Communication & Language Rich Learning Environments Workshop for Inclusion Conference in Southampton January 2015 Presented by: Jan Stevens ELC/SLT

DIRECTED ACTIVITY Feedback: How did that make you feel? Was the activity successful? What made it difficult for you? How could things have been improved?

Agenda Evidence Base Sharing the audit tools currently available in Southampton for Schools & Early Years staff What makes an effective language-rich learning environment? High quality interactions

Why Are You Here?  To enable you to create & maintain a Language Rich Learning Environment to be able to support ALL children in high quality universal provision

Communication Rich Learning Environment Specialist Targeted Universal

Evidence Base Around 10% of all children have SLCN which may be specific or complex & long-term (ICAN Talk Series Issue ) Up to 50% of children from areas of social-economic depravation start school with transient language difficulties which may impact on their learning in school if not addressed (Bercow Review 2007) Low income children lag behind their high income counterparts at school entry by 16 months in vocabulary. The gap in language is much larger than gaps in other cognitive skills (Waldfogel & Washbrook 2010) After controlling for a range of other factors, children who had normal non- verbal skills but poor vocabulary at age 5, are at age 34 almost twice as likely to have mental health problems or to be unemployed than children who had normally developing language at 5 (Law et al 2010)

Does Your Learning Environment …?? 1. Encourage independence? 2. Support children in planning & making choices? 3. Ensure that learning opportunities are relevant to the children because they occur in meaningful contexts? 4. Offer opportunities to children to interact or be alone? 5. Encourage a balance between action & calm, noise & quiet? 6. Celebrate through documentation & display, the learning that is taking place? WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THAT YOU CRITICALLY OBSERVED THE ENVIRONMENT THAT THE CHILDREN SPEND TIME IN?

Elizabeth Jarman Communication Friendly Spaces   An APPROACH that can be used to benefit children in all key stages & to support transition into KS1 & KS 2  Considering impact of PHYSICAL & EMOTIONAL environment on communication skills

Audit Toolkit o Communication Supporting Classrooms Observation Checklist (CSC) o ECaT Environmental Audits: Enabling Environment/ Learning & Development/ Positive Relationship

Communication Supporting Classrooms This tool considers 3 parameters: Physical Environment Structured/Planned Language Learning Opportunities Adult Interaction Style

Physical Space Taken from: Communication Friendly Spaces – Elizabeth Jarman  Noise levels  Lighting  Colour  Clutter  Texture  ECaT Audit Tool: Enabling Environments  CSC Observation Tool: Language Learning Environment (Parameter 1)

Structured Language Learning Opportunities  Holistic approach: combination of individual/small group work/whole class reinforcement – importance of opportunities for GENERALISATION  Planning vocabulary: books/topics/themes/early words for EAL  Dialogic book sharing: strategy that turns story sharing into a language learning opportunity by planning vocabulary & open-ended questions  ECaT Audit Tool: Learning & Development & Positive Relationships  CSC Observation Tool: Language Learning Opportunities (Parameter 2)

Language Learning Interactions  How do adults in the setting talk with children?  Do all adults consistently use ALL Top Tips for Talking with ALL children?  Are adults able to adapt their own interaction style to suit the communication & language levels of individual children?  ECaT Audit Tool: Positive Relationships  CSC Observation Tool: Language Learning Interactions (Parameter 3)

High Quality Interactions  EPPE study recently found that a particular kind of interaction was MORE FREQUENT in the most effective school/settings  This was SUSTAINED SHARED THINKING

What is SST?  “An episode in which two or more individuals ‘work together’ in an intellectual way to solve a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate activities, extend a narrative etc. Both parties must contribute to the thinking and it must develop and extend” (Siraj-Blatchford et al 2004)  To successfully engage in SST with a child, the practitioner requires a clear understanding of the child’s current development, their cultural heritage and achievements, their feelings, behaviours and responses to learning; they need to be able to recognise when they are thinking and sensitively extend periods of concentration and support perseverance

Thinking about Interactions Interactions can be verbal or non-verbal Meaningful interactions should be at least 4 turns Interactions can be well-supported by signs/gestures Good quality interactions depend on wide range of adult interaction styles/strategies

DVD CLIP ACTIVITY Clip 1 : Preschool Sticking Activity Clip 2 : Children’s Centre Block Play Watch both clips & complete tally chart for adult interaction styles observed

What do GOOD QUALITY adult/child interactions look like? From Child’s perspective: Do children appear to be generally content, happy and enjoying themselves? Do children appear relaxed, able to ask for help and willing to initiate conversations with adults and children ?

Top Tips for Adults Adult uses child’s name to draw attention Adult gets down to child’s physical level Adult uses some natural gestures & signing Adult uses some real objects, photos, symbols to teach new words Adult uses slow pace during conversations Adult pauses expectantly & frequently during conversations Adult confirms understanding of child’s intentions Adult imitates what child says (more or less = recasting) Adult comments on what child is doing Adult extends on what child has said adding extra information

The Effects of Weaknesses in Oral Language on Reading Comprehension Growth (Hirsch, 1996) Reading Age Level Chronological Age Low Oral Language in Kindergarten High Oral Language in Kindergarten 5.2 years difference

How can you achieve high quality interactions consistently??- o ECaT Positive Relationships Audit: looks principally at QUANTITY of meaningful adult/child interactions o Communication Supporting Classrooms Checklist (3 rd parameter): looks at QUALITY of adult interactions Remember it’s the ADULTS who can make changes to their interaction styles not the children