Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), a subset of SLCN, is the term used to diagnose children when they fail to acquire their own language for no obvious reason.

The Moor House Research & Training Institute offers courses on Speech, Language and Communication Needs and related areas of SEN to schools delivered by our highly specialist and experienced multidisciplinary team.

We cover the following training sessions locally or via Zoom and can devise training to suit your school requirements, to enquire or book please email us or call 01883 712271

Supporting students with SLCN, especially Developmental Language Disorder

This course covers ways in which you can adapt your teaching, classroom environments and resources to support the language needs of children with DLD. It will also detail methods to use to target specific skills in small group or 1:1 sessions.

Developing speaking and listening skills

This course covers the developmental sequence of speaking and listening, how to establish a classroom environment where students can feel confident as communicators and will provide examples of activities that help students with DLD to develop their speaking and listening skills.

Developing attention and listening skills 

This course will explain the difficulties that students with DLD have with maintaining attention and will explore strategies to support the development of their attention and listening skills in class.

Developing vocabulary and word knowledge

This course covers examples of weaknesses in vocabulary and word finding difficulties then will explain methods to use to teach new vocabulary and strategies to use to help children to manage their word finding difficulties.

Developing sentence grammar: accuracy and complexity

This course covers specialist methods to explicitly teach children the rules of grammar so that they can understand and use longer, more complex sentences. If you are interested in this course, you may also be interested in the full day courses on the SHAPE CODING system, see here for more information.

Developing phonological awareness and literacy skills

This course covers the developmental sequence of phonological awareness and key research findings in this area. Activities to develop key skills (such as rhythm, syllable awareness, rhyme, segmentation/ blending of sounds) will be explored. The course will also give an overview of how speech and language needs can impact upon phonological awareness and literacy and consider strategies and activities to help.

Developing narrative skills

This course will cover evidence-based approaches and strategies to support children in understanding and producing oral and written narratives, recounts, persuasive text and other genres.

Developing social communication skills

This course will cover methods to develop children’s ability to read and use body language and prosody and strategies to develop their conversation, relationship and social problem solving skills. It will also discuss difficulties these children may have with language including figurative language skills and verbal reasoning.

Makaton (signs and symbols)

This course is aimed at any practitioners working with children who are struggling to develop basic communication skills. Participants will be introduced to the first stages of Makaton signs and symbols for everyday communication at home and in school. It will give ideas for incorporating sign and symbol use in play and classroom activities.

If you are interested in this course, you may also be interested in the full day Makaton courses, for more information click here

Developing foundation life skills with younger students

This training covers essential life skills for children in junior and primary schools. Skills such as dressing, using cutlery and classroom equipment.  The causes of difficulties in these areas will be discussed along with strategies and interventions to improve these skills.

Strategies to maximise independence and improve life skills

This training is for those working with secondary aged students and older and explores life skills and why they are important and the common difficulties that prevent teenagers and young people with additional needs developing adequate life skills. Strategies to cover some of the difficulties and different methods of teaching these skills to enable students to be as independent with their life skills as possible will be discussed. 

Sensory strategies in the classroom

Sensory processing difficulties can have a large impact on a child’s ability to functional efficiently in a classroom setting. Tasks such as maintaining concentration, attending to the teacher, filtering out environmental stimuli, maintaining a regulated state of alertness and managing sensory behaviours can be challenging. This training aims to explain what sensory integration and sensory processing are and what importance they have with regards to daily functioning. We will discuss the sensory systems, sensory preferences and sensory behaviours and conclude with strategies to help develop children’s ability to copy with these issues and improve class participation.

Handwriting

A difficulty with handwriting is one of the most frequently cited reasons when children are referred to Occupational Therapy. This training will cover the causes of handwriting difficulties, when a child is ready to start handwriting, skills needed for good handwriting, handwriting requirements within school and interventions to help develop handwriting skills.

Support children with social, emotional and mental health needs

This training will give an overview of child and adolescent development so that consideration can be given to this when developing appropriate support packages for individuals and groups within schools. 

Stress management and emotional regulation for children and/or teenagers

Learn about the neuroscience of stress and the importance of all adults working with children and teenagers and the role they have in developing the stress management system for the child. Specific techniques will be focussed on that empower people to respond and support a child that addresses stress management and emotional regulation to enable the child’s learning and social potential to be realised.

Understanding what lies beneath the behaviour and what to do about it

Children and teenagers behaviour communicates emotional need. This training will focus on challenging and difficult behaviours that are expressed everyday within schools and provide strategies to sculpt  a way to make emotional need and expression manageable.

Creative ways to help children and/or teenagers communicate their feelings

At times language does not adequately communicate how a child feels and experiences the world. This training will focus on developing creative techniques in enabling children to communicate their feelings and experiences so that the adults working with them can respond in ways that the child feels truly heard and supported.