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Topic “School”  

The school subject or topic being taught to the class or group in which the child or adult with communication difficulties finds themselves in.

Robert's Friend

One day there was a boy called Robert. He was starting at a new school. On his first day, he met lots of children in his class. At playtime, he went outside with everyone else. Some children played football. Some children played hopscotch. Some children ran around and played tag. Robert wished he could play. He didn’t know anybody yet.

Use two key word instructions in everyday activities

Activity/strategy name and materials required How to do the activity Key principles for doing the activity and comments
Making a cup of tea - telling you what to do

Kitchen with everything appropriate for making a cup of tea. You don't need to have them out and ready though - finding the stuff can be part of the activity.

1. Sit in the kitchen at an empty table and say you want to make a cup of tea - but you don't know what to do (or have forgotten what to do);

2. See if the person suggests getting something - e.g. teabag or cup.

If the person suggests something, e.g. teabag, ask where you can find it. See if they can tell you - e.g. "cupboard" - but if not, give then some suggestions - e.g. "in the cupboard or in the fridge?" - have a look in the fridge if they suggest that.

If the person doesn't suggest anything, give a funny choice, e.g. shall I get a cup or a paint brush - if they suggest "paint brush", get one and then look really confused when you have it - see if they can correct you, or if there is not paint brush to find, look equally confused. Get a cup even if they don't prompt you to get one (as if you've suddenly remembered!)

3. As you go along, try to get the person to extend the language - but don't try to get them to repeat, also try to avoid asking leading questions (for example avoid asking "shall I stir the tea now?"). For example if you have a tea bag and a cup, and they say "cup", indicating that you put something in the cup, put something else in the cup - e.g. a pen. If they then say teabag, do something with the teabag - but don't put it in the cup. At this point they may try to put the two words together, e.g. "teabag...cup". If not, you can give them a choice. Try the following:

"teabag in the cup or pen in the cup" (you might get a response of "teabag" in which case put it somewhere - not in the cup);

or

"teabag in the cup or pen in the bag"

or

"pen in the bag or teabag in the cup" (easiest because the target phrase is last).

If the person is not familiar with making a cup of tea already, you should spend some time doing this - talking them through what you are doing as you make the tea.

The key principle here is to give the minimum amount of prompting. You will need to adjust the level of prompting so that the person is a little bit challenged by the task - but not so much that there are long pauses (what constitutes a long pause will vary from person to person).

As far as possible, you are trying to literally do what the person says - so if they say something that's potentially ambiguous, choose a more amusing interpretation of what they have said. The idea is that this activity should be really fun, and also prompt the person to try and add more information and be more accurate.
Everyday activities

Whatever is required for the activity. Activities could include:

  • Cleaning;
  • Shopping;
  • Cooking;
  • Washing up;

Communication activities for classes

A selection of speaking and listening activities on Commtap which could be used with classes, for example on No Pens Day Wednesday. If you spot any other suitable activities on the site, you can edit this page. Or if you have an idea for another activity, you could add it to the site.

Understand and use ordinals (1st, 2nd, 3rd etc)

Activity/strategy name and materials required How to do the activity Key principles for doing the activity and comments
Write it

Writing materials
  1. Explain that you are going to talk about what words such as “first”, “second” and “third” mean.
  2. Ask the child to write the numerals 1-10 in order one below each other.
  3. Explain that when something is in “number one place”, we say it is ‘first’ etc.
  4. Show the child how to write the words “first”, “second”, “third” and so on.
  5. Show them how to change the numeral by adding ‘st’, ‘nd’, ‘rd’ or ‘th’ (1 → 1st, 2 → 2nd, 3 → 3rd, 4 → 4th etc.). Point out that you add the last 2 letters of the written word to the numeral.
  6. Point out that you usually add ‘th’, but that first, second and third are different.

This works best 1:1.

Use this activity only with a child who can read and write. With children with less good literacy skills, you will need to talk about what you are going to focus on, but miss out the written support.

With children who can cope with larger numbers, you might want to go beyond 10, be careful to explain how numbers such as 21st, 22nd and 23rd are formed.
Line up

None

This works best with a class or group.

