4. The impact of speech, language and communication need
SLCN can have a profound and lasting effect on children’s
lives. Longitudinal studies of children with SLCN have shown
that children whose language difficulties are unresolved by the
time they start school are more likely to have later academic,
social40 and emotional difficulties, associated with their
language difficulty.
Use of communication in schools –
tools for learning
Spoken language pervade the primary school environment
and is the vehicle for most learning. It is crucial for
development in primary school children. On arrival at
school there is an expectation for children to listen to
language from adults and peers, understand what is being
said to them and respond with well structured, clear and
appropriate sentences. It is important to acknowledge the
importance of talk to support and extend children’s thinking
and to advance their learning and understanding.
Language at home is used for communication, with friends
or family members and can be a positive environment for
learning, however it is very different from language use in
school. Language is used within primary school education
as the main tool for teaching. Children need to have proficient
language skills in order to use their language to learn.
Language is also used by teachers to manage their
classrooms, determine rules and routines and ensure children
are aware of their expectations. It is suggested in the current
review of primary education47 that the ways in which teachers
talk to children can influence learning, memory,
understanding and the motivation to learn. It is also noted
that there are enormous individual differences in language
skills between children and therefore in their ability to benefit
from a particular level of instruction.
For children with SLCN at primary school the demands and
pace of the National Literacy Framework, for example, have
led to concerns about opportunities for differentiation.49
Observations in primary classrooms carried out as part of the
Cambridge University Primary Review, suggest that children
seldom have the opportunity to engage in productive social
interaction and that group or pair-based activity needs more
careful organisation in order to best achieve productive
interaction and learning.
The hastened transition towards reading and writing as key
performance indicators, accompanied by increasingly complex
and challenging language expectations on the part of the