Seriously, though, I really do love Early Years settings. I have had the privilege to spend a lot of time in Early Years during my career. The first two jobs I had as a Speech Therapist involved working for SureStart projects. I don’t know if you remember them, but these were projects...

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What is the maximum amount of time a child in your school accesses interventions for their SLCN? This is always a stressful issue to get right! Too little and it may not be effective, but too much time in interventions means time out of the classroom. And what happens during those hours in the...

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It probably already feels like you are overwhelmed with SLCN need in your school, so why would I emphasise looking for more? What I am finding in the schools I work in, over and over, is that, as I start to work with children and talk to staff, more and more children start to be identified. ...

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When teaching and supporting children and young people with Down Syndrome, at some point it is likely that you will find yourself thinking about how best to manage behaviours that you are finding difficult and which may impact on the child’s learning. It is a common question on Facebook groups...

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Finding ourselves back in lockdown might be feeling pretty overwhelming to you. You might be feeling pretty devastated that your child with SLCN, who may have already missed out on support and schooling last year, is now back at home. I will be putting out blog posts and social media posts to...

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Speech Therapists tend to be pretty nice people, and we work in a helping profession, so you might reasonably consider us to be fans of the Christmas season and good will to all peoples. But the Christmas season can be a difficult one for children that we work with, in ways that are avoidable,...

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For a long time I have been passionate about using visuals with children, for the simple reason that, once words are spoken, they have disappeared. Visual information provides a concrete and permanent access to language, and Aided Language Stimulation (ALS) is an approach that embeds this...

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To some degree we all use natural gesture to support our spoken communication. Signing builds on this by providing a tool which supports communication and interaction. The most commonly used sign languages within the UK are British Sign Language (BSL), Makaton and Signalong. BSL is largely...

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Cerebral Palsy is a neurological condition associated with brain damage before or during birth, or in the early part of life. Damage can happen to different parts of the brain, responsible for or involved in different functions.It is usually considered a motor disorder, so a disorder of...

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The Autumn term is a time when we are getting to know the children, whether they are new to the school, or just to your class. As you complete your observations and assessments, it is also a good time to think about screening children for Speech and Language needs. This will help you to...

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