You may want to focus more on the front of the line.
PE

Equipment as required by the PE activity

This works best with a class.
Small World

Small world equipment, including several ‘people’.

This works best 1:1.

This activity is more suited to younger children.
Actions

Equipment as required by the actions.

Visual prompt cards if required.

This works best 1:1 or with a small group.

Make sure you stress words such as “first”, “second” etc.

Bear in mind the child’s auditory memory – the more instructions you give, the harder it will be to remember them.

Learn new words

Activity/strategy name and materials required How to do the activity Key principles for doing the activity and comments
Exploring words

Written word with a picture

Written sounds for beginning/ end of each word

Visuals for the story

Dictionary (maybe)

 

Ideas you can use to help word learning - you do not need to use all of them, and some will work better than others for different children.

1. Introduce the written form of the word;

2. Say the word to the child and ask for repetition;

3. Ask the child to clap syllables on your or their hands, use prompting if necessary. Or alternatively they could tap the syllables out on pictures of drums (say four arranged in a row);

4. Ask if any other words rhyme with this new word (think of examples yourself) - you could take this in turns in a group;

5. Ask for beginning and ending sounds;

6. Tell the child a short story or anecdote, including the word as the main feature if possible - or work with the child to work a story out;

7. Give an explicit definition (school dictionary maybe - some dictionaries are more helpful than others for this!) and give context(s) preferably first one being the one used in the story as it’s familiar but make sure to offer other contexts;

8. Ask the child if they can put the word in a sentence/ tell a short story including the word;

9. If ability allows, ask the child if they know of any word which means a similar thing.

These activities help to build a child’s vocabulary with solid representations of words.

It gives a child strategies to use when learning and remembering new words.

It builds the child’s confidence on a topic, especially if taught before the relevant lesson.

Number action rhymes

Below are some action number rhymes which you can use to develop children’s understanding of numbers and also encourage them to initiate and continue the song/interaction with you.

Remember to sing these songs a few times with your child and show them how to move their hands/body by modelling it yourself. 

Communicating Phonics - Quick Reference

Background

The Communication Trust's publication "Communicating Phonics" was published to help teachers who are administering the Year 1 phonics screening check to children with speech language and communication needs (children with SLCN). Although this guidance was written with this check in mind, it also provides much useful information for developing literacy skills with this group of children.

The table below is reproduced from the reference table which comes from pages 12 - 16 of this guidance.

Developing attention and listening skills through motivating activities

Activity/strategy name and materials required How to do the activity Key principles for doing the activity and comments
Sensory Play

- Sensory toys and materials for messy play (e.g. trays with sand/ cornflour and water/jelly).

- The best toys are those that the child can manipulate easily to produce a result.

1. Guide your child's hands and visual attention to toys/trays of material(s) that they can touch and look at.

2. Let your child explore the toys/materials in the tray and encourage them to investigate all their properties, stimulating all of the child's senses as far as possible (colour, smell, texture).

3. You may need to draw the child's attention back to the activity if the child becomes distracted. Use your voice to regain their attention (e.g. a drawn out "ohhhh!", or an intake of breath).

Do not continue with something the child has lost interest in, but wait a while before introducing another object.
Turn taking games

- Ball / dark cloth

- Your voice - to sing simple nursery rhymes that have an element of anticipation built in such as "Round and round the haystack, like a little mouse, one step, two step and into his little house".

This is a fun activity for you and the child to enjoy together.

Use plenty of facial expression and your voice to gain and keep the child's attention.

Games and activities to help develop social skills

It can be difficult for some children to identify and understand social cues. To help develop the social growth of these children, there are lots of fun ways to help improve their social skills.

Make a choice at snack time

Activity/strategy name and materials required How to do the activity Key principles for doing the activity and comments
Snack activity

Food items - in small pieces - which the children like, for example banana, apple, orange, crisps;

Something uninteresting - e.g. a piece of paper;

Pictures of the food items.
  1. Introduce the food items by saying and signing the word for each item;
  2. Check for which items the child is interested in having: offer some of the food items for the child to take. Re-inforce the language by saying and signing (at the same time) the food items that the child takes;
  3. (Initially) use a forced alternative (see right) to give the child a choice. E.g. "banana or orange", say and sign each option, and indicate the item as you do so. See the comments on the right for using forced alternatives;
  4. Always respond to what you think the child has communicated (see right for developing this).
  5. Wait, to give the child an opportunity to make a request spontaneously, if they don't you can continue from step 3 (offering forced alternatives).

