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Courses Speech, Language and Communication Needs

Paid course

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

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Group of school kids lip-reading a teacher

The term speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) is commonly used to describe a wide range of issues that make it difficult for children and young people to communicate and interact with others. SLCN is the most common childhood disability in the UK with 10% of pupils entering school with delayed speech or a language development need. Learners with SLCN may have difficulty with stammering, loss of voice, problems producing sounds or using language accurately. They may struggle to express their ideas and communicate their needs. In group settings, they may find it difficult to follow instructions and comprehend non-verbal cues.

This course aims to develop the knowledge, skills and practice of all education professionals working with children and young people (CYP) with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). You will learn how to assess the needs of a learner and go on to develop a support plan consisting of SMART goals and interventions, which you will implement and later review to determine how well it has met the learner’s specific developmental needs. SLCN is often a feature of other special educational needs so this is a good foundational course to strengthen your capacity to support learners with SLCN and other co-morbidities, such as a hearing impairment and autism.

The course content relates to learners in compulsory education (4-18 years), however, the theory of language development and many of the assessment and intervention strategies can be contextualised and implemented in an early years setting.

This course responds to the information needs of the whole community centred around supporting the child/young person with SLCN. Parents and carers benefit from raised awareness of their child’s needs. Advisory teachers, therapists and educational psychologists gain access to evidence based CPD resources that can be used to strengthen capacity in their local authority and schools. Schools can use this course to train individuals or groups of teachers and teaching support staff as part of a school’s improvement plan or a whole-school initiative. NQTs/RQTs also build a secure knowledge of the graduated approach at the start of their career.

Our courses are structured into four sections. Click on the section headings to reveal page titles and some example content.

Understanding

Learn about language development and the range of difficulties that learners with SLCN can experience, and the impact on access to the curriculum and/or social inclusion.

  1. Course aims
  2. Section objectives
  3. Terminology associated with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN)
  4. Facts about SLCN
  5. Language and the language environment
    Screenshot from Understanding page 5
    Screenshot from Understanding page 5
  6. What is language? (Part 1)
  7. What is language? (Part 2)
  8. Nonverbal communication
  9. Reflective Quiz - Key message 1
  10. Comparing language
  11. Language in school
  12. Reflective Activity - Le Prof!
  13. Components of the language system – receptive and expressive language
  14. Components of the language system – language processing
  15. Language development
    Screenshot from Understanding page 15
    Screenshot from Understanding page 15
  16. Recognising atypical language development
  17. Difficulties in receptive or expressive language
  18. Pragmatics or social use of language or communication
  19. Impact on key curriculum areas and social inclusion
  20. End of section quiz
  21. Section summary
Assessment

Learn how to assess individual needs, carry out informal assessments and create a picture of the individual strengths and weaknesses of your learner.

  1. Section objectives and your learner profile
  2. The purpose of assessment
    Screenshot from Assessment page 2
    Screenshot from Assessment page 2
  3. The process of assessment
  4. Assessment checklists
  5. Assessing attention and listening
  6. Assessing the attention to task
  7. Assessing expressive language
    Screenshot from Assessment page 7
    Screenshot from Assessment page 7
  8. Assessing vocabulary
  9. Assessing phonological – articulatory skills and fluency
  10. Assessing social language
  11. Assessing independent learning strategies
  12. Observing another adult implement support strategies
  13. Course assignment: Your learner’s three SMART goals
  14. End of section quiz
  15. Section summary
Interventions

Comprehend a range of strategies to help learners with SLCN and create your own intervention plan to support the needs of your learner.

  1. Section objectives
  2. Introduction to intervention strategies
  3. Strategies to support attention and listening
  4. Strategies to support the ability to follow instructions
  5. Strategies to support attention to task
  6. Strategies to support curriculum access
    Screenshot from Interventions page 6
    Screenshot from Interventions page 6
  7. Strategies to support expressive language skills
  8. Strategies to support grammatical difficulties
  9. Strategies to support vocabulary acquisition
  10. Strategies to support the development of phonological and articulation skills
  11. Strategies to support fluency difficulties
  12. Strategies to support difficulties with social language
    Screenshot from Interventions page 12
    Screenshot from Interventions page 12
  13. Course assignment: Your learner’s interventions
  14. Section summary
Case Studies

View videos of authentic learners with SLCN and observe the impact of interventions on their developmental progress.

