Questions to ask your child’s school

This could include:  

• Staff training as part of INSET days or staff meetings.  
• Online training that staff can access (and how many staff have accessed this).  
• Training that your child’s teacher(s)/form tutor has accessed independently.  
• Training offered as part of staff induction.  
• Training/support/coaching provided by a speech and language therapist.  

Ideally, training is offered on a regular basis so that staff have updated knowledge and skills rather than attending a one-off training session a number of years ago. Training is important for senior leadership teams as well as teachers and teaching assistants.  

This could include:  

• Changes to the physical environment such as using visual supports and setting up areas to support communication in the classroom.  
• Strategies that adults use, such as teaching new vocabulary, modelling words and sentences, and giving children thinking time.   
• Planning opportunities throughout the day for children and young people to practise and use their speech, language and communication skills, such as talking partner activities or group discussions.  

This could include:  

• Running targeted small group intervention programmes with a focus on speech, language and communication skills.  
• Strategies that adults use in the classroom to support children and young people with speech and language challenges – such as talking in simple sentences, giving them additional thinking time, and asking them more simple questions.  
• How the school work with speech and language therapists and other professionals like educational psychologists.  
• Support given in unstructured times such as playtime as well as in the classroom.   
• Ways that the school share information with all adults who work with the child or young person.   

This could include:  

• Time when the speech and language therapist or other professional works directly with the child or young person.  
• Time when the class teacher and/or other adults meet with the speech and language therapist or other professional.  
• How the school share reports, targets and recommendations from the speech and language therapist or other professional.  
• Training provided by the speech and language therapist or other professional.  

This could include:  

• Allocating a consistent time each week when your child works on their targets with another adult. This could mean they miss some time in the classroom or could miss some activities with their friends.  
• Making sure that your child has opportunities in the classroom or in other environments to work on their targets. Not all children and young people need time out of the classroom to work on their speech and language targets – sometimes it’s better for these to be worked on in the classroom.  

This could include:  

• Sharing written information, resources and reports with other adults.  
• Having face to face meetings with other adults (including parents/carers) to share information.  
• Making sure that when your child has a new teacher, they are given all relevant reports and resources and they have a handover meeting with the previous teacher or SENCo.  
• Using a home/school diary to communicate with parents.  

This could include:  

• Making sure the lunchtime supervisors know about any challenges your child may have.  
• Making sure staff know how to support children who want to get involved in playground games.  
• Buddy stops or friendship benches (where your child can go if they are alone at playtime and would like a friend) – these should be voluntary rather than something your child is forced to participate in if they don’t want to.  
• Circle time activities and discussions about friendships and playing.   
• Offering children a quiet/calm place to go when they’re feeling anxious.  
• Making sure children know who they can talk to about their feelings.  
• Providing lunch time clubs that children can attend if they want to.  

This could include:  

• A regular programme of staff training around speech, language and communication skills.  
• Speech, language and communication skills referenced in relevant school policies such as SEND, behaviour and attendance policies.  
• The headteacher and senior leadership team recognise the importance of speech, language and communication skills and links with other areas including learning, behaviour and social, emotional and mental health.   
• The school take part in whole-school awareness-raising activities with a focus on communication skills such as No Pens Day and DLD awareness day.