Key strategies - you may need to come back to these as and when necessary:

Introduce each food item;

Check which ones the child is interested in;

Demonstrate the asking for and getting of an item - e.g. with another member of staff;

Wait - give time for the child to respond or initiate;

Offer a "forced alternative", e.g. "apple or orange?" - swap around the order in which you give the alternatives to check that the child is not just saying the last thing you say;

Make it difficult for the child to communicate by pointing by having the choices close together and out of reach - so if they point you actually don't know which one they pointed to;

Be sensitive to if the child is getting frustrated - think of ways to help them get it right first time - e.g. by reducing the choice down to one item (temporarily).

Using forced alternatives:

Always give the child the thing they said/signed for. If they are having difficulties with this - for example always say the last thing in the alternative, try the following:

Have one of the forced alternatives being something uninteresting (e.g. the piece of paper);

Have the last alternative as something the child doesn't want (if the child always says the last thing);

Give more emphasis to the desired item, e.g. "Banana or paper?", you could also try only signing the desired item. Over time, reduce the difference in emphasis.

Improving clarity

Sometimes the child may say/sign what they want, but you don't feel it is clear enough (perhaps you can understand it in this context but might not be able to in another situation). To try and improve this, you can try:

Saying 'pardon?' or something equivalent;

Look confused and say, for example '(Do you mean) apple or banana?' (saying and signing these) - this will often encourage the child to produce a clearer version;

Simply re-inforce with the clear version, e.g. you say "Oh, banana" (saying and signing it then passing it over);

Try to avoid simply asking the child to repeat after you as there is no communication and it's not a natural way to communicate - by asking the child to repeat you have shown them that you have understood, and so this is now a different repetition activity - it also has the danger that it could reduce the accuracy of what the child originally said or signed as they didn't get a direct result from this.

 

Activities to develop understanding of a negative and a noun, e.g. "no hat"

Activity/strategy name and materials required How to do the activity Key principles for doing the activity and comments
Dressing up

- Some everyday clothes eg hat, gloves, scarf, sun glasses

- Large soft toy

- Digital camera or phone with a camera.
  1. Take turns to put on the clothing items one at a time and take a picture. Take a picture with the clothing item removed. You can print the pictures out if you wish.
  2. Comment ‘Look ...... ‘Child’s name) with a hat, and (child’s name) with no hat’.
  3. Ask the child to look at the two pictures and say ‘Show me (child’s name) with a hat’ and show me (child’s name) with no hat.’
  4. Do the same using the large soft toy.

-

Request a desired item

Activity/strategy name and materials required How to do the activity Key principles for doing the activity and comments
Snack time
  • Choice of food items in small pieces - e.g. pieces of banana, orange or crisps - which the person is interested in having;
  • Something not interesting to the person - e.g. a piece of paper;
  • Pictures of each item (e.g. a picture of a banana, a crisp and a piece of paper).
  1. Offer a choice of food items, or a choice of a food item and the "boring" item (if the person doesn't mind which food item they get);
  2. Ask them what they want giving a choice, e.g. "Would you like some banana or a crisp?" (Stress the underlined words and also sign them);
  3. Respond to what you understand the person has communicated - giving them that item.

See the comments on the right as to how to respond to some typical situations.

What to do in common scenarios

The person points at or tries to take the item.

Hold or place the items in such a way that they can't easily take them and so that even if they point it is not clear which one they are choosing (once you know - and the person knows you know - which one they want simply now asking them to repeat what you had hoped they would have requested is much less powerful for learning).

The person always asks for the last thing you said (e.g. always asking for a crisp):

Try reversing the order of the choice you give them;

If they don't seem to care which one you give them, give them a choice of a desirable item and a boring item - saying the boring item last - then respond to their request for the boring item. To stop frustration, you might need to quickly follow this up with another go where you only offer them one item (the desirable item);

Encourage them to point to a picture to show you which one they want - then reinforce this by signing and saying the word.

