Supporting Transition for young people with Speech, Language and Communication Needs

Identifying young people with SLCN at primary school can often be inconsistent and during the transition period from primary to secondary they may not be flagged up. Many children and young people do cope fairly well during their first years of education and their needs only become apparent when the language demands, the social demands and the environmental demands increase.

Research has shown that language continues to develop during adolescence and young adulthood (Nippold, M. 2007), particularly in the areas of syntax, semantics, reasoning and discourse. These areas of language are all fundamental skills used in the secondary curriculum. For young people with SLCN this makes secondary school even more challenging than for typically developing adolescents. I CAN estimates that there are approximately 10% of children and young people with SLCN and these difficulties are expected to be persistent and will impact on language learning.

Challenges around Transition

Young people typically identify with feeling scared, nervous and excited about moving up to secondary education. Those with SLCN will have all of these concerns and more, particularly if they do not know why they find things more challenging than their peers. Many young people with SLCN have significantly higher anxieties around transition compared to those without. The way that a young person with SLCN manages the transition and adapts to the new environment and the challenges that presents is variable and the way that schools support these young people will make all the difference.

Potential Challenges for young people with SLCN

The challenges that these young people will face will include:

• Adapting to a new environment
• Developing new and different friendship groups
• Unstructured time – social cues
• Changes in school rules
• Changes in school day
• A range of teaching styles
• A range of teachers every day
• Increased vocabulary demands
• More subjects
• Different curriculum

Strategies to support transition for young people with SLCN

When young people are academically, emotionally and behaviourally involved in their new school we can be assured that a successful transition has taken place. When they acknowledge their sense of belonging to the school, we know that their anxieties have been recognised and reduced. With anxieties reduced, the everyday language demands can be supported and managed which enables engagement with a successful transition.

Top Strategies to support transition 

• Close liaison with both primary and secondary schools to identify those with SLCN or those at risk.
• Primary schools to share clear communication profiles or school equivalent.
• Provide transition interventions in line with individual need, ensuring that different language profiles are targeted.
• Be clear about routines. Provide timetables and rules with visual support and go over them regularly, if you can, send them home prior to starting.
• Provide a bank of communication friendly resources across the curriculum to enable access to the curriculum from the start.
• Differentiate language for rules and expectations where necessary, preferably in advance.
• Provide social skills as part of the transition plan.
• Use visual support to unpick anxieties around the transition process, such as scaling sheets.
• Work together with families. Remember that parents and children are all a little bit anxious.