Teachers, are you worried about the phonics check?

Communicating Phonics is a brand new free publication from The Communication Trust aimed at Key Stage 1 teachers Communicating Phonics is a guide to support teachers delivering and interpreting the phonics screening test to children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). The guide will help
teachers to deliver the test this June, but also has lots of useful tips and advice to support the overall literacy development of children with SLCN.

Why you should read it?
The phonics checklist, also known as the phonics test or phonics screen, is being administered to Year 1 children from June 2012. The Department for Education has supplied universal guidance for administering the checklist and for interpreting and responding to the results. There are, however, implications for many children with special educational needs (SEN) and particularly those with SLCN.
The term ‘speech, language and communication needs’ (SLCN) is used to describe a wide range of issues that make it difficult for children to communicate with others.

SLCN is the most common SEN identified by primary schools (26.5%) and is a feature of many other areas of SEN, such as hearing impairment, learning difficulties and autistic spectrum difficulties. SLCN is also the most common childhood disability: 10% of all children have SLCN as a long term need. Evidence also shows that in areas of social deprivation 50% of children may enter school with delayed language. SLCN is often under‐identified. This guide, put together with the expertise of nearly 50 of specialist organsiations, will support teachers in
delivering the test but also in overall literacy development of children with SLCN.


How is the guide structured?
Communicating Phonics provides a general overview of issues and then detailed information on 14 different types of SLCN, with a particular focus on the phonics test. It also gives details on how to interpret the outcomes of the test and support the literacy development of children with SLCN.

We know how busy teachers are so the guide has been organised so that teachers can dip in to get to the information they need. This includes:
- General principles
- A quick reference table
- Detailed information on particular SLCN, and how they relate to the test
- Links to a glossary of terms and resources on speech, language and communication
Download the guide at www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/phonics 

Ditch the Dummy!

I've just had another conversation with a parent of a 4 1/2 year old with poor speech about the use of dummies as a huge contributory factor to his problems. He had one until well over 3 years of age because the mother-in-law  said it would 'ruin his personality' if it was taken off him!! What complete and utter rubbish (I've calmed down now so I'm more polite because that wasn't what I was thinking at the time!). 

He's now left with no 'l' sound, 'ch' and 'j' are wrong and his tongue protrudes for 's', 'z' and 'sh'.  He's going to need months of therapy with lots of practise at home.

For the mother-in-law and anyone else who is unsure:

During your baby's early months a dummy can help to soothe. This is understandable, as most babies have a strong sucking reflex and the dummy can, in many cases, help to settle the child. It may not, however, be necessary even then! My babies didn't have one but if it helps to 'pacify'  at sleep times, then I see no real problem for up to a year old. After that, it should be dropped because the child needs to be able to make use of a full range of sounds which can only be achieved by letting the tongue move freely around the articulators (lips, gums, palate etc.) They should NEVER be used when the child is talking.

Using the dummy can lead to the following problems:


Teeth:

• incorrect positioning of teeth so that the bottom and top teeth at the front don't meet properly
• tooth decay (especially the front teeth) if the dummy is dipped into sweet things

Mouth breathing:

• your child may tend to breathe through their mouth rather than their nose. This is often linked to long-term dribbling

Speech and language problems:

• your child may not use the full range of tongue movements that are necessary for making all the speech sound your child has fewer opportunities to babble and use sounds to communicate with you
• much higher risk of acquiring speech sound difficulties 

I see lots of children dropped off at nurseries and who's dummies go in their bags at the door. They have quickly learned that they don't have a dummy there so they don't usually even ask for it. I also see a lot of parents collecting from nursery who retrieve the dummies from bags and install in the child's mouth before they've even said 'Hello'.

I know I hate them and you're probably thinking I'm being too harsh but I think we need to look at WHY they have them when they are able to talk. Are parents trying to shut up their child? 

We need to talk more, not less and anything that gets in the way of this should be discouraged.

I have an A4 'Dummy Free Zone' poster if anyone would like one 
enquiries@smalltalk-ltd.co.uk.