Attention!!

I was talking to someone last week about the importance of attention for any form of learning but especially learning for language development. They hadn't heard about the levels of attention to which speech and language therapists constantly refer, so I thought I'd do a quick summary:

There are 6 stages of attention which were identified in the 1970s by Cooper, Moodley and Reynell. No-one has improved on these but the age for the stages are now questionable so that very few children now go to school with mature attention.

ATTENTION CONTROL  - developmental stages (Cooper, Moodley & Reynell)

(All age levels are approx)

Stage 1:  DURING FIRST YEAR                                                                   

Extreme distractibility. Child’s attention held momentarily by whatever is the dominant stimuli

Stage 2: SECOND YEAR

Inflexible and rigid attention- child can concentrate for some time on a task of his/her own choice but cannot tolerate adult intervention. Attention level is better where the activity is one of his/her own choosing

Stage 3: THIRD YEAR

Single-channelled attention, but becoming more flexible. With adults help can focus attention. Child can transfer from his task to adult’s direction and back to the task. Attention is still adult directed making it necessary for the teacher, to ensure she has the child’s attention before giving instructions.

Stage 4: FOURTH YEAR

Still single Channelled to one task but the child can now transfer spontaneously. Moves gradually to the stage where she only needs to look at the speaker if directions area are difficult to understand

Stage 5

Two-channelled attention. Where the child is now able to attend to a verbal instruction in relation to the task without actually looking at the adult. Attention can only be sustained for short periods of time.

Stage 6

Mature school entry level. Where integrated attention is well established and well sustained N.B May see fluctuating levels depending on environment, task complexity or health

Many year 6 teachers will be shouting that their children cant keep level 6 for long. We live in such a visually dominant world that auditory stimuli can be harder to deal with. We need to know what level a child is performing at so we can tailor acitivties accordingly and also help to move them to the next stage.

Many children with speech, language and communication difficulties have problems with attention and listening so we may work on this before anything else.

Reasons, means and opportunities: choice making opportunities

Children will not develop language without a reason, a means and an opportunity. One of the best ways a parent can give the opportunity to communicate is by offering choices.

It sounds a really simple thing to do but it helps  children understand that they can use language to have an effect on the world around them. Once they see they can have an effect or see the power of using language to help them to get what they want, this is powerful motivation. A motivated child will communicate more and in turn learn more skills. Even children with no spoken language can be taught the power of choice making by pointing.

To help your child make more choices try the following ideas:

 Develop the habit of offering choices as often as you can,  wherever possible.    

Choices can include:

§  which piece of fruit eg apple or banana

§  Which drink to eat eg water or juice

§   which cup to use eg green or red

§  Which book to read eg Grufello or Squash and a Squeeze

§  Which DVD to watch

§  Which toy to play with. If toys are freely available they don't need to request one, if they're up high, they have to request so its better for developing communication. Unfortunately for communication development, nurseries have to allow free choice now so they don't always have the scope that you do at home.

This simple change can have a big effect! Try is today!

What is 'Early Words Together'?

All the research done by the National Literacy Trust shows that Parents are the biggest influence on educational attainment for children aged up to 14 years. I keep saying that I always believe that parents want to do the best for their children but if they don't know what that is, how can they do it?

The Early Words Together Programme shows parents what they can do at home to help pre-schoolers: sharing books together, nursery rhymes, mark making etc which will make a big difference to their children. The sessions will be fun!

We start our first lot of these this week with sessions at Springhill Children's Centre today at 1.30, Chadsmead Children's Centre on Wednesday at 1.30 and Willows Children's Centre on Friday at 1.30pm. We're also doing Wombourne, Featherstone and Landywood Children's Centres after half-term.

We are working closley with the library service and will have visits from the library staff to explain what the library offers these days. Many still think they are the quiet, boring places portrayed by films. No-one wants to take a pre-schooler anywhere where they have to be quiet or get told off for making a noise! However, the reality is so different. Take Lichfield library for example: they actively welcome small children and even have sessions just for them. Liz Leyshon from Lichfield library has a puppet with a back pack and his own library card which tempts most to want to join. Parents can benefit too with magazine and books available as downloads to members. Liz will be visiting Willows and Chadsmead and her colleagues will come to the other sessions.

We'll also be introducing families to what the Children's Centres can offer. They have fantastic menu of events for pre-school children with advice and support too.

We aim for this to be the start of parental engagement in their child's learning. We're looking forwards to starting and seeing how the families get on.

Specific language impairment: new series of AFASIC videos

AFASIC are working on a series of videos to look at speech, language and communication impairments. I look forwards to a day when everyone understands these issues!

Thank you to Damien and AFASIC for sharing this:

Early Words Together up-date

We are finally ready to start the sessions. It's one hour a week over 6 weeks, where we follow a suggested programme to help families improve the 'home learning environment'. It's a pilot in 10 Children's Centre across Staffordshire, so if we can prove it works, they will do it all over the country. We are using volunteers to help us.