General strategies

Model the asking and requesting with someone (e.g. other staff) to show what you are hoping people to do.

Key Word Signing

Key word signing is used with people with communication and/or learning difficulties. Key word signing is always done whilst speaking, and you use it to sign the most important words that you are saying at an appropriate level for the person you are signing with.

Aware of changes in daily routine

Activity/strategy name and materials required How to do the activity Key principles for doing the activity and comments
Usual timetable

Picture symbols which represent each activity in the day (and/or use words if the child understands these) with velcro on the back;

Velcro board to stick them to;

A normal day!

You can find picture symbols with the Commtap Symboliser.
  1. At a point earlier in the day (preferably at the beginning), go through the activities you will be doing. Put a card down for each activity in order;
  2. As you come to each activity in the day, refer the child to the corresponding picture in the timetable;
  3. Later in the day - preferably at the end - go through the timetable again;
  4. Once the child is familiar with this, see how much of the timetable they can construct at the beginning and end of the day. Check they are able to show which activity they are currently doing on the timetable.

This activity is about ensuring that the child understands their usual timetable.

Do this activity on a 'normal' day (or at least one that is likely to be normal).

The child should be able to understand the pictures or words you use for the timetable. If not, you should spend some time showing the child the picture symbol word when they are doing the activities in the routine. See also: "Use a visual timetable" on the Commtap site.

If a whole day is too much, you could do this over a part of the day - for example the morning or the afternoon.
Timetable - day which is different

Picture symbols which represent each activity in the day (and/or use words if the child understands these) with velcro on the back;

Velcro board to stick them to;

A day which is different.

You can find picture symbols with the Commtap Symboliser.

Ideally, the child should already be able to construct the timetable for the 'normal' day with minimal prompting.

Asks for specific help to do an activity

Activity/strategy name and materials required How to do the activity Key principles for doing the activity and comments
Sabotage! - supported with a picture symbol

A ‘HELP’ picture symbol 

Container the child can see into but can't open e.g. screw-top jar/zip-top bag etc which contains a motivating reward e.g. crisp, raisin, sticker.

You can get symbols with the Commtap Symboliser.

 
  1. Put the ‘Help’ symbol in front of the child.
  2. Put the motivating reward into the container.
  3. Shake the container and get the child’s interest.
  4. Give the container to the child, so they can try to get the item out of the container.
  5. Make sure the child can give you the container for you to open it for them. At first you may need to take the container from them, open the it, and give it back to them for a few goes.
  6. When the child can do this, when they are going to give you the container, redirect the child to the ‘Help’ symbol and hold out your hand to receive the ‘Help’ symbol. Say ‘Help …… I want help.’
  7. Wait for the child to say ‘Help’ or hand you the ‘Help’ symbol.
  8. If this does not happen help the child to hand over the ‘Help’ symbol. Say ‘Help’ as the child gives you the symbol.

When the child has successfully indicated they want help, give them that help - otherwise the child will become extremely frustrated.
Sabotage! - supported with a sign

Container the child can see into but can't open e.g. screw-top jar/zip-top bag etc which contains a motivating reward e.g. crisp, raisin, sticker.

Make sure you know the sign for help before doing the activity (e.g. Signalong, Makaton).

When the child has successfully indicated they want help, give them that help - otherwise the child will become extremely frustrated.

Over time you will want to encourage the child to use a clearer indication that they want help. You can do this by:

  • waiting - leave time for the child to make some kind of an indication;
  • appear confused and model the sign and say the word ("Help?"), to see if they can try to be a little more accurate;
  • be sensitive about how long you can wait, and how precise their request is before opening the container for them.
Impossible task!

Materials as needed, for example:

  • Pictures for cutting out e.g. old Argos catalogue
  • Scissors
  • Simple board game
  • Blunt pencil
  • Pencil sharpener
  • Paper
  • Equipment for an activity the child enjoys
  • Bubbles

See also: https://en.commtap.org/language-communication/initiate-request-items-do-task

Note, for most of these examples the child could potentially ask you for a specific item, or ask you for help - both are valid!

You can easily integrate this into many classroom activities without the need for any extra equipment.

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