sitting on both sides of the fence

7/30/2019 Sitting on both sides of the fence

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change a boy with a language disorder who washighly distracted and interested in anything butsocks and shoes, whilst wondering what the othertwelve little darlings were doing, was interesting.)

Experience o working with children andknowing how to interact with them obviouslyhelped. Many o these skills can be transerred

when you work with larger groups o children,but that does not make it easy.

On refection, I eel I gave mysel quite a hardtime as a teacher and had potentially unrealisticexpectations o how well and how quickly I couldhelp the children learn to listen. Tis was com-

pounded by my awareness o the expectations osome other people, who liked the idea that I hada magic wand which would sort out all o the lis-tening, speech and language problems.Although a strong grounding in child devel-

opment allowed me observe and think aboutthe children at a dierent level and in a dierent

way to many newly qualied teachers, it was o-ten a cause or rustration when teaching. Beingvery aware that a child does not understand oris not ready to learn something was oten verydicult to cope with i there were limits to whatI could do about it.As therapists we think o the child rst and

what he or she needs second. Te world o

education, however, encourages teachers tothink curriculum rst, child second. In reality,this can mean that dierentiation involves theteacher watering down what they are teachingrather than ocusing on what the individualchild needs.

The other side o the encePeople on both sides o the ence want the samething. Terapists and teachers want a child to besae, happy, to learn and to develop to their po-tential. Although the worlds we inhabit stronglyoverlap, they are also very dierent. Tese dier-

ences can create barriers to eective working, andmake us orget that we want the same thing.

While speech and language therapists and teachers both want the bestor every child, our overlapping worlds have diferencesthat create barriers to efective working. Drawing on herdual training and recent experience as a consultant on theStoryPhones project, Kirstie Page explores what she haslearnt rom sitting on both sides o the ence.

Once upon a time there was a speech and languagetherapist who worked with young children. One dayshe had the bright idea of becoming a teacherTis therapist was me, and I would like to share

with you the reality o this experience and lookat what we, as speech and language therapists,can gain rom an increased understanding o theother side o the ence. Although teachers canlearn much rom the world o speech and lan-guage therapy, we can also learn a lot rom the

world o education.

The ideaAs a speech and language therapist I worked

mainly within the educational environment.Like many others, I elt I had good working re-lationships with teachers. Although things werenever perect, I tried wherever possible to makeany advice I gave as applicable to what was goingon in the classroom as I could. (With hindsightI realise there are many things I could have donedierently and more eectively, but we willcome back to that later.)

My role at Sure Start Stanley allowed me tospend more time in ewer settings than beore.

As a result, I became increasingly interestedin the impact childrens speech and languageskills have on their education and learning as a

whole. I also began to look at how good Early

Years practice strongly overlaps with speech andlanguage therapy advice. I elt many childrensneeds could be met more ully and eectively byadvising teachers and practitioners on:

the layout o the settinginteracting and talking to children at the rightlevelincorporating activities and resources to pro-mote speech and language developmentspecic resources such as Beat Baby, Lola andStoryboxes.Advising on some o these issues can be tricky

as a speech and language therapist, so this iswhere the idea to become a teacher came rom.

Te initial aim was to widen my perspective, tomake me more aware o educational issues and

to learn. I Im honest, I thought that it wouldbe a relatively easy transition and that the learn-ing curve would not be too dicult. Te reality

was somewhat dierent

The realityTe learning curve I experienced was steep inmany ways. From a theoretical point o viewa background in speech and language therapystood me in very good stead. However, becom-ing more amiliar with the curriculum, educa-tional theories and the planning procedure wereall hurdles I had to jump.

Te hardest things I had to learn centredaround the practical issues o being a teacher andthe level o preparation and organisation this in-volves. I thought that I was aware o a teachers

workload beore, but I now realise I wasnt. Inthe past I also didnt properly understand that,

when a teacher said they had no time, it wasthe truth.

