Understanding and formulating
spoken language
Some children may not be able to understand the words being
spoken to them and/or the grammatical rules of sentence
construction. Therefore, when their teacher tells the class what
they need to do, or explains a new idea or concept,9
they may
struggle to understand what is being said. Having an
appropriate vocabulary is essential for the learning process,
however learning vocabulary has been identified as one of the
most significant difficulties for some children with SLCN,10 11
leading to much of their teacher’s talk being inaccessible.
The ability and confidence to ask questions is a vital skill for
provoking and shaping new thinking.12 The Primary Strategy
recognises the importance of language for thinking and
encourages paired talk and discussion among pupils as a way
to enhance learning.13 This is hugely difficult for children with
SLCN, so vital learning and opportunities to talk with peers
can be missed. They may struggle with developing an age
appropriate vocabulary, formulating sentences, using the right
words in the right order and with following grammatical rules
to understand or make it clear to others what has happened
in space and time.
In addition, children may have difficulties effectively
processing language. They may struggle to remember
information given verbally, making it difficult for them to
follow more than one instruction at a time.14
For many children with SLCN, their language skills are not
proficient enough to be used as a learning tool and so they
can fail before the task has even begun. This can be
incredibly frustrating and have a serious impact on how they
see themselves and how they are seen by their peers.