Useful Information
Speech and Language Ideas and Resources – Useful Links and ‘Blanks’ Language Levels Information
Early Years:
- ‘Tiny Happy People’:
www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people
Simple activities and play ideas to promote early speech and language development
- ‘Singing Hands’:
Search for their videos on YouTube for lots of nursery rhymes and pop songs with Makaton signs
- Makaton: www.makaton.org
Free downloads and resources with signs and symbols
All Ages:
- ICAN Talking Point:
General information and resources to support parents to develop their child’s speech, language and communication skills.
- Twinkl:
www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/parents
This is being offered for free at the moment - type in speech and language games for lots of activities and ideas. Remember to check out your child’s latest SLT report/update/plan for specific target areas, if your child has already had an SLT assessment in school.
- Word Aware:
http://thinkingtalking.co.uk/free-resources
Great ideas to help develop your child’s expressive language/ vocabulary at home.
- Speech Link & Language Link:
https://speechandlanguage.info/parents
A brand new Parent Portal from Language Link for ideas and games to help develop children’s understanding.
HOW TO HELP DEVELOP YOUR CHILD’S UNDERSTANDING:
BLANKS LANGUAGE LEVELS
Lots of children in our school are part of speech and language groups to help with their understanding of spoken language. Here is a list of questions below to ask your child when you are sharing books or working on their home learning packs to help to continue to develop their understanding while they are at home. There are also Blanks Levels Primary Resources available to download from www.twinkl.co.uk.
Try not to overload with questions, just pick out a few from each level for each activity your child is working on. Level 4 are the hardest type of question. Remember to check your latest SLT report/update/plan if your child has already completed a Blanks assessment in school, as this will tell you which level to focus on.
Level 1 questions
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What can you hear?
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Point to an object (What is this?)
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Show me the….
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Who is that?
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What can you see?
Level 2 questions
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What’s happened?
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Who is in the story/ where are they/ what are they doing?
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What are the characteristics of an object - What size is it? What shape? What colour? How many? How does it taste/smell/feel? Where is it?
Identifying object functions - Show me the one we use for cutting/drawing eating etc…
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Identifying differences - How are these different?
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Name an object from a category e.g. Tell me something that's a type of fruit, item of clothing etc.
Level 3 questions
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What might the person in the story be saying, thinking or feeling?
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What might happen next?
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Retell me the whole of the story
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Give child a 2 part instruction e.g. put you book on the table and then find page 80.
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Ask your child to give you an instruction on how to do something…Tell me how to plant a bulb etc
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How are these 2 items the same?
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Which one is not …round, furry, shiny etc..
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Tell me something else we could use to… paint with, eat with etc.
Level 4 questions
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What will happen if …
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Why do you think that might happen, why did the character do that…
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What else could you do? What could the character have done…
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Explain why something can’t be done e.g Why can't we …
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How can we tell?
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What could the character have done instead…
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Explaining means to goal - Why should we use that?
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Explaining construction of objects - Why is … made of …?
If you have any queries or would like further information during the school closure period please email your Ms Cahill at emily.cahill@st-philips.stockport.sch.uk