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Topic “Understanding of Language/Comprehension”
Responds to who questions
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Familiar picture books
|
| Teach these concepts using repeated phrases and matching them as much as possible with the relevant symbol. Allow thinking time. Reward any attempts. |
| Photos of people One or more of these:
...and if required:
| You may need to give the child a language model before he/she can ask a 'who' question. | |
| Who is around? A situation where there are other people - for example in class, in the playground. "Who" symbol card if required. |
Developing awareness that an object exists when out of sight
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Peek-a-boo - A toy that your child is motivated by. - A small blanket. |
| Only do this activity when the child is interested in the toy and is likely to want to continue to play with it Keep other distractions to a minimum - if there are other toys for them to play with they may not look for the hidden toy If the child is not aware that the toy still exists, gain their attention and lift up the cloth. 'Here it is!' Let the child play with the toy again |
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 |
| 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.
Text mangle tool
See the "comments" link associated with this page for more information about this tool.
What this tool is for
The purpose of this tool is to be able to get a flavour of:
- What an early reader might get from text;
- What can be gained from text where only a selected number of high frequency words are used;
- How a strategy of signing could assist comprehension;
- Or...to create your own Jaberwocky poem!
See the comments page for more information on this tool.
Reading your school or college timetable
| Activity name and materials required |
Intermediate Listening Games
Intermediate listening games for groups.
Harder listening games
| Activity name and materials required |
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. |
| |
| - |
recall story details and retell them
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Storyteller Stories the child is unfamiliar with. They can be extracts from reading books or made up. Photocopy of the story (optional) | 1. Explain to the child that they are going to tell a story. You are going to tell it first and then it will be their turn. 2. Tell the story. It should be about 150 - 200 words. Make sure that there is enough detail in the section you have chosen or in the story you have made up. 3. Have the child tell the story back to you, or to another child. 4. Look at the photocopy of the story together and highlight all the details the child remembered (optional). | You can have the child use a puppet when they are telling the story |
| Quiz Story, description or explanation the child is unfamiliar with. Photocopy of this (optional) | If the child is finding it very difficult, make your questions easier, so that the child finishes the activity with success. You can ask easier questions, give the child clues (e.g. multiple choice answers) or read part of the story / description / explanation again. | |
| Messages Story, description or explanation the child is unfamiliar with. Photocopy of this (optional) Pens and paper or whiteboards | If you can, try and put yourselves at different ends of the room so the second child cannot hear the message when you say it! You could make the activity more interesting by setting the scene and sending the messages in character - e.g. shopping, an adventure story or something related to a literacy or history topic. | |
| Comprehension Activities Curriculum topic activities |
Identify key information in stories with question prompts
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Story String String Pegs Who-what-where-what prompt sheet using symbols, colour-coded:
Who (orange) What (i.e. objects - green) Where (red) What (i.e. actions - yellow)
Picture cards in separate bags or envelopes follows: Who envelope: e.g. various people, animals, monsters, spacemen, football players What (objects) envelope: e.g. football, car, rocket, computer, stick, box, bicycle Where envelope: e.g. park, mountain, house, beach What (actions) envelope: e.g. jump, sleep, fly, fall, cry, drive You could also use the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint to get picture symbols for these items. | 1. Pick a card from each envelope and peg them onto the string. 2. Make up a simple story which has everything on the string in it. 3. Have the child recap the main parts of the story to you, using the prompt sheet. 4. Take it in turns to make up the story, but have the child do the retell of it every time. | |
| Story Retell A familiar story, and key pictures of who, where, what and what happened in the story. (You might be able to photocopy this from a book). Who-what-where-what prompt sheet using symbols, colour-coded:
Who (orange) What (i.e. objects - green) Where (red) What (i.e. actions - yellow) You could use the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint to get symbols. | Example: Goldilocks - book Pictures: Who: Goldilocks, 3 bears Where: house, forest What things: porridge, chair, bed What happened: hot, walking, eating, breaking, sleeping, come back, run away You could vary this by watch short clips of film / computer programmes instead of having the book. | |
| Walk the walk A wind up toy (e.g. Simon the Sheep) Pictures of things it might see or do on its walk Who-what-where-what prompt sheet using symbols, colour-coded:
Who (orange) What (i.e. objects - green) Where (red) What (i.e. actions - yellow) You could use the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint to get symbols. | ||
| Any story or recount of an event Who-what-where-what prompt sheet using symbols, colour-coded:
Who (orange) What (i.e. objects - green) Where (red) What (i.e. actions - yellow) You could use the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint to get symbols. |
sort items by property and function
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Categories Challenge Picture cards. These can be related to class topic vocabulary | Have each adult and child in the group take it in turns to make the cards into 2 groups (or 3 if necessary). The cards in each group must all share a property or a function e.g. made of metal / transport (encourage the children not to base their groups purely on appearance). Write down the categories that are thought of, so that the children can review them. | This is a very flexible activity, which can be used for a very wide range of vocabulary. If the children can read, you could use written words rather than pictures. |
| Shopping List Flash cards with possible properties and functions written on them (e.g. hard, rough, things you wear, things you use to cut with, things you can read, etc.) A dice | If 6 items is too challenging, use a 1 - 3 dice. You could also extend the activity by having the other children in the group add more items to a group. You could stick the flash card into a notebook, and write / draw each item that is thought of around it. Each time you do the activity you will be building up a bank of words linked into categories. | |
| Add One Assorted picture cards. (They can be linked to class topic vocabulary. Make sure there are cards from a range of different categories) | This activity should only be used with vocabulary items the children are familiar with. When the children have a number of cards, it will be easier if they can make more than 3 groups. If they are finding it challenging, remove the time pressure. This means that each child has as long as they need to make 2 or 3 groups. When each child has finished, everyone then takes an additional card. | |
| Semantic Links This activity requires the purchasing of a commercial programme. SLTs/specialist teachers - help to further develop this sheet by providing an example or description of alternative resources to use in this activity. Worksheet from Semantic Links programme - available from Stass Publications Choose one with 3 choices. |
sort materials by properties and function
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Object properties race track game Pictures of everyday objects from classroom or home, or real objects. Cards with words and symbols of actions e.g. cut, stretch, squash Dice Counters You can create cards with symbols for actions using the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint. | Explain that you are going to be thinking about things you see around you, and what you can do to them. Discuss each of the action cards, and model each action. E.g. stretch - stretch a rubber band Lay the picture cards out in a simple race track. Put the action cards up where you can all see them. Take turns to throw a dice and move round the track. Turn over the picture card you land on and say which one of the actions can be done to that object. The first person to the end of the track wins. | It is important to check the child understands the actions, and knows what the objects are. |
| Object properties card sorting game Cards with words and symbols of actions Bag / box Pictures of objects from school, or home / real objects Sandtimer You can create cards with symbols for actions using the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint. | It is important to check the child understands the actions, and knows what the objects are. | |
| Actions with everyday objects Pictures of everyday objects from classroom or home, or real objects. Cards with words and symbols of activities e.g. eat, draw You can create cards with symbols for actions using the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint. | ||
| Object properties four in a row game Pictures of everyday objects from classroom or home, or real objects. Cards with words and symbols of activities e.g. eat, draw Counters in 2 colours - 10 each. You can create cards with symbols for actions using the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint.
| To make this easier, put cards up where you can see them showing a range of activities to choose from. |
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