Language support model for teachers

There are seven documents that comprise this resource pack. They were written for teachers who are working with speech and language therapists (SLTs) to support children in mainstream primary schools who have language difficulties with no known cause (primary language impairment)

Voice and speech functions (B310-B340)

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY) domain ‘voice and speech functions’ (b3) includes production and quality of voice (b310), articulation functions (b320), fluency and rhythm of speech (b330) and alternative vocalizations (b340, such as making musical sounds and crying, which are not reviewed here)

Hard health and soft schools : research designs to evaluate SLT work in schools

While systems approaches are useful for evaluating speech and language therapists' (SLT) work in individual school contexts, there is a need to undertake studies detailing in a replicable format the interventions offered to children and for studies at all levels to assess whether these interventions work, using validated scientific techniques. There is a demand for such studies to meet the National Health Service objective of using evidence-based approaches, which offer the best interventions available. Education researchers are being asked to address similar issues, and an overview is given of the type and levels of research used in the two sectors. It is suggested that health and education research are moving closer together and that SLTs in schools should undertake exploratory, group and cohort studies to further develop effective therapies

Supporting students who struggle with language

This chapter considers children who have speech, language and communication difficulties. These can arise from insufficient quality or quantity of language experience, or they may arise developmentally, despite appropriate language input from families and carers. They may or may not be associated with impairments such as hearing loss, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy or autistic spectrum disorders. Whether children's difficulties are specific to language-learning or more general, it is important that they become motivated, engaged learners. Motivation is central, but not in itself enough to guarantee high engagement. Engaged readers are intrinsically (rather than extrinsically) motivated to read, and have the required resources and strategies to do so. Meta-analyses show that strategy teaching, curricular coherence, choice, social collaboration and purpose all impact upon reading engagement (Guthrie and Wigfield 2000). Motivation and engagement impact upon attainment through mechanisms such as practice effects and perseverance. Continued engagement is therefore particularly important for children with speech, language and communication difficulties. Where language is part of the problem, children are at significant risk of literacy difficulties persisting into adult life (Law et al. 2009)

Open dialogue peer review: a response to Tymms, Merrell & Coe

We welcome Peter Tymms, Christine Merrell and Robert Coe's paper as a timely contribution to an important issue. For precisely the reasons that they state, this is an area of current concern. We are writing to suggest that for complex interventions involving educational programmes an even more complicated sequence of investigations could be useful, taking as the model the medical approach as detailed in MRC (2000). We agree that the RCT is an essential tool to investigate the efficacy of programmes. There is no other way to know if, on the whole, a programme works across a variety of contexts and if some programmes should 'work' better than others. Pragmatic randomisation as described in the Fife study outlined by Tymms et al. should be appropriate although it is a pity that it appears no children are continuing with their current exposure to peer learning, which would allow for the possibility that this is just as good as the new interventions. Blind assessment of outcomes is of course essential

A Survey And Cohort Intervention Using Indirect Speech And Language Therapy For Children With Primary Language Impairment In Schools

A cohort intervention was carried, out with 42 children with primary language impairment (PLI) receiving intervention from education staff in their mainstream school following discussion with and on the advice of a speech and language therapist (SLT). This is a widely-used consultancy model. No significant language gains were made on standardised language or reading tests, but the children fared as well as a comparable group in another research project who received community-based SLT services. The model was broadly acceptable to schools, but amount and patterns of intervention varied considerably amongst school classes. A survey of SLT managers provided a critique of the model, confirming that variation in implementation would be a likely issue. SLT services adopting this model will require to undertake careful audit of service provision and monitor the implementation of intervention in schools

The Functional Communication Classification System for children with cerebral palsy: the potential of a new measure

Two new validated measures of communication function in children have recently been reported in DMCN, with somewhat confusingly similar titles: the Communication Function Classification System (CFCS 1,2) and (here) the Functional Communication Classification System (FCCS 3). The interest in classifying communication function follows WHO international approaches, and meets the clinical need to support families, the children's workforce and indeed children themselves to identify child communication abilities in 'real-life' contexts

Mainstream school services for children with primary language impairment - implications from research

Invited keynote paper presented at the National Association of Professionals concerned with Lanaugage Impairment in Children (NAPLIC): Meeting children's needs in times of chang

Language therapy manual

This is the research Language Therapy Manual written for the Health Technology Assessment Project 'An RCT and economic evaluation of direct versus indirect and individual versus group modes of speech and language therapy for children with primary language impairment'

Researching intervention - how much, by whom and what next?

Presentation delivered to the Centre for Integrated Health Care Research conference Current Issues and Controversies in Specific Language Impairment. Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 27 May 2008