The School of
Teacher Education Research and
Scholarship Brown Bag Seminar for Monday 13th August titled: "Listening
to children with speech and language impairment: Implications
for teachers of young children" was presented by Graham
Daniel and described work that we had undertaken together over the past few year. Graham presented a version of this talk via video-linkup to the Listening conference in Bristol in June.
Here is the abstract:
Children spend a large
portion of their lives at school. Consequently, teachers play a major role in
supporting their social, emotional and educational development. Children with
speech and language impairment are at greater risk of reduced social, emotional,
and educational outcomes. However, classroom teachers receive little training
about how to support these children in the school environment and may be unaware
of the implications of speech and language impairment on children's learning and
schooling experience. The aim of this paper was to better understand the lives
of children with speech and language impairment and to provide implications for
educational practice. Interviews were conducted with six children with speech
and language impairment and 28 others including their parents, siblings,
friends, teachers, and significant adults within their lives. The participants
reported that these children experienced withdrawal and exclusion, had fewer
friendships and were more disengaged in activities that involved language. These
children’s experiences may have considerable implications for children’s social,
emotional and learning (particularly literacy) outcomes. The children used a
range of strategies and support networks (particularly siblings) to participate
within the school environment. The insights garnered from considering these
children’s lives can inform teachers’ provision of an inclusive learning
environment to support children’s socialisation, encourage diverse ways of
communicating, and maximise learning opportunities.
