-ope

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Blending of two and three phonemes

/z/ /ū/ (zoo)/sh/ /ǒ/ /p/ (shop)/h/ /ou/ /s/ (house)

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A case study • Callum is in year 1 and has immature speech and

language skills:– He is quiet and doesn’t easily join in with other children– He has poor listening skills and struggles to concentrate in the

whole class group– He is better in small groups, though can become easily

distracted– He has limited vocabulary and struggles to understand long

instructions– His speech is reasonably clear, though is immature for his age,

as is his ability to speak in long sentences

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Key principles• Minimise background noise and visual distractions• Deliver the test in short sections if necessary • Make the test situation as relaxed as possible• An adult familiar to the child should administer the test• Give extended time for children to process what they hear and

respond• Give instructions in short, simple sentences using vocabulary and

concepts you know the child understands. • Accompany instructions with gestures or any sign or symbol system

the child uses.• Check whether speech sounds the child “fails” to say during the test

are sounds he or she has difficulty with in their spontaneous speech.

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Interpreting results • Has the child all the foundation skills for speaking and listening so they can

access routes to literacy? • Does the child have the early phonological awareness skills needed for a

phonic approach?• Do they have the support in place for their specific needs such as signed or

visual support?• Do they have a communication difficulty (e.g. selective mutism) that makes

responding in school unreliable compared with the abilities they reveal at home?

• Do the results give a false understanding of the child’s comprehension of what they are reading (as in the case of hyperlexia?)

• Does the child have a specific difficulty or delay that makes the phonic route to literacy inappropriate or impossible to access, without alternative or additional approaches?

• Does the school need support from a specialist e.g. SLT to interpret the results and assess the child’s needs in detail?

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Hybrid approach• A hybrid approach enables children to use their semantic

(word meaning) and syntactic (sentence and word construction) skills to help them read (Snowling, et al. 2003).

• Balances synthetic phonics within a language rich environment in order to target both vocabulary knowledge (structural and meaning related features of words) and phonological awareness skills

• Synthetic phonics is balanced with reading for comprehension and enjoyment.

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The importance of spoken language

‘Oral language approaches incorporating vocabulary development and listening comprehension can be as effective (orcomprehension can be as effective (or

possibly more effective) as a treatment for reading comprehension difficulties as text-

based approaches.’(Snowling & Hulme, 2011)

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Vocabulary is key• Research consistently finds that the extent of children’s vocabulary

knowledge relates strongly to their reading comprehension and overall academic success (Baumann et al 2003).

• If beginning readers have printed words already in their oral vocabulary they can more easily and quickly sound out read andvocabulary, they can more easily and quickly sound out, read, and understand them, as well as comprehend what they are reading (Goswami, 2001; Metsala & Walley, 1998)

• An extensive vocabulary is the bridge between the word-level processes of phonics and the cognitive processes of comprehension.

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A case study • George has specific language impairment.

– He has difficulties understanding language– He has limited vocabulary and finds it difficult to learn

new words H t l t i t t ff ti l ith– He struggles to interact effectively with peers

– He has some difficulties with working memory– He has some difficulties discriminating sounds

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SECTION 2Section 2

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The range of SLCNChildren with language delaySpecific receptive language impairment Specific expressive language impairment Child ith dit

Children with selective mutism Children with pragmatic language impairment Children with Autistic spectrum disordersChild ith D S dChildren with auditory

processing disorder Children with phonological delay / disorder Children with dyspraxiaChildren with dysarthria

Children with Down SyndromeChildren who stammerChildren who are hearing impaired Children who are non-verbal

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Awareness that all children are individual, can have multiple speech, language and communication breakdown / impairment /

needs

The structureEach section relates to a different type of SLCN and contains the

following...

• Description of the speech, language and communication need• Accessing the Phonics Screening Test • The Outcome of the TestThe Outcome of the Test• Responding to the Outcome of the Test• Case study • Questions to explore• The best of what we know – an evidence resource to inform next steps • Links to whole school improvement, literacy policies and SEN policies• Additional resources and further support • Publications and Resources• Organisations and websites:

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SECTION 3Section 3

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Quick check SLCN The issue Accessing the

TestOutcomes of the Test

Next Steps

Children with language delay

Development oflanguage is delayed.

May affect expressive language (what the child can say), and/or receptive language (what the child can

May have limited attention and turn taking skills- use room with low level of distractions, break test up

Extended time for

Children may be silent

or respond inaccurately because of a combination of lack of confidence and failure to understand

Oral language “catch up” programmes

Language rich environment

Specific teaching of(what the child canunderstand).

Extended time for auditory processing-allow longer for Responses

Difficulties with understanding the language, concepts and vocabulary used.-use short simple sentences, known vocabulary & support with gesture.

May lack confidence-test administered by familiar adult

understand instructions.

Children may nothave the necessary vocabulary for the known words.

Specific teaching of necessary vocabulary and concepts for test

Attention, listening and turn taking games

Phonological awareness teaching

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TCT phonics guide

TCT phonics guide due out in April Contact

chillis@thecommunicationtrust.org.ukor

tth @th i ti t t k

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nmatthews@thecommunicationtrust.org.uk

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