By raising these issues I am not saying that teach-ing is harder or more stressul than speech and lan-guage therapy or vice versa. I asked to choose Icouldnt answer, as they are just dierent.

I would say, however, that my days as a teacherin a Foundation Unit were physically very busyand demanding. Along with the learning oppor-tunities I wanted to create and language experi-ences I wanted the children to have, there wasan endless stream o running noses (excuse the

pun!) and behavioural issues that needed sortingout as well as accidents o both kinds. (rying to

Sitting on both

sides of the fence READ THIS IF YOUWANT TOUNDERSTANDA DIFFERENTCULTUREIMPROVECOMMUNICATIONENVIRONMENTSHAVE YOURADVICE PUT INTOPRACTICE

The hardest thingscentred around thepractical issues obeing a teacher andthe level o preparationand organisation thisinvolves


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Te world o education places many demandson teachers. Just as therapists have legally bindingelements to their work, so do teachers. As a thera-pist, I eel that understanding the culture within

which teachers work can make us more eective:Value added as a teacher I am under hugepressure to demonstrate that the children inmy class are making progress. My competenceas a teacher, the schools Osted inspection andpotentially my pay and promotion prospects

will depend on this. Progress will be judgedon a childs assessment results and levels. Te

world o education creates an environment

where progress can be encouraged by pushingchildren on towards their target. Te world ospeech and language therapy believes that thebest way to encourage progress is to go in at thechilds level and to build them up rom there.I we are advising the latter, we need to supportteachers and help them realise that they will beencouraging long-term progress, even i this isat the expense o short-term gains.Curriculum Te National Curriculum andthe Foundation Stage Curriculum (the Early

Years Foundation Stage rom September 2008)are legally binding documents in England. As ateacher, it is my duty to deliver these. I speechand language therapy advice is portrayed as

separate, I may see it as an extra thing whichis taking time away rom what I should bedoing. Contrary to popular belie, the NationalNumeracy and Literacy Strategies (which havenow become the Primary Frameworks) are op-tional and are not legally binding. In reality they

will oten be ollowed to a greater or lesser extentin most schools. I a school is to opt-out, they

will need to prove to Osted that what they areteaching instead is just as good i not better. Tisis scary, but an increasing number o creativeand innovative schools are opting out.Early Years Foundation Stage the new earlyyears curriculum extends rom birth to ve years

and has received some bad press or ormalisingeducation too quickly. In reality, it may make

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the lives o speech and language therapists easi-er. It oers a lot more scope or targeting earlierstages o development to meet a childs needs.

Although this is oten what therapists advise al-ready, the act that this is part o the curriculum

will make it easier or a teacher to incorporateadvice, and to see it as part o the childs edu-cation rather than their therapy.Literacy an awareness o the links betweenspeech and language and literacy is becomingmore commonplace within the world o educa-tion. Phonological awareness, however, will still

be conused with phonics, and many teacherscontinue to eel diculties with literacy are dueto the act that the child doesnt say words prop-erly. Te depth o the links may not be ullyappreciated by some teachers. Although the newPrimary Framework or Literacy embeds speak-

ing and listening throughout, a closer inspectionreveals that this is oten speaking and listeningor literacy rather than or communication. Itis a great improvement though, and therapistscan potentially support teachers with how theycould use this time and create opportunities tomeet more ully the needs o those children withspeech and language delay / disorder.Groups versus individuals As a teacher I

work with groups and rarely individuals. I willneed you, as a therapist, to understand thatthis is my world. For your advice, I want youto tell me what I can do which will t into the

way that I work. Giving me ideas or one-to-

one activities which you would do with thatchild on a one-to-one will be less meaningul.

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From our side o the enceIn an ideal world, advice and targets or anindividual child rom a speech and languagetherapist should be taken on board and imple-mented and embedded by the childs teacherand school. Sometimes this happens, but otenit does not.When things dont go as well as they could,

we are oten quick to look to the other side othe ence or reasons. Lack o knowledge, un-derstanding and motivation on the teachersbehal are all common reasons why we eel ouradvice has not been as eective as it could havebeen. Although these thoughts are sometimesvalid, they are rarely the only reasons or break-down.