Their research has shown that parents  are the biggest influence of a child's education however good the school they later go to, so the idea is we empower parents as early as possible. The sessions will include things they can do at home such as using books, singing, pre-literacy and pre-maths activities plus visiting the library and introducing to the Children's Centre activities they could access.

We're asking professionals to refer families with whom they work or know about (maybe you know siblings) to take part. Ideally they are not accessing other services but the loosest criteria is they should have access to fewer than 30 books (probably safe to say anyone you think would benefit!). The children should be between 2 and 5 years.

We start:

Willows Children's Centre on Friday 31st January 1.30-2.30pm

Chadsmead Children's Centre on Wednesday 29th January 1.30-2.30pm

Springhill Children's Centre Monday 27th January 1.30-2.30pm

If you need a referral form please email Kerry Heath kerry.heath@staffordshire.gov.uk or leave a comment on here. I appreciate we  are on a tight deadline so I apologise for the speedy action required.

Next week I'll let you know about the South Staffs dates and times too.

As a speech and language therapist, I am only too aware of the decline in school readiness. I believe this could be a very small step towards improving the situation.

Thank you very much. 

Tamworth Transition project update

Just a quick up-date about what we've been doing:

We have finished phase 1 of the project which was the consultation: we had  a stakeholder session, surveyed all the nurseries and primary schools and also parents about the current transitions and how we might improve on what is already happening.

As a result of the findings, we have planned:

• Parent workshops at the children's centres to look at what they need to help their child do before starting nursery at 2/3 or school at 4 years.  This was felt to be useful by 75% of those asked
• Parent information booklets to support these, produced in conjunction with local parents for think 2 children/3 year olds and one for school entry, as requested by 80%. They talked about the common concerns and how they can get over them
• Training session for nursery staff in preparing for the language demands of school, as requested by 70% of nurseries
• A Bear Hunt themed session in nurseries which will then be carried over into the school visits for those schools wanting to take part. This would satisfy the 70% who felt that a joint project between schools and feeder nurseries would be useful

Obviously we will be monitoring the results closely and evaluating each part.

Its a lovely project to run and hopefully the results will show it has been successful!

Are you working with 2 year olds in your nursery? Would you like training to make a better difference?

It's a big ask for nursery staff to start taking much younger children. There are all the anti-social behavious of toddlers plus communication and language skills which may be developmentally way behind.

It's probably not fair to expect this but this is the situation faced by so many nursery staff.

Training has to be paid for but you need to know that any money spent will be well worth it. The course we are offering has had great feedback and has been written specifically for this purpose.

What is it?
A practical training course for staff working in Early Years settings to enable them to develop the communication skills of babies and very young children, written by Henrietta McLachlan, Jo Belsten and Liz Elks.Delivered by Lbiby Hill, Consultant SLT and licensed Elklan trainer. £325 (or early bird rate of £295 before 14/1/14)

Developed to support the revised EYFS framework this course links research on early language development with best practice to give practitioners up to date theoretical knowledge and practical tools to promote communication. Although designed to support the 2 year review and Development Matters statement in England the strategies underpin all curricula wherever taught.

When is it?
14th February, 28th February and 21st March

Where is it?
Stafford Children's Centre, Faraday Rd, Stafford

How is it delivered?
It is taught as an intensive three day programme. The course uses interactive teaching methods, practical activities, videos and group discussion to engage learners.

What does the course cover?
What is Communication?
Identify the processes involved in communication.
Adult-child interaction and non-verbal communication
Examine the effect of adult-child interaction on the development of communication skills.
Explore the importance of non-verbal communication behaviours.
Play for Language
Explore the link between play & language development and the development of social play.
Develop skills to promote play & support language development at key developmental stages
Listening, attention and understanding spoken language
Develop strategies to promote listening and attention and link these to the EYFS Development Matters statements.
Develop strategies to encourage the understanding of language including additional languages.
The Language Journey
Explore typical development of language learning.
Learn strategies to help children to develop a wide and varied vocabulary.
Consider how to meet the needs of the different EYFS age groups
The Blank Language Scheme
Facilitate development of supporting verbal reasoning.
Practise modifying the adult’s language according to individual needs.
Encouraging the development of spoken language and clear speech
Develop strategies to encourage the use of early phrases and sentences.
Explore how we articulate sounds and their typical development.
Discuss strategies to support young children with unclear speech.
Sharing books, using rhymes and exploring the link to early literacy
Consider the link between speech, language and early literacy development.
Explore how to use songs, rhymes and books to support communication.
Working with parents and carers to support communication development
Discuss effective ways of supporting parents to develop their child’s early communication skills.
Discuss how knowledge gain from the course links with the two year review process.
Linking it all together
Present evidence of applying knowledge gained across the course during everyday activities.

Who can attend?
Anyone interested but spaces limited to allow better discussions

contact info@smalltalk-ltd.co.uk for an application form