What is meant by Communication and Interaction?
The SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) defines communication and interaction needs as:
“Children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) have difficulty in communicating with others. This may be because they have difficulty saying what they want to, understanding what is being said to them or they do not understand or use social rules of communication”
In Plymouth, most young children with communication and interaction difficulties will be identified at an early age, prior to statutory schooling, through early years tracking programmes and/or health authority screening programmes. Although early intervention strategies can be put in place before formal schooling, there is often a need to continue support beyond the start of school, particularly where the needs are complex and severe.
Communication and interaction difficulties can arise at different ages and with different levels of severity. They may be related learning difficulties in general or in specific aspects and may be evident for example through:
- Verbal communication and interaction through problems with hearing, speech and language
- Social communications and understanding of social meaning
- Difficulties with clearly set/communicated classroom code of conduct
- Having to gain their attention, motivate engagement, regulate or re-direct focus through knowledge and use of a pupil’s special interests
- Having to provide an action or resource that makes unhelpful or undesirable behaviours difficult for the child to perform and having to plan times for when a child can do these things alongside this action or resource
Early Years settings and schools should consider the specific nature of the child’s difficulty in relation to developmental levels and the extent to which the difficulties are related to receptive and/or expressive language acquisition.
Some children will have good expressive language which masks difficulties in understanding the purpose and meaning of language. Some children may have specific difficulties with hearing and/or with speech sound production and some may selectively use speech, language and communication skills or are dysfluent in their speech.
The profile for every child or young person with SLCN is different and their needs may change over time. They may have difficulty with one, some or all the different aspects of speech and language or social communication at different times of their lives.
Help and information can be found at:
Links open in new tab
Having English as an additional or second language is not a special educational need. However, practitioners should carefully monitor the progress of children with English as an additional language to identify if they may have additional needs. In most cases it is prudent to seek advice using the ‘Plymouth, Devon and Torbay Early Communication and Language monitoring tool’ which can be found here.
The purpose of this tool is to help assess a child’s level of development in order to make informed decisions about what the child needs to learn and be able to do next. The tool can help practitioners to notice whether a child is at risk of falling behind in their development and supports early identification of the need for referral for specialist support. This tool and the further reading contained, outlines key milestones in speech, language, and communication development to support identification of children’s needs in the Early Years Foundation Stage as part of the Graduated and Targeted Approach to Inclusion.
Additionally, the Inclusive Good Practice Guides to Plymouth Inclusive Local Offer outline the expectations of mainstream schools, early years settings and wider partners to fulfil their duty by offering a fully inclusive and adaptable learning environment as a universal commitment to all pupils, in advance of targeted planning through the graduated approach.
These guides have been created to support all practitioners, including leaders, practitioners, teachers, support staff and other professionals to maximise their offer in collaboration with children, young people and their families.