Looking closely and critically at our own sideo the ence can also give us a lot o reasonsand solutions. We need to consider some o theollowing:

Do I ask the education practitioner or theirthoughts and observations on a child? Al-though the practitioner may ocus on dier-

ent strengths and needs, and although theymay use dierent terminology, they are usu-ally a great source o inormation.I the practitioner doesnt understand thechilds diculty and how this will impact ontheir learning, do I support the practitioner

with this through discussion, training, reportwriting and so on?Does the practitioner know how to supportthe child in the give and take o daily conver-sations? Strategies such as talking to childrenat the right level or modelling speech soundsand grammar are not part o teacher train-ing. Just because it is so instinctive to us, we

cannot assume that other people know whatthey have not been told.Does the practitioner have a toolbox o strat-egies which they can support the child withduring stories, group time, and adult-ledactivities? Strategies such as sitting the child

who nds it hard to listen opposite and gain-ing their attention visually and / or kinaes-thetically can be easily integrated into gener-al practice. Tese strategies will also supportmany o the other children in the class whomay not be known to speech and languagetherapy, but who cause educational concern.Can our ideas or activities be easily incor-porated into the activities which are going

on already? Although some activities are veryspecic to an individual child, most willsupport many childrens learning within theclass. Embedding advice in this way will alsomake it easier to carry out as it will no longerhave the same implications or adult timeand support.Could we use more educational terminol-ogy to make our advice more eective? I wecan link our advice to the curriculum wherepossible, even i the link is just to an areao learning or subject area, a teacher will seehow the advice ts in. Speech and languagetherapy advice, thereore, is not robbing

time rom the curriculum and what the prac-titioner should be doing.

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Diferences can createbarriers to efectiveworking, and make usorget that we wantthe same thing.

StoryPhones in action


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The best o bothAt the moment I work as a reelance trainer onissues relating to speech and language develop-ment and early literacy. For this training I tryto combine the theoretical knowledge and ex-perience I gained as a therapist with the practi-cal insight and curriculum knowledge I gainedas a teacher.As a teacher I became increasingly concerned

that many o the advances within educationalIC (Inormation & Communication ech-nology) ocused mainly on childrens visualskills rather than their auditory and verbalskills. Visual IC has many benets but is o-ten overused due to the act that teachers areencouraged to embed IC across the curricu-lum wherever possible. As concerns about chil-drens listening and language skills increase, theamount o audio work being done with chil-dren is in reality decreasing.

I am thereore also working as EducationalConsultant or StoryPhones, a new digital au-dio system or the Foundation Stage and Key

Stage 1. StoryPhones have been specicallydesigned to promote listening, language andliteracy skills. Te MP3 headsets have no wiresso can be used to listen to stories, music, songsand rhymes or to carry out listen-and-do ac-tivities throughout the environment, both in-doors and outdoors.

Although they are a resource or all children,there are many applications or children withspeech and language delay / diculties andcould easily be utilised by therapists as theystart to appear in schools. Many o the listen-and-do activities which will be available todownload and use on the StoryPhones have

TEN STEPS TO BETTER PRACTICEWORKING WITH TEACHERS:

ASK FOR AND LEARN FROM THEIREXPERIENCE AND OBSERVATIONSACKNOWLEDGE THEIR CULTURALCONTEXT AND WORKLOADLINK RECOMMENDATIONS WITHTHE CURRICULUM AT EVERYOPPORTUNITY

USE EDUCATION TERMINOLOGYEMBED ADVICE WITHIN WHAT THETEACHER IS ALREADY PLANNINGOFFER SUGGESTIONS THAT ARESUITABLE FOR GROUPSPROMOTE LISTENING FORCOMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES / ICTEXPLAIN YOUR PLAN IN TERMS OF THEIMPACT ON LEARNINGSPELL OUT STRATEGIES NEVERASSUME THEY ALREADY KNOWMAKE IT CLEAR HOW SUPPORT COULDBENEFIT OTHER CHILDREN TOO

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What issues has this article raised or you?What has helped you collaborate moreefectively with teachers? Let us know viathe Winter 08 orum at http://members.speechmag.com/orum/.

