Best Practice

A partnership approach to supporting speech, language and communication needs

SLCN SENCOs SEND Inclusion EHCPs
Support for speech, language and communication needs in schools is being achieved through effective and sustainable partnerships between education and speech and language therapy services. Alison Nicholson explains
Growing needs: Speech, language and communication needs are the biggest primary area of need (25.6%) for children on SEN Support and increasing numbers of children with SEMH as their primary need are also being identified as having significant SLCN - Adobe Stock

There is an increasing awareness of the rise of speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) in early years settings and schools. Many are exploring the most effective ways to ensure SLCN are identified as early as possible and implement appropriate support and provision to address these needs and enable children to make good progress in all aspects of their development and learning.

The most recent national figures for SEND show that SLCN is the biggest primary area of need (25.6%) for children on SEN Support and increasing numbers of children with SEMH as their primary need are also being identified as having significant SLCN.

The challenges are myriad, from the impact of Covid (Jack et al, 2024), and the need, now more than ever, for high-quality ordinarily available provision to develop speech, language and communication skills in the early years, to the increasing acknowledgement (Spencer et al, 2017) that young people’s undiagnosed language and vocabulary difficulties can have such a significant impact on their educational outcomes.

Furthermore, Winstanley et al (2021) reinforced the wider impact of SLCN in their study of young offenders, with developmental language disorder (DLD) being a key indicator of the likelihood to re-offend.

In addition, the recent Lost for Words report (GL Assessment, 2025), which draws on a YouGov survey, found that almost half of the primary and secondary teachers surveyed were concerned that it was easy to mistake speech and language issues for maths and literacy problems.

There is a lot of advice out there on how to identify and support children and young people with SLCN effectively. The Improving literacy in secondary schools guidance from the Education Endowment Foundation (Quigley & Coleman, 2021) specifically highlights the impact that well-trained teaching assistants can have.

The last government’s SEND and Alternative Provision Plan in 2023 included the need to prioritise training for teaching assistants as well. The plan also considers the increasing demands on speech and language therapists (SaLTs) and SLCN services who often struggle to visit schools more than once a term, or less, due to ever-increasing numbers of referrals and cases. We await news from the new government on what SEND reforms it intends to pursue.

Training has been implemented by various agencies and local authorities over recent years, mainly for those working in early years, and has been very effective in developing the quality of interventions and communication-friendly settings.

However, the impact of the training can often only be evident within one-to-one interventions and environmental changes, and the advanced knowledge and skills can frequently stay just with those delivering interventions, with less impact on the whole setting and the skills of other colleagues.

While the aim is that all adults in school develop good strategies and communication-friendly environments for children and young people, there is a strong need for them to be supported by a knowledgeable and experienced colleague, such as those with advanced SLCN training.

As SENCOs are responsible for supporting all areas of need, it is also a great benefit to them as well if there is another colleague who can lead and/or support them and others in developing the provision for children with SLCN.

 

Maximising the potential of our workforce

Through developing the new national qualification of the Higher Level Communication Practitioner (HLCP), key agencies from across education and speech and language therapy have been acknowledging and highlighting the additional value of having a key link on the school staff who will liaise with their SaLT or SLCN service during visits and ensure that advice is shared with the appropriate people, and that staff are supported in the implementation of external advice.

The person is often a teaching assistant or key worker who is delivering many speech, language and communication interventions on a one-to-one basis or in small groups and there are excellent practices being developed across the country that can illustrate the positive impact of these strong partnerships – and having key people within the settings supporting the ordinarily available provision as well as specialised provision for pupils with SLCN.

 

The approach in action

An example of this approach is the Speech, Interaction and Language Support Assistant programme that began in Portsmouth in 2022. The SILSA programme was designed to be a practical approach that works in the real world of busy and resource-stretched schools.

In February 2024, SENCOs were asked for their views of SILSA and how it was working in their schools. Responses were positive:

  • Increase in knowledge and skills as a result of the initial training and on-going support.
  • Increase in confidence of trained staff to support SLCN pupils.
  • Better identification of SLCN.
  • Helps to ensure maximum impact of SaLT time in school.
  • Improved SLCN provision with SILSAs completing screening assessments, running targeted groups, carrying out individual programmes under the guidance of the SaLT, and supporting pupils with lesser needs independently.
  • Reduces pressure and frees-up time for SENCOs.
  • Offers a link between the SaLT, SENCOs, wider school staff, and parents.
  • Initial point of contact for staff during the week regarding SLCN.

Similarly, in Northumberland, schools in Ashington were developing the role of teaching assistants in close liaison with the local NHS SaLT service.

Ashington Learning Partnership’s two large primary schools were supported by two different SaLTs but developed a new SLCN team of teaching assistants to provide support to children across the schools.

Since 2022, this team has grown in confidence and has become a source of support to class teachers, parents/carers, and other colleagues to develop the provision for children with SLCN, beyond their one-to-one interventions, to ensure that the children’s development was being supported in the classroom to maximise the impact of the schools’ provision.

Alongside this, the trust now delivers a Let’s Talk at Home programme to nursery parents to support the development of positive practices in the home. This team is now a key part of the SEND provision across the trust and meet regularly with the SENCOs and linked SLCN services to ensure the provision continues to develop across all environments and in all key stages.

A more formal development led to NNUTs (Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust-Newcastle University Universal, Targeted & Specialist Framework) – a partnership between Newcastle University, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and the Northumberland Church of England Academy (NCEA) – which aimed to develop a replicable model of a sustainable partnership between SaLT services and educational settings.

The goal was to improve the communication skills and academic attainment of children in an area of social deprivation. This framework supports SLCN services and education settings to audit their current provision and develop plans to ensure that they maximise the partnerships between services and further develop the skills of school-based staff.

 

Final thoughts

Having skilled and key people based in schools or early years settings for SLCN services to liaise with is essential in ensuring the partnerships are sustainable, as evident in these examples, but also in other successful partnerships that are developing.

Participants in the HLCP programme pilot are providing further examples of how effective the role can be, and they are highlighting the benefits to children, schools and families by expanding their role beyond the delivery of SLCN interventions.

It has also highlighted the skilled workforce that is already in so many settings and schools; these colleagues have great potential to significantly support the implementation of the ordinarily available and specialist provision for children and young people with communication and interaction needs across the whole setting or school and in all phases of education and stages of development.

  • Alison Nicholson is an education consultant and specialist teacher for Elklan. Her experience spans 34 years of working mainly with early years and primary as a teacher, senior leader, trust SENCO and headteacher. Visit www.elklan.co.uk. This article was written in collaboration with Professor Helen Stringer from Newcastle University and Chris Platt from Springboard Speech and Language.

 

Resources

Further information & references