Evaluate the effectiveness of speech, language and communicate Essay

Explain each of the terms: speech, language, communication, speech , language and communication needs. Speech , language and communication are closely tied to other areas of development, this learning outcome requires you to understand and be able to explain links between speech and development and the likely impact of any difficulties that children may have in acquiring speech, communication and language. Some children may not be able to understand the words being spoken to them and/or the grammatical rules of sentence construction. Therefore, when their teacher tells the class what they need to do, or explains a new idea or concept,9 they may struggle to understand what is being said. Having inappropriate vocabulary is essential for the learning process, however learning vocabulary has been identified as one of the most significant difficulties for some children with SLCN,10 11 leading to much of their teacher’s talk being inaccessible. The ability and confidence to ask questions is a vital skill for provoking and shaping new thinking.12 The Primary Strategy recognizes the importance of language for thinking and encourages paired talk and discussion among pupils as a way to enhance learning.13 This is hugely difficult for children with SLCN, so vital learning and opportunities to talk with peers can be missed. They may struggle with developing an age appropriate vocabulary, formulating sentences, using the right words in the right order and with following grammatical rule to understand or make it clear to others what has happened in space and time. Communication Communication is about the way that people send signals to one another. Communication can be seen as an umbrella term because it encompasses both language and speech and also includes facial expression, gesture and body  language. Language Language is something very specific, it is a set of symbols-spoken, written or signed- that can be used and understood between people. Language can be quite abstract and we often forget this. a child has to learn that when the sounds of c-a-t are made, the speaker is referring to a cat even if there is not one in the room. Linguistsd also suggest that the main feature of language is a series of rules that users have to understand and use, but once mastered allow a user to convey anything they wish. At first children cannot use the rules. Toddlers begin by just pointing at objects and saying one word, but after a while they learn how to construct sentences. Speech Speech is essentially vocalized language. It is usually learnt before the written form of the language, in speech, the symbols are not written of signed, but spoken as sounds. The number of sounds that children need to master will depend on the language that they are bing exposed. English has over 40 different sounds or phonemes. Listening Listening is about being able to hear and more importantly understand the speech of others. It is sometimes referred to as ‘receptive speech.’ Babies begin the journey of learning to speak by gaining some ‘receptive speech’ and learning what specific words and phrases mean. Speech, language and communication needs This term is used to refer to any difficulty that a child has in any of the three areas; for example a child might have difficulty in producing certain sounds and so have a difficulty with speech, while a child who does not make eye contact or enjoy being with others may have a more global communication needs. 1.2  Explain how speech, language and communication skills support each of the following areas in children’s development. Learning, emotional, behavior, social. Being able to communicate and, better still, being able to use and understand speech- opens doors in terms of children’s overall development. Learning There are many debates as to what is ‘learning’ but for our purpose we will limit this to children’s overall cognition. The term condition covers a multitude of different tasks, but is mainly about out ability to process and use information that we have gained. For example, A child might see that leaves are falling off tress and get told that this is because it is autumn. The child might then see more leaves falling off a tree. She may remember and make a connection between what she saw earlier on and what she is seeing now. The work autumn may also remember and so she might point and say proudly to the adult with her. ‘ Look those leaves are falling too! Is that because its autumn?’ Later on in that day while having tea, she may tell her mother that in the park leaves are falling off the trees because it is autumn. This example illustrates the way in which for learning to take place, the child has to remember what they have seen earlier, make connections to what they are now seeing or hearing and then come to some conclusion. The ability of the child to ‘label’ it as autumn will help her enormously and she is likely from this point on to notice falling leaves and make the association  over and over again. She can also talk and think about ‘ autumn’ without needing to be in the park. At this point we can begin to understand the limitations of body language, facial expression and gesture when language is not available. Although they allow for instant communication they cannot help a child to understand what is being seen or provide a way in which afterwards the child can communicate what she has seen. This means that children who only have the basic communication skills of body language, gesture and facial expression find it difficult to communicate concepts Emotional development Being able to control your own emotional is a major part of emotional development. Babies and toddlers struggle with his, but as language develops they find it easier because they can express their needs. Tantrums and other outbursts linked to frustration, jealousy or anger tent to diminish as children find ways of talking through how they are feeling. This is one reason why it is thought good practice to ‘name’ emotions when working with young children, so that they begin to understand what they are feeling and have ways of expressing it other than through physical reactions alone. Behavior Being able to manage your own behavior is about self-control. Young children are very impulsive and find it hard to control their behavior but, once language is mastered, children’s behavior changes. It would seem that the acquisition of language helps children to think things over. They focus more on the consequences of their actions and they also internally begin to remind themselves of what they need to do or what they should not do. Interestingly, the start of this process can be observed when a toddler goes up to something that they have been told not to touch, points to it and says ‘no’. Social development Emotional development is linked to being able to control your own emotions and social development builds on this, as it is about being able to recognize emotions in others and learning to adjust your behavior