Find out how this SLCN package can support you to close the attainment gap…
30-second briefing
The award-winning Infant Language Link is an online assessment and intervention package enabling schools to identify and provide timely support for children with language difficulties. Suitable for children aged 4 to 8 years, it combines standardised assessment, built-in training, planned and resourced interventions, progress tracking, and dynamic reporting.
1 | Identify SLCN
With the long-term impact of untreated SLCN on academic attainment well established, it is crucial that schools are able to identify children needing support.
Infant Language Link provides a standardised assessment which, used universally in Year R, identifies children having difficulty understanding language, meaning that they are not left behind.
The assessment identifies which children need targeted support in school and which children may need more specialist support, allowing you to target precious school resources in the right places.
2 | Build knowledge
Infant Language Link is designed as a whole-school package to build the SLCN knowledge and expertise of all staff. Training is built in to develop understanding of SLCN and the package includes a bank of strategies and resources that are easy for teaching staff to implement in the classroom.
Children with SLCN make the most progress within a communication-friendly environment, where quality-first teaching strategies are in place within the classroom and many children can be supported using these strategies alone.
3 | Close the gap
Up to 50 per cent of children in areas of social disadvantage start school with below average language skills, that are not adequate to support their next steps in learning, leading to a significant attainment gap in our schools.
Infant Language Link is used by thousands of schools across the country and children following the programme make an average of five months’ extra progress after an average of 12 weeks of half-hour group sessions, showing that it is effective in helping schools close the attainment gap.
4 | Measuring progress
Infant Language Link enables teachers to track the impact of interventions using a range of built-in progress measures. Dynamic reports and provision maps show progress made for each child, class, year group and across the whole school.
Reports provide detailed information about the level of SLCN across the school, including specific areas of language need, to enable whole school, key stage or whole class strategies to be implemented, targeting areas that are going to have the biggest impact on attainment.
5 | Regular support
Research shows that school staff can make a huge difference to children’s language skills with the right support in place, however as language skills are very complex, school staff will continue to need advice in providing the best support for these children.
Our Speech and Language Help Desk can be contacted by phone or email each day to answer any queries and, where needed, school staff can speak directly to a speech and language therapist for advice.
Key points
- A years’ subscription can be purchased for the equivalent of the catch-up funding provided for just six children, representing excellent value for money
- 500 colourful resources, 12 planned termly language groups, 24 individual teaching plans and 52 handouts for parents, make this the most comprehensive SLCN package available
- All materials are developed by experienced speech and language therapists and updated to reflect changes in research-based practice and in response to feedback from schools
- Children make an average of five months’ extra progress after an average of 12 weeks of half-hour group sessions, following the Infant Language Link programme
Find out more at speechandlanguage.info/trial or get in touch at 033 3577 0784 or office2@speechlink.co.uk.
