Communication and Interaction

SEND Graduated Response Toolkit

Identifying needs in Communication and Interaction

Speech language and communication needs can affect pupils in many different ways.

Pupils can experience a speech sound disorder which may make their speech sound different, and, in some cases can make it so difficult to understand that it impacts on the pupil's ability to convey their message. Dysfluency or a stammer can also affect how a pupil's speech sounds.

Language difficulties can take many different forms: some pupils have difficulties understanding what they've heard, while others find it hard to construct sentences or retrieve the appropriate vocabulary item. Some pupils find it hard to use their language skills to communicate with others - their grammar and vocabulary may be fine, but they struggle to interact with others. Older pupils may struggle with creative thinking skills like prediction and inference.

Children with social communication needs find it difficult to communicate with others for a range of reasons. They may have difficulties taking part in a conversation, taking turns in a conversation, staying on topic, taking the listener’s needs in to account, reading non-verbal cues etc. They may also have difficulty understanding what the speaker is saying to them or have other speech and language difficulties.

As well as differing in kind, speech, language and communication skills may differ in severity. Some pupils may experience a mild difficulty that can be managed through high quality teaching, while others with more significant difficulties may require group intervention and/or 1:1 intervention with advice recommended by a Speech and Language Therapist.

 

"Children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) have difficulty in communicating with others. This may be because they have difficulty saying what they want to, understanding what is being said to them or they do not understand or use social rules of communication. The profile for every child with SLCN is different and their needs may change over time. They may have difficulty with one, some or all of the different aspects of speech, language or social communication at different times of their lives.”

SEN Code of Practice (6.28)

What might I see in a child with expressive language difficulties?

  • Speech sound difficulties (phonology)
  • Fluency issues (stammering / clarity )  Stamma webite}
  • Word retrieval difficulties
  • Poor vocabulary
  • Immature speech may interfere with literacy development
  • Selective mutism [SMIRA website]

What might I see in a child with receptive language difficulties

  • Preferring own agenda
  • Attention and listening difficulties
  • Unable to follow instructions
  • Poor confidence and lack of self-esteem 
  • May need extra time to process verbal language
  • May interpret language literally
  • May struggle to understand jokes and sarcasm

What might I see in a child with social communication difficulties?

  • Mild social difficulties e.g. relating to others
  • Conflict at unstructured times
  • Frustration
  • Inappropriate/immature behaviours
  • Isolated or withdrawn/unhappy
  • Lack of empathy/understanding feelings of others
  • Impaired non-verbal communication skills such as using inappropriate body language or facial expression and for some, poor use of eye contact.
  • May process and display feelings differently

What might I see in a child with social interaction difficulties?

  • Lack of joint attention.
  • Difficulty working cooperatively in a group
  • Difficulty showing awareness of others’ needs
  • Difficulty following group rules

What might I see in a child who has difficulty with friendships?

Eg.

  • Forming friendships
  • Maintaining friendships
  • Understanding the concept of different social relationships
  • Compromising and negotiating

When would you move to SEN support for Communication and Interaction needs?

Where there is a lack of adequate progress despite identified and targeted differentiation.

Schools should seek to identify pupils making less than expected progress given their age and individuals circumstances.

This can be characterised by progress which:

  • Is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline
  • Fails to match or better the child’s previous rate of progress
  • Fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers
  • Widens the attainment gap

Every child with SLCN is different; they may have difficulty with one, some or all of the different aspects of speech, language or communication at different times of their lives. The following video explores what we may look for in children with speech, language and communication needs.

Assessment may include:

Pupil progress towards individualised targets should be carefully assessed, tracked, monitored and evaluated.

Assessment and advice from appropriate specialists may be sought and implemented.

Planning should reflect a more personalised approach to curriculum differentiation to match identified need.

These might include:

  • Observations / continuous formative assessment
  • The use of profiling tools - baselining language and communication skills against a development framework; i.e. Universally Speaking, Progression Guidance, Communication Trust Website, etc.
  • A referral to Speech and Language Therapy
  • Referring to EYFS guidance/Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ)
  • Monitoring and evaluating effectiveness of interventions.

Specific tools and further reading:

Meeting Communication and Interaction needs