Supporting students with communication needs in ks3 including. This was compiled by my Literacy interventions coordinator at Cheney School.

2. What do we mean by
‘communication needs’?
 Listening / paying attention
 Understanding – verbal
 Understanding – non-verbal
 Understanding – reading comprehension
 Vocabulary and word finding
 Speech difficulties
 Verbal expression
 Written expression
 Organisation
 Social interaction

3.  Communication difficulties, including ASD, is the
most common form of SEN found in early years
students.
 In deprived areas up to 55% of 4 year olds have some
kind of communication difficulty.
 In secondary school 6-8% of students struggle with
some aspect of communication – that is 2-3 per class
and 1/100 students have ASD.
 60% of the young people in the youth justice system
have communication needs.

4. ACTIVITY 1
 What happens when we listen and speak?:
The communication chain

5. Look/
attend
Interpret
non-verbal
communication
Listen/ hear
Remember
Understand the
words
Understand the
grammar
Understand the meaning –
literal and non-literal
Choose the right
words
Use grammar
Choose the right
sounds
Speak appropriately
= pragmatics
Have ideas and
decide what to
say
Speak fluently
listening
understanding expressive
language
social use

6. Supporting listening and attention
 What can we do to support listening and attention in
the classroom?
 Make eye contact with students when communicating
and encourage them to do the same
 Break activities down into chunks
 Time individual activities
e.g. tell them that you will be back in 5 minutes and
what you expect them to have done by then

7. Supporting understanding
菜单
鸡汤
火腿三明治
带皮马铃薯
面食
冰淇淋
水果沙拉

8. Supporting understanding
菜单
鸡汤
火腿三明治
带皮马铃薯
面食
冰淇淋
水果沙拉

9. Stick writing

10. Mind maps

11. Inference
The man walked carefully down the
path.
 What do we know? Help the child to identify facts.
 What can we predict? Why might he be going
carefully? What is most likely?
 Are we right?

12. Supporting expression
 Modelling the correct use of language and correcting
their verbal errors
 Give them plenty of time to respond
 Provide task management sheets so that they (or you)
can break down the task
 Encourage mind mapping
 Writing frames
 Encourage all forms of communication
 Don’t finish their sentences
 Use a variety of questions or comment on what they say
rather than question