In this week's podcast Dale Pickles from B Squared is joined by Wendy Lee to discuss the language and literacy link, the impact a pupil's language difficulties has on their literacy.

Wendy is a speech and language therapist for over 30 years, with a wealth of experience. Wendy was a professional director of the Communications Trust until 2015, being involved in a range of projects as well as inputting on national policy and research. Wendy is currently the director of LINGO which provides consultancy, professional development, resources and speech and language therapy.

The Language and Literacy link is the link between a pupil's language difficulties and their literacy difficulties. It seems obvious when you think about it, if a pupils struggles with speaking an listening, they will probably be lacking skills when it comes to reading and writing.

Many children with SEN have poor spoken language skills. It is estimated that at least 10% of all children have some difficulties with speech, language and communication, will have SLCN; this may be a primary need, as with Developmental Language Disorder or it may be a Language Disorder linked to another condition, such as cognition and learning or autism. Limited language impacts on literacy.

Sometimes, it is language that is the foundation of literacy difficulties, though rarely is this the focus of literacy teaching or support. The podcast will explore how a focus on language could support those children with limited literacy skills.

Useful Links

Who are poor comprehenders? - https://readoxford.org/who-are-poor-comprehenders

Improving literacy in key stage 1 - https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/tools/guidance-reports/literacy-ks-1/

Improving literacy in key stage 2 - https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/tools/guidance-reports/literacy-ks-2/

IPEELL: Using self-regulation to improve writing https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects-and-evaluation/projects/ipeell/

Westerveld and Gillon Oral Narrative Program 2007 - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275017556_Westerveld-and-Gillon-Oral-Narrative-Program-2007

Lingo - www.lingospeech.co.uk

How to contact Wendy Lee

Twitter - @Lingo_speech

Email - [email protected]