Resources (Foundation Stage / KS1)Beat Baby - by Ros Bayley and Lynn Broadbent, Lawrence Educational Publications,

www.educationalpublications.comLola by Ros Bayley and Lynn Broadbent, Lawrence Educational Publications,

www.educationalpublications.comStoryboxes (50 exciting ideas) by Helen Bromley, Lawrence Educational Publications,

www.educationalpublications.comStoryPhones www.storyphones.co.uk

in-built dierentiation within the audio track.Tis will allow teachers and therapists to selectdierent levels to target the individual needs odierent children.

Te record acility will also allow speech andlanguage therapists to record and make theirown resources. Tese could then be let at theschool or nursery, allowing the child to carry

out the activity many times with or withoutadult support. In an ideal world, these couldalso be sent home and shared with parents.

Tis acility can also be used by the childrento record their own thoughts, stories, ideas andsongs. As this saves digitally, there are manyopportunities or assessment and monitoringchildrens progress.

Te Education eam at StoryPhones wouldlike to hear rom therapists and teachers whoare keen to develop and publish good qualityresources or use on StoryPhones. We wouldalso like to hear about how people have usedthem in dierent ways.

Kirstie Page is a speech and language consultantwith StoryPhones, e-mail [email protected], www.storyphones.co.uk.

SLTP

Self-referral welcomedThe Parkinsons Disease Society has welcomed the health secretarys an-nouncement that conrms and extends the right to sel-reer to alliedhealth proessionals.Sel-reerral is not a new concept in speech and language therapy, but aware-ness and access is not universal. Although the announcement applies to allallied health proessions, it has been prompted by research with the CharteredSociety o Physiotherapy which showed that people who sel-reer accessservices more quickly and are also more likely to complete their treatment.The Parkinsons Disease Society hopes that sel-reerral will enable more

people with the condition to access physio, occupational and speechand language therapy.www.parkinsons.org.uk

Write onWriteOnline, an online word processor, has won the English SpeakingUnions Presidents Award 2008 or being interactive, empowering andeducationally useul.The Award is given annually or innovation in the use o new technologies toenhance English teaching and learning worldwide. The tool aims to provideusers o all ages and abilities with a consistent level o writing support on anycomputer with an internet connection. The word processor has an integratedWordbar to give easy access to words and phrases. Predictive text and speechunctions are available along with switch access i necessary. Preerences are

saved online, so are automatically applied wherever the student logs in.www.cricksoft.com

news extraSENDIST petitionAn online petition is urging the Prime Minister to stop government plansto change Special Educational Needs Tribunals (SENDIST).This appeal system is available to parents who disagree with Local EducationAuthority provision or their child with special needs. Regulations have beenamended so that rom November 2008, SENDIST is to be part o a uniedtribunal system called the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber withthe Care Standards Tribunal and the Mental Health Review Tribunal.Some parents o children with special needs are expressing concern thatthe detail o the changes could lead to their children being assessed

against their wishes and at their expense. They also believe that it willnow be impossible or parents to attend a Tribunal without the expenseo hiring a barrister.The petition is available at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/SENDISTtribunals/.

Cochlear implant rulingThe National Institute or Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has ruledthat the NHS should ofer cochlear implants to all prooundly dea chil-dren where this is the preerred option o the amily.A number o dea charities who have lobbied or an end to the previouspostcode lottery have welcomed this development, along with a rulingthat all prooundly dea children should also be ofered the option ocochlear implants in both ears, providing this is done at the same time.

The National Deaf Childrens Society website has a summary of the guidanceand further information on cochlear implants, www.ndcs.org.uk.

sitting on both sides of the fence

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