Developing Baseline Communication Skills

307 Pages·2000·20 MB·English

by  Catherine Delamain

A Winslow Practical Resource

Developing Baseline
Communication
Skills
Catherine Delamain & Jill Spring
Winslow Press
Telford Road, Bicester, Oxon OX26 4LQ, UK
Please note that in this text, for reasons of clarity alone,
'he' is used to refer to the child and 'she' to the teacher.
First published in 2000 by
Winslow Press Ltd, Telford Road, Bicester, Oxon OX26 4LQ, UK
www.winslow-press.co.uk
© Catherine Delamain & Jill Spring, 2000
All rights reserved. The whole of this work, including all text and illustrations is protected by copyright. No part
of it may be copied, altered, adapted or otherwise exploited in any way without express prior permission,
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mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information, storage and retrieval system without
prior written permission from the publisher, on behalf of the copyright owner.
002-4757/Printed in the United Kingdom/1030
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Delamain, Catherine
Developing baseline communication skills
1. English language - Study and teaching (Preschool)
2. Communicative competence in children - Study and teaching (Preschool)
I. Title II. Spring, Jill
155.4'136
ISBN 0 86388 277 3
Contents
Page
vi / Acknowledgements
vii / Preface
1 / Introduction
3 / How to use this Book
PERSONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES
W
7 / Turn Taking
29 / Body Language
51 / Awareness of Others
73 / Confidence and Independence
95 / Feelings and Emotions
LANGUAGE AND LITERACY ACTIVITIES
117/ Understanding
1 39 / Listening and Attention
w 161/ Speaking
1 83 / Auditory Memory
205 / Phonological Awareness
•4
ACTIVITY RESOURCES
227 / Resources
281 / Cross-Reference Tables
293 / Pupil Record Sheets
w
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the speech and language therapy colleagues with
whom they have shared the fun of working with groups of children. All such
colleagues will have contributed, wittingly or unwittingly, to this collection of
games, as old ideas are adapted and improved, and new ones invented.
They would also like to thank all the teachers with whom they have worked,
particularly those language unit teachers with whom they have been most closely
involved.
P A GE V
Preface
Baseline Assessments are now mandatory for all children entering reception
classes in state schools. The assessments look at the child's personal and social
development, his language skills, and his readiness for reading and writing. A
child may be graded from Level I to Level IV in any of the identified developmental
or skill areas, with Level IV representing the point at which the child is deemed
ready to embark on the formal education of Key Stage I.
Reception teachers are thoroughly accustomed to making formal or informal
appraisals of new arrivals in their class, and to planning individual curricula to
meet individual needs. However, the Baseline Assessments give this appraisal a
more formal structure, and perhaps identify some developmental areas that have
not in the past been allocated specific attention in the curriculum. The authors of
this book, both speech & language therapists with a long history of involvement in
education, anticipate a demand for teaching resources to meet these new needs.
This collection of simple games is the result.
Teachers using the Baseline Assessments will quickly identify those children whose
development in one or more areas lags behind the level expected for their age.
There are likely to be groups with similar needs in the same areas. Teachers can
turn to the appropriate sections of this resource book, and select suitable games
for those groups. We are keenly aware that teachers are reluctant to adopt
resources involving further testing, complicated paperwork, expensive equipment,
or special slots in an already crowded curriculum. The use of this pack therefore
has the following advantages:
• No testing other than Baseline Assessments.
• Equipment not needed or kept to a minimum.
• Games can be fitted in to the existing curriculum (circle time, literacy hour,
outdoor play, hall and PE, small group work in the classroom).
• Games can mostly be organised by classroom assistants or volunteers.
• Record keeping is simple and minimal.
We hope that this resource will prove a useful tool.
P A GE VII

Introduction
Over the past few years there has been an apparent deterioration in the
communication skills of young children. Teachers have expressed concern that
children entering reception classes frequently lack the listening, understanding
and speaking skills necessary if they are to make a happy and successful start to
their school careers.
Language is the medium by which education is chiefly delivered. This is
acknowledged in the National Framework for Baseline Assessment, with its
emphasis on listening, responding and speaking. Language is also crucial to
social relationships, and therefore forms an important part of children's personal
and social development. Finally, many of the skills underlying speech and
language competence are
the same as those needed for Language is the medium by which
learning to read, write and
education is chiefly delivered. This is
spell.
acknowledged in the National Framework
Children may now enter
school at any age from on iy for Baseline Assessment, with its emphasis
on listening, responding and speaking.
just four, to five. There will
inevitably be extremely wide
variations in their speech and
language skills, with some of them, particularly the youngest four-year-olds,
being unprepared for the language demands which will be put on them.
Baseline Assessments look at a wider range of areas than is addressed in this
pack. The activities included here focus on social communication and certain
pre-literacy skills, helping to move reception-class children towards the desirable
learning outcomes identified in Baseline Stage IV. Levels I—IN/ in this book
correspond to Levels I—IN/ in the Baseline Assessment.
The activities will also be useful for four- to five-year-old children in nursery
education and in playgroups, and for groups in speech & language therapy
clinics. In these cases the appropriate level at which to start a child will be
decided by whatever assessments are in use, and by observation.
P A GE 1