6. Effective intervention in the primary school context
The context
Speech, language and communication does not develop in a vacuum. By its very nature it occurs within a context of family, education, community and interpersonal interaction. Children need to be supported in all contexts; the language context, but also family, school and community contexts.99 Speech and language therapy provision needs to consider the functional impact of children’s SLCN and work to support not only their
underlying impairment, but their ability to participate in the environments in which they live. Part of this provision involves SLTs working within an appropriate multi-agency
team, including parents, to support the children effectively.
Collaborative working
Regardless of educational placement, collaboration by practitioners and parents is seen as being fundamental for effective management of children with SLCN.
“The value of multi-disciplinary assessment, that includes observation in the classroom AND playground, can’t be understated. It is so vitally important to get a whole picture.”
However, there is evidence of a lack of shared understanding between education, health, schools and parents, which can have a negative impact on meeting the needs of the child. Times of transition, between educational phases, key stages
and even between classes needs careful planning and a collaborative approach to ensure information is available and all concerned understand the implications of SLCN on individual children. For collaboration to work to best support the
communication development of children with SLCN: Children and young people need to have their needs understood, to be consulted and involved in decisions
concerning them and to have an advocate within their learning environment
Teachers need to feel supported in developing the necessary knowledge and skills to work with children who have SLCN Parents need to feel the needs of their child are being understood and provided for SLTs need to understand the school community,
curricular demands and family context. Any new models of practice must be fit for purpose; the challenge is to provide: “...effective models of collaboration, based on mutual respect of differential expertise, with both complementary and integrated delivery of support provided in a cost-effective manner”.
Collaboration at grass roots is not enough. All evidence suggests that collaboration should take place at all levels from strategic planning at service level, through to practitioner level. The integrated services agenda should facilitate this strategic planning to ensure children with SLCN are recognised and their needs met according to best practice. The Children’s Plan also emphasises inter-agency working
and collaboration across the range of children’s services with creation of the ‘team around the child’. There is a strong argument that SEN provision should be integral to the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda to ensure a seamless service is in place with multi-agency involvement across key transition phases.