  1. Case Study: Gilberto Year 1 (age 6)
  2. Case Study: Oliver, Year 6 (age 10)
  3. Case Study: Peter Year 7 (age 12)
“Good to review how to write and structure interventions so they are SMART!

Teaching Assistant

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

“It has helped me identify a girl in year 8 who has only very basic communication skills and given me the confidence to help her more specifically, by encouraging her to read aloud and speak in front of a group, which she has just done.

Teaching Assistant

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

“Was able to learn and implement straight away.

Teaching Assistant

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

“I enjoyed the videos, as they had lots of different practical ideas on how you can support students. I have identified some interventions or activities which I can use with my students, and so far they have worked well and the children have had a positive response to them.

Teaching Assistant

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

“I will be more confident in the classroom implementing strategies for SLCN and to help them access the learning even more. I would like to be able to come back to this to remind myself of different ways of learning as well as different techniques to continue with.

Teaching Assistant

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

“I feel this course has made me think more, helping me to communicate with children better.

Advisory Teacher

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

“It has refreshed my knowledge of pupils who have speech and language difficulties.

Teaching Assistant

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

“I believe I will be able to better identify learners and set and implement targets for them.

Teaching Assistant

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

“I am inspired to use my training in the classroom.

Teaching Assistant

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

“I have vividly become confident in identifying and supporting children with speech language and communication needs.

Teaching Assistant

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

“I will now look to break down targets.

Qualified Teacher

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

“Face to face session to follow soon, first session was induction related. The training was very helpful for me to identify how I can support school staff in implementing strategies I mention more effectively in the classroom.

Teaching Assistant

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

“This training has helped me consider how working jointly with school staff and parents and considering all communication environments can have a positive impact on outcomes. Supporting school staff to understand the importance and process of goal setting and completing intervention has also improved outcomes as having a shared understanding has increased staff motivation to follow care plans and complete intervention with SLCN children.

Qualified Teacher

Speech, Language and Communication Needs

About this course
Rating

Delivery

20 hours, 1-2 hrs per week

Flexible start date

Assignment
  • Section quizzes
  • Forum participation
  • Create an action plan

Tutoring options
  • OLT Associate Tutor
  • Delivery Partner (e.g. Local Authority or Schools)
£

Cost per place
  • £0 (excl. VAT) for OLT Tutor
  • Just £0 (excl. VAT) for existing Delivery Partners
  • Discounts apply to purchases of 10 or more places
  • Organisation/Whole-school unlimited licences available

Certification

Logo of CPD20 hrs CPD Certified What's this?

Logo of OLTCertificate of Achievement

OLT Associate Tutors

Photo of Kim Webb

Kim Webb
Photo of Rod Markham

Rod Markham

TCert, Adv. Dip. Ed. (SEN), BA (Hons), MSC, CPsychol, AFBPS, HCPC registered

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Tutored places

£550

/ per place (excl VAT)
  • Flexible online training which adapts to your schedule
  • Engaging learning format alongside novel AI learning approaches
  • A comprehensive, modular format which moves through three core sections: Understanding, Assessment, and Intervention followed by case studies
  • A catalogue of practical and accessible resources
  • All the practical knowledge, tools, and confidence to make a sustainable difference
  • Regular psychological supervision to embed practice
  • Regular solution-focused coaching to empower and build sustainable practice
  • 20 hours, join a termly cohort
Local Authority/MAT

Flexible

and scalable finance options
  • Impactful for School Staff Having all the knowledge, tools and confidence to imporve outcomes for CYP
  • Enjoyable and Rewarding for Your Team Training to mentor staff to embed best practice through solution-focused coaching skills
  • Sustainable for Your Organisation Highly cost effective with evidenced KPIs embedded, and ongoing personalised strategic support from Educational Psychologists to maximise outcomes

Book a meeting with your service coordinator Richard Skelton, Educational Psychologist

Course learning outcomes

On successful completion of the course, you will be able to:

  • describe the prevalence and hidden nature of speech, language and communication needs
  • differentiate between typical and atypical stages of language acquisition
  • identify receptive, expressive and pragmatic language difficulties and evaluate their impact on access to the curriculum and social inclusion
  • describe the purpose and process of individual assessments
  • use checklists to assess attention, listening, expressive language and fluency skills
  • observe and evaluate social use of language and independent learning strategies
  • design and plan strategies to support the development of phonological and articulation skills
  • create a support plan for a pupil/group of pupils in your school

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