The prime purpose of language

The prime purpose of language development at this stage is social. In pursuit of this aim, the adult seeks primarily to establish joint attention, and this is achieved by closely monitoring the child’s gaze and commenting on what he or she is doing. When the infant’s gaze wanders to another focus, the adult follows the infant’s line of gaze and continues to comment. This is an important process as it ensures the following:

■ joint attention is secured and increased;

■ language and gesture are repeatedly received by the infant and associated with an activity or event that was initiated by the child;

■ the infant experiences that he or she is very important to the adult and that the adult enjoys being with the child – this contributes positively to the development of the child’s self-esteem;

■ The purpose of language during this stage is social – the adult wants to relate to the infant and with time (6–9 months) the infant responds by wanting to communicate with the adult (‘communicative intent’). During this period of development the adult uses strategies which follow the sequence: gain child’s attention – modify input to ensure that it is relevant and understandable – extend and clarify using close monitoring of child’s response and utterances to inform next sequence of language input.

Examples of strategies used in this process are:

■ gaining the child’s attention by:

■ speaking in a higher than normal tone;

■ using exaggerated intonation or rhythm;

■ making use of child’s name, or nickname, to start a sentence;

■ using eye-level contact, gesturing and pointing;

■ using visual cues (e.g. hiding objects, then ‘finding’ them, etc.).

■ reducing the complexity of language input by:

■ using shorter sentences;

■ avoiding complex sentences;

■ selecting vocabulary which is meaningful to the child often using visual cues.

■ extending and clarifying language by:

■ monitoring that child is understanding, if not, speech is adjusted with key words being emphasised and repeated;

■ speaking clearly and slower than in normal conversation, pausing between topics;

■ providing a commentary on the child’s play, direct questioning is avoided;

■ using ‘here and now’ familiar topic of conversation. If the child makes an error, the adult does not correct but responds with the correct format: (Child: ‘Sheeps’. Adult: ‘Yes, you are right, there are sheep in the field, you are so clever!’)

So, while it is important for those who support pupils with SLCN to have knowledge of the stages of ‘normal’ language, it is probably even more helpful to reflect upon the ‘how’ of normal language development. Although home contexts differ from school contexts, in that the child has more individual attention, more effective monitoring and subsequent adjustment of language input, and more opportunities for repetition via commentary on basic care-taking routine activity (eating, dressing washing, etc.), there are aspects of ‘home’ language development that can be successfully transferred to classroom contexts. These include:

■ Social contexts for learning: the basic impetus for language is a social one and contexts make a difference. It follows that if those who support pupils with SLCN can ‘set up’ communicative contexts, which encourage social communication, then the pupil is more likely to be motivated, if required to answer a question (to which the adult probably knows the answer). Arranging for the response to the curriculum to be framed in a ‘communicative context’ requires considered planning with emphasis on peer–peer, small group, and collaborative groupings. Useful support material includes Social Use of Language Program (SULP) (Rinaldi, 1992) and Circle Time activities (Mosley, 1996).

■ Securing and enhancing the underlying skills for language development: these include motivation, attention, listening, and memory. Useful strategies include commentary on child’s activities, allowing time for child to respond, securing joint attention, encouraging selective attention by the use of visual cues, etc., and giving opportunities for language to meet a personal and social developmental function as well as being the medium for academic learning.

■ Monitoring pupil response and making subsequent adjustments to curricular delivery, task requirements, and/or social contexts. Once children have ‘learned to talk’, parents and caretakers skillfully change their communication style in order to prepare their child to use language ‘to learn’ in the school setting. Instead of merely communicating socially, the adult adopts a more ‘teaching’ style approach and asks the child questions to which the adult knows the answer (‘What colour are your shoes?). They also encourage the child to allow their attention to be directed by an adult – ‘Why don’t you draw me a lovely picture of the Tellytubbies?’ Parents/caretakers also try to get the child to sit down, listen, and engage in directed ‘school’ activities – reading, drawing, countings, etc. Parents can often offer the one-to-one attention needed for the initial development of this ‘on task’ behavior. They encourage their child to make choices and to direct his or her own attention. Strategies are also applied to enable the child to develop social skills needed for school. Their child is encouraged to play with same age peers and social behaviors such as listening, turn taking, sharing, etc. are made explicit and rewarded, ‘Here are some sweets, give one to Jenny and one to Peter. Good boy for sharing.’ These behaviors are developed in a supportive safe setting for the child so that the chances of success are maximized. The important point to note is that these behaviors are explicitly taught and learned during the years prior to school entry. If a child does not have these experiences, and arrives in school without the appropriate ‘learning behaviors’, then he or she will find it difficult to self-direct attention, share attention with peers, and use language for learning. It is important to be aware that children with language difficulties are at increased risk of developing behavioral problems (Stevenson et al., 1985, in Ripley et al., 2001), and that strategies to improve language and communication can have a beneficial effect on behavior.

Discusion

■ How might knowledge of the way parents and/or caretakers support normal language development help you to foster listening, attention and understanding for a pupil with SLCN?

■ How might placement in a nursery or other early years setting impact upon the language development of a young child with SLCN?

■ What changes, if any, could be made in your own setting to enhance the development of language for pupils with SLCN?

Although parents/caretakers use the relatively few key strategies described above with their infants, the effect is impressive with most children arriving at school with sufficient competence and confidence in language to be able to learn in group settings and mix socially with peers and staff. The use of a few core strategies by all school staff consistently can also be effective in supporting pupils with SLCN. These include:

■ Encourage active language processing, i.e. use discussion, review, appropriate questioning style, problem solving, reflection, etc.

■ Use visual strategies – cue cards, visual timetables, etc. to support understanding and memory.

■ Make the implicit explicit– reinforce if possible with visual cues; this strategy is particularly important for the development of routines and rules needed in classroom settings.

■ Give the learner time to respond; if necessary, ask questions in advance in order to give pupils time to plan their response.

■ Record and build on what the learner can do.

■ Try to keep the pupil motivated by creating activities and groupings that use the social and communicative function of language.

■ To monitor listening and understanding, use recognition activities before recall, i.e. use choice or multi-choice tasks before asking the pupil to generate their own responses. If the pupil is unable to recognize the correct response, it is unlikely that he or she will be able to recall or generate his or her own response.

■ Comment on what the pupil is doing to encourage the development of concentration and attention.