Page 63 - Issue 112 May-June 2021

DLD About the author Sue Marr is an experienced teacher in both mainstream and SEN settings. She has taught pupils with Developmental Language Disorder for many years and has extensive experience of devising and delivering a mainstream curriculum that has been highly differentiated for the language needs of the pupils in her class. “Pupils with DLD have difficulties with working memory” or make up your own signs for key curriculum vocabulary for the whole class to learn. 4. Do it – pupils with DLD respond well when provided with a multi-sensory teaching approach. Try to provide plenty of opportunities for kinaesthetic learning, especially in topics that have a heavy language load. Start with the pupils first- hand experience, focus on life skills and creative tasks where possible. Throughout practical activities, model the language you want the pupil to use. This will then support any subsequent spoken or written tasks. 5. Modify your language – slow your rate of speech! Give one instruction at a time and build the task up. Keep your sentences short and concise, pause in between sentences so pupils can process the information more easily. Be prepared to rephrase what you say more than once. Try to use word order that follows time, for example, ‘Finish question 10 before you go outside’’ is easier for a pupil with DLD to understand than “Before you go outside finish question 10.” Where possible, simplify vocabulary for example, using the word ‘make’ instead of ‘produce.’ 6. Chunk information – to support the pupils understanding of everyday instructions, chunk the information by using pauses, for example, “tidy your desk...collect your planner... then line up.” It is often useful to repeat the instruction again! Be explicit, use literal language. Pupils with DLD struggle to understand inference and language forms such as idioms and metaphors. 7. Words – pupils with DLD will know fewer words than their typically developing peers. It is vital that we teach new words, ■ Using visual prompting. senmagazine.co.uk ensuring that key curriculum vocabulary is explicitly taught. Try to plan vocabulary activities that target subject specific words because pupils with DLD will not ‘pick up’ new vocabulary like their classmates. Perhaps set aside 5 minutes at the start of lessons for ‘vocabulary time.’ The whole class could benefit, particularly in subjects such as maths and science, as the vocabulary used, can be very abstract and involve complex temporal or spatial language. 8. Small steps – break down tasks into smaller and more manageable parts. Provide a tick list so the pupils can see their progress and know what to do next. 9. Repeat it – try to recap previous learning at the beginning of each lesson. Many pupils with DLD have difficulties with working memory and so benefit from prompting. Throughout the lesson, repeat what you want the children to learn and model the use of targeted vocabulary. Do the same activity more than once but make small changes each time to extend learning. Ask the pupils to repeat back to you what they have been asked to do so that you can assess their understanding. 10. Model it – whether spoken or written, always model the language you want the pupil with DLD to use. Provide them with a toolkit of phrases/sentence structures that they can use to answer specific question forms These ten strategies should not be viewed as ‘extra workload’ for teachers. Supporting pupils with Developmental Language Disorder is really about good classroom practice..... making lessons visual/practical, prioritising vocabulary, varying teaching approaches, using innovative resources, being consistent and allowing time for consolidation of learning. Moor House aims to share expertise and specialist knowledge with the wider community, including with staff in mainstream schools and colleges. Bespoke training sessions can be provided to primary schools, secondary schools and further education colleges, with courses suited to the requirements of the staff and students. SEN112 63