Today's #toptiptuesday continues with cross curricular words - it's the turn of CATEGORIES. #senco #sendco #speechtherapyideas #speechandlanguagetherapy #slpeeps #slps #speechandlanguage #slt2be #slt2b #sendinstagram #slcntribe #inclusion #send

3/3 An example - a few years ago I asked every Year 6 & Year 7 child referred to me if they knew what 'summary' meant. None of them did - the most common definition was 'something to do with Summer'. So what will these children write when asked to summarise something. ?.

2/3 These are words that are used frequently in schools - both in spoken and written language, and where it's easy to assume children know what the words mean. But often they don't know them - especially children with #SLCN.

1/3 Another half-term of #toptiptuesday & we'll focus on 'cross curricular' words - aka academic vocabulary & command words. #senco #sendco #speechtherapyideas #speechandlanguagetherapy #slpeeps #slps #speechandlanguage #slt2be #slt2b #sendinstagram #slcntribe #inclusion #send

Barrier games work on many language skills at the same time - vocabulary, sentence construction, listening, understanding instructions, concepts, awareness of a partner. HOWEVER please make sure you know the 1 or 2 main things you are focussing on specifically for each child.

A lovely school we work with used our 'big and little' dalek counters (very motivating) with the vocabulary for the class books (which covered fruits and clothes vocabulary) - "Put the big green dalek on the strawberry" (3 key words, reinforced vocabulary and enjoyable!).

In this instance, it was a great way to check whether they knew some language concepts (lots, few, diagonal, long/longest) in a low threat way. Grids work really well as you can pop in topic words, motivating pictures, numbers, shapes. anything you may want to reinforce.

This one was made during an assessment of a KS2 child. They have considerable attention challenges & barrier game activities work so well for assessment AND/OR intervention as the child can SEE evidence they have focussed, listened & understood when the pictures are compared.

We love using Barrier Games & today's #toptiptuesday is that you can easily create them on the spot when the need arises… #senco #sendco #speechtherapyideas #speechandlanguagetherapy #slpeeps #slps #speechandlanguage #slt2be #slt2b #sendinstagram #slcntribe #inclusion #send

4/4 Remember our facial expressions – especially when a child has SLCN e.g. if they stammer or have speech sound difficulties. Taking care to look patient, relaxed, friendly and interested.

3/4 Think about where we are facing. Making sure the child can see our faces, our hands, and anything we are holding / showing – but not asking for them to look at us / make eye contact if that isn’t what they like to do.

2/4 Get down to the same physical level as the child / children. This is really helpful and can make us as adults seem less threatening and more involved. Yes we spend a lot of time on our knees!.

1/4 Today’s #toptiptuesday is a short 🧵on our positioning when working with children – esp. younger children. We aim to….#senco #sendco #speechtherapyideas #speechandlanguagetherapy #slpeeps #slps #speechandlanguage #slt2be #slt2b #sendinstagram #slcntribe #inclusion #send

3/3 As long as the story has a good plot (like Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann which is a great book for EYFS / KS1) then it helps to develop sequencing skills and a knowledge of story structure as well.

2/3 With the absence of words there's greater freedom for a child to create their own stories based on what they can see. There's often more discussion ('what do you think is happening here?') and children develop inferencing skills by using the pictures to work out the story.

1/3 Today’s #toptiptuesday is to highlight how #wordlesspicturebooks are a wonderful way of developing children's language. #senco #sendco #DLD #devlangdis #speechtherapyideas #speechandlanguagetherapy #slpeeps #slps2be #slps #speechandlanguage

2/2 Brilliant as a reward game but we also like using games like these for teaching Tier 2 vocabulary (e.g. force, accurate, release) and concepts / comparatives (e.g. near - nearer - nearest / fast – faster – fastest / wide - wider - widest).

1/2 Time to go lowbrow with today’s #toptiptuesday with Poo Curling from Flying Tiger which never fails to be a hit with both older and younger children. #senco #sendco #DLD #devlangdis #speechtherapyideas #speechandlanguagetherapy #slpeeps #slps2be #slps #speechandlanguage

4/4 Good for talking partner work as well – pupils can discuss the noun in pairs/small groups first & think of as many related verbs as they can. This also frees up class staff to spend more time scaffolding / supporting pupils who may need more help to think of relevant verbs.

3/4 . and knowing a variety of verbs really helps children to use language functionally and flexibly. ‘Noun-verb suns' encourage verb variety and they can be developed collaboratively with pupils and written up on the whiteboard there and then.