General Classroom Strategies for Teachers to
Help
Children with Language Difficulties
Speech and Language Therapy Service - Speech and Language
Inclusion Partnership
Gaining attention
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Sit the child in the classroom so the child can easily see you and you can easily see them. It
may also help if they can see and follow the other children.
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Encourage good listening. Talk to them about behaviours necessary for “good listening”, i.e.
Sitting still
Looking at the speaker
Listening to what the speaker is saying
Thinking about what the speaker is saying
You must praise them when they do well!
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Gain the child’s attention by saying their name before speaking to them.
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Work out what things are distractions for them and endeavour to minimise these distractions.
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Give a clear signal when it is particularly important that they listen.
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For children with a reduced attention span, adjust the length of a task whenever possible.
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When talking, use visual aids, facial expression and gestures to give the child visual as
well as auditory information to focus on.
Helping children with poor auditory memory
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Avoid a time lapse between giving instructions and the child actually carrying out the
instruction.
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Simplify language and reduce memory load by breaking up instructions into manageable
chunks. For example a long two part instruction could be broken into two smaller ones.
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Ask the child to repeat back what they have been asked to do and check that they can
remember. Encourage them to use the same strategy of chunking the information.
Supporting comprehension
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Monitor your own language; keep it at an appropriate level. For example – consider the
level of vocabulary, grammar and the amount of information.
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Emphasise key words when giving instructions etc.
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Use minimal, precise language, avoid redundant and ambiguous language.
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Use two or three simple sentences rather than one long and grammatically complex
sentence.
e.g. Replace “Blue Group take out your science folders, Red Group tidy away your clay
models and Green Group, before you stick in your drawings make sure each one is named.
With “Blue Group…take out your science folders”
“Red Group…tidy away your models”
“Green Group…Name your drawings and stick them
in your book.”
•
You may need to give the child explanations and instructions separately from the rest of
the class and may need to repeat information later to ensure the child stays on task.
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Give the child time to process language and to formulate his response. A child may
appear to not understand when in fact he may just need time to think. Repetition of an
instruction is not always helpful, you may need to paraphrase or add extra steps.
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Encourage the child to indicate if they do not understand. They need to realise that it’s
OK not to understand, but that they need to tell you.
You may need to help the child identify the reason why they have not understood and
to help them learn appropriate phrases for seeking clarification. You can begin to help
them by asking such questions as:“Did I say that too fast?”
“Was there a word you didn’t understand?”
“Would you like me to say it again?”
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Check if the child has understood and/or remembered ideas and instructions, e.g. ask them
“What do you need to do?” “Where do you need to put your…..?”
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Provide practical experience where possible and use visual/concrete aids to support your
teaching, so that the child has not got to rely solely on interpreting auditory information.
Improving a child’s understanding of vocabulary
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Specifically teach new vocabulary and give the child lots of opportunities to practice
and consolidate. New words will not be picked up incidentally and it is likely that they
will be understood or used when they have only been explained once.
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Identify core topic vocabulary, check understanding and use and if necessary teach
unfamiliar words. If possible new words should be introduced in advance so that
the child is familiar with them when they are introduced in class and is not always one
step behind.
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Pupils learn new vocabulary by making a number of semantic and phonological
associations such as; Semantic Associations
-where would you find it?
-what is it used for?
-what does it look like?
-what group does it belong to?
Phonological Associations
-what’s the first/last
sound?
-what does it rhyme with?
-how many syllables has it
got?
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When teaching new concepts focus on one concept at a time. For example, don’t
introduce “heavy” and “light” at the same time. Teach heavy first refer to objects as being
“heavy” and “not heavy”. Once the child can reliably understand “heavy” then you can
introduce the word “light”.
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Focus on the understanding of a new word or grammatical structure before expecting
the child to use it themselves. There is usually an interval between understanding &
spontaneously using new language.
Supporting expressive language
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Allow the child plenty of opportunities to hear model answers before having to respond.
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If a child makes an error with grammar or vocabulary, say it back to them correctly, e.g.
(pupil) “Mummy writ a letter” (teacher) “Oh, Mummy wrote a letter”
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Use pictures/mind-maps/story planners to support the child when re-telling a story or event.
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Provide opportunities for the child to work with ‘talk partners’ or in small groups.
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Encourage role-reversal activities where the child initially listens to instructions but then
has the opportunity to ‘be the teacher’.