accordingly. It also about understands what the social codes are in any situation and behaving appropriately. This means that good communication and language skills are important. Children need to read the faces and body language of others and respond appropriately. Because play is the main medium of socialization with other children, language skills also become important from around the age of 3 years, as children tent to use speech to talk about what they are doing or, as they get older. Describe the potential impact of speech, language and communication difficulties on the overall development of a child, both currently and in the longer term. Young people with speech, language and communication needs have poor conversational kills, poor non-verbal skills and poor social perception, all of which can hinder their ability to form friendships with their peers and may lead to them becoming marginalized. Those who become isolated in this way often experience anxiety and depression, which can affect their mental health. These problems can become exacerbated with age if they remain unidentified and untreated, and are likely to result in poorer outcomes for the individuals concerned. Speech, language and communication difficulties can erode self-esteem and affect educational achievement, social integration and general behavior. In addition, they increase the probability of offending behavior and early disengagement from school (children with these problems are much less likely to continue in education beyond 16 years of age). Children have difficulties, there are likely to be many effects on their  development, although the extent to which children are affected will very much depend on the nature of their difficulty, its severity and how the child is supported. Short-term effects on development Frustration Anger Withdrawal Low levels of confidence Difficulties in making friends Difficulties in learning new information Difficulties in applying information to new situations Find it hard to make themselves understood The longer term developable consequences in children who have difficulties with their communication, speech and language are in some ways harder to predict but again, in general terms, we may find that children later on have: Lower self-esteem Not achieved their potential Found it hard to make and maintain relationships Become isolated Not reached independence Developed antisocial behavior in some cases. Explain the ways in which adults can effectively support and extend the speech, language and communication development of children during the early years. There are many ways in which adults can effectively support and extend speech, language and communication development in children during early years, Firstly, it is important for the adult to adapt language according to the child’s needs and abilities, some children who have English as a second language may require the adult to point to objects. For example when speaking to a baby or toddler they would simplify the sentences for them to understand where as the older the child gets the more hard sentences can begin to be used. For example to a 1 year old you may hold out a biscuit and say the word where as an older child you would say would you like a biscuit. Secondly; giving children the time and opportunity to communicate, it’s important to give children time to think about what has been said to them and if they don’t answer straight away and not answering for them, allowing them time to respond. Some children would require you to sound them all out but then you must get them to copy you and blend the sounds together whilst giving them time to process what you are telling them. Explain the relevant positive effects of adult support for the children and their careers. Positive adult support: Emotional development Speech, language and communication skills Social interaction Behavior Speech, language and communication skills Very quickly, if high-quality support is given, children can show progress in their speech, language and communication skills. This means that working with children can be very rewarding and parents often delight in the improvement that their children are showing. Social interaction At the heart of social interaction is children’s ability to communicate. This means that positive support can quickly make children more outgoing and also confident in their interactions. Many practitioners report that once children have more speech and language, they are able to play more easily with other children. Behavior Many children who are finding it difficult to communicate and speak will show aggressive, uncooperative and frustrated behavior. Being able to communicate effectively can make an enormous difference to children’s behavior. Parents also note that when they are spending more time communicating with their children, their children show less attention-seeking behavior. Emotional development Positive adult support also helps children’s emotional development. Not only do children become more confident, they also find through works ways of controlling their emotions and expressing their needs. Explain how levels of speech and language development vary between children entering early years provision and need to be taken into account during setting in and planning. Children of the same age will often have different levels of language. This clearly means that we need to identify children whose language is atypical in order that they can gain additional support, but we also need to think about how our practices and procedures support children. For children who do not have spoken language, either because of their age or because of an additional need. It is essential that time is taken for them to get to know their key person before any separation takes place. The key person also needs to find out from the child’s parents how they communicate  with the child and to learn these skills. Children who are speaking well and can understand us still need a similar level of care and attention, but they may find it easier to settle in as they can articulate their feelings. Grouping children Many group care settings will have moments when children are put into groups at lunchtime or for a story. It is important that thought is given to ensuring that children who have language needs are grouped sensitively and carefully so they have the opportunity to interact and be involved. Activities When activities and play opportunities are planned, children’s level of language needs to be considered. Certain activities require a high level of language and so may not be appropriate for a child whose language is still developing, for example ’20 questions’ or ‘I spy’. Language is also needed for role play and so it is important to think about whether children who want to join in role play need support. The ability to process language also means some activities which require children to listen need to be carefully thought about, particularly it there are no visual stimuli which will help children to work out the meaning.