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    • Communication & Interaction

    All of our children experience some challenges with communication and there are lots of ways in which we support the development of this within school.  We are supported by the NHS West Lancashire Speech and Language Therapy Service who work with the children and Kingsbury staff to help us provide the optimum environment in which children can develop their skills.

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    TOTAL COMMUNICATION IS THE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS BY WHATEVER MEANS POSSIBLE

    At Kingsbury we use a Total Communication approach, which basically means that we utilise different methods of communication to support each individual child as fully as possible.  Listed below are just a few of the different approaches used, but staff will discuss with you what is most appropriate for your individual child’s needs.  Whatever approach is decided upon, spoken language at an appropriate level for each individual is always used.  Here we outline some of the ways in which we support communication development in school.  This list is not exhaustive, and it may be that other methods are used to support your child.  Our commitment to working with parents to ensure the best outcomes means that we will always talk to you about the most appropriate ways to support your child.

    TOTAL COMMUNICATION AND INTERACTION APPROACHES

    OBJECTS OF REFERENCE        INTENSIVE INTERACTION           SIGNING        PECS        VISUALS        EYE GAZE       
    COMMUNICATION DEVICES        ACCESSIBLE TECHNOLOGY        COLOURFUL SEMANTICS

    OBJECTS OF REFERENCE

    For children at the earliest levels of understanding who find it difficult to understand spoken words, signs, symbols or photographs. We encourage them to handle a real object which becomes part of the activity - for example, a cup may represent a drink. 

    INTENSIVE INTERACTION

    This is an approach used to support individuals at early levels of development and helps to develop early interaction skills so that children can enjoy being with other people and develop their ability to use eye contact, facial expression, vocalisation and turn taking.

    SIGNING

    Makaton signs are used, always alongside speech, to support children to understand the spoken word.  Signs are very useful for children who are visual learners and helps them to develop and expand their vocabulary skills.

    For children who are visually impaired “on body signs” may be used.  This means that the adult physically makes the sign on the child’s body as they speak to develop the child’s comprehension skills.

    PECS

    The Picture Exchange Communication System is where a child is taught to hand over a picture or symbol in order to get something they want.  We start at the very early stages of children requesting a favourite food or toy then move onto sentence level and commenting to develop language skills.  As with signing, speech is also used alongside PECS.

    VISUALS

    Children with learning difficulties benefit from having a visual to support the spoken word.  Some children have spoken language supported by photographs of the real object / place.  For example, they are shown a photograph of soft play before being taken there.  For others, a symbol or drawing will support their understanding. As with all of our communication support approaches, the level of visuals will be personalised to the individual.  Some children will be shown a single visual prompt, others will have a now/next board and others may have a timetable for the day showing them what will happen.

    EYE GAZE

    Eye gaze or eye tracking is a way of accessing a computer by controlling the curser with your eyes.  The system follows your eyes with amazing accuracy to see where you are looking on the screen and is suitable for children who have limited physical movements.  Where appropriate we work with the ACE centre https://acecentre.org.uk to find the most appropriate way to help children communicate using technology.

    COMMUNICATION DEVICES

    Several of our children communicate using apps on iPads to support them to tell us what they are thinking.  We have access to a range of apps depending on what is appropriate for each individual.

    ACCESSIBLE TECHNOLOGY

    Switches, sound buttons, big mac

    COLOURFUL SEMANTICS

    Colourful semantics is an approach created by a Speech and Language Therapist called Alison Bryan.  We use this with some children at Kingsbury to help them develop their expressive language skills. 

    This approach helps children gradually build up the length of their sentences using colour coded cards to help them describe a picture -  

     

    Who? ORANGE 

    e.g. People, Animals, Characters 

     

     

    (What) doing? / Verbs YELLOW

    e.g. Throwing, Eating, Riding. I feel, I see, I want 

     

     

    What? GREEN 

    Object e.g. ‘the ball’ ‘the sandwich’ 

     

     

    Where? BLUE 

    Location e.g. ‘the park’ ‘the kitchen’ 

     

     

    Once children are able to confidently use these first four stages they can progress onto using adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions and negatives.

    If this an approach that your child is working on their class teacher, or speech and language therapist will be happy to talk to you about this.  Through Tapestry your child’s achievements with Colourful Semantics will be reported to you.

     

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