Why It’s Essential to Consider Students’ Language Skills in Year 7

Many students will start secondary school with unidentified speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN) as difficulties are often missed or misidentified.
The Communication Trust (‘Talk of the Town’, 2014) found that an average of around 40% of children with SLCN were not being identified. Those who were most difficult to spot were older students, particularly those with difficulties understanding language, of whom 48% in Key Stage 3 were not identified. This figure is staggering.
In the current landscape of therapist shortages and ever-increasing constraints in education settings, it’s understandable to feel overwhelmed and disillusioned. You may experience frustration around not being able to achieve all you had hoped for when you began as a SENCO: supporting your SEND students to the best of your ability.
As difficult as these feelings may be, it’s also crucial to acknowledge that without change, we risk missing the opportunity to improve the future for our children and young people with SLCN. So, what are the main issues and what is the impact of SLCN at secondary school? It’s good to keep abreast of the facts, and in doing so, you might find that putting support in place at this stage can make a bigger difference than you initially thought.
A Steep Increase in Language and Communication Demands at Secondary School
There is an enormous increase in demand on our students’ language, communication and executive function skills at secondary school, yet their brains and skills are far from developed.
Students will encounter increasingly complex and nuanced language together with higher volumes of information. The effect of this combined with greater social demands and juggling multiple subjects, teachers and peers should not be underestimated. Nor should the effects of adolescence and significant structural changes going on in teenage brains at a time when young people are trying to establish their identity and fit in with their peers.
The Hidden Nature of Language and Communication Difficulties
Language and communication needs that might not have had significant impact at primary school may now start to present significant challenges for a student. However, these difficulties can be hard to spot—often ‘hidden’ by challenging behaviour or masking, especially in girls.
Research estimates that there are two children in every classroom with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)—a lifelong condition which affects people’s ability to express and understand language.
Difficulties with understanding are almost impossible to spot from observation alone. On the surface teenagers may appear capable communicators but they may have become adept at masking, copying their peers or hiding behind learnt classroom routines.
Sadly, and not uncommonly, students’ SLCN may only be diagnosed because of extreme behaviours such as self-harming, eating disorders, anxiety-based school absence and angry outbursts. Research has found that 8 in 10 children with emotional and behaviour disorders have unidentified language difficulties (Hollo et al., 2014).
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What Is The Link Community?
The Link Community offers a wealth of free resources to support speech, language, and communication in schools. As a member, you’ll gain access to:
- The Ultimate Guide to SLCN (online version)
- A school speech and language audit tool
- The Link magazine library
- A free ticket to The Link Live Speech and Language Day (previously £80 + VAT)
- Additional speech and language resources
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