The aim of the groups is to improve the child’s capacity to belong more effectively to his or her social network, at school and at home. There are well matched groups for ages between 5 and 17 years . Each group has a maximum of 6 participants and is run co-jointly by a SLT , and a Neuro-Psychologist who is also an educationalist.
The objectives include helping
-the child to share their special interests
-to give the child pride and confidence in themselves for their achievements
-to enhance friendships and relationships through a common interest/task
-to use expressive language effectively: tell some things, edit what is told.
-to use body language to keep the interest of the group
-to contain their excitement , and concentrate until their turn comes in the session by learning to watch facial expression, voice tones and body –language.
-to allow others in the group to join in the presentation at the appropriate time: show and tell; ask and tell
-to ask and answer appropriate questions to show understanding and enthusiasm
-to summarize data : learning to choose what to tell/what to leave out: we need to help them edit /tell enough. A useful way is to say : "Tell me 3 things about...."; Now tell me 2 more things about......
B. SPEECH AND LANGUAGE GROUPS
Speech, Language and Communication Groups
The aim of these groups is to improve the child’s capacity to belong more effectively to his or her social and educational network through a mature use of language and speech, at school and at home. There are well matched groups for ages between 2.5 and 12 years of age . Each group has a maximum of 5 participants and is run co-jointly by two SLT’s , one of whom has worked in the NHS using the Sure Start programme , as well as with pre-school children and their carers in language groups.
We aim to incorporate communication skills:
Social Interaction: turn taking, awareness of others, social greetings, feelings/emotions, group/class rules, registers of language e.g. playground, classroom and parent language
Phonological awareness: Syllable clapping, identifying instruments, copying beat patterns, rhyming words, initial and final sounds in words “crash bang wallop game!”
Language: expanding on a contextual use of useful language , using information carrying words, pronouns, prepositions, opposites as the foundation for its growth. We will address the latter through the medium of educational equipment used at home and in school
Oro-motor skills: copying animal sounds, blowing balloons, bubbles, siren noise, licking/sticking, table football with straw,
C. Parent/Carer Training
Parents can benefit from Therapy alongside their children with the introduction of Parents Groups. These provide Parents with the session plan and therapy their child is receiving from the Speech and Language Therapist. In addition to this, training also covers the following topics:
Discussion Points:
- Child development, what should we expect from our children?
- How do children learn new words?
- What are appropriate “language learning” toys
- What can we do to help? How to facilitate our children in expanding their communication skills
- Outings: other ways to stimulate our children
- What positive aspects can we take forward and learn from them
