Speech & Language Provision Information

Intensive Speech and Language Environment at Green Street Green Speech and Language classes

Welcome to Green Street Green Speech and Language Disorder Classes.

Who are we?

We are one of two Specialist Speech and Language provisions in Bromley, for children who have Speech and Language Disorder. The other is located at Raglan Primary School.

We have been in existence for over twenty years, during which time 168 children have been through our doors. We are very successful at returning pupils to mainstream schools, often after as little as two years. That is why we like to call ourselves an “Intervention” rather than a “Placement”.

Which children attend the classes?

A Specialist Speech and Language Therapist and an Educational Psychologist identify which children need this provision.

Bromley Special Needs Department, allocate the places.

Children coming into the provision must have an Education Health Care Plan, identifying severe speech and/or language disorder as their main need. Children come from settings all over the London Borough of Bromley. In most cases transport is provided by the local authority.

Children are allocated places at either Raglan or Green Street Green, by the Bromley case-workers, as and when places are available.

What is Language Disorder?

Language Disorder is a term that covers disorders with understanding of language, articulation (speaking), expressive language, memory and processing of language.

“Disorder’” means that there are differences in a child’s development of language rather than “delay” which means language is following a typical pattern, but slower.

Speech refers to the pronunciation of sounds and clarity of speech.

Language refers to verbal understanding and spoken language (i.e. sentences, vocabulary, conversation, grammar).

Often, our children have difficulty with many, or all, of the following:

Listening and paying attention
Understanding instructions
Understanding questions
Remembering
Finding words they want to use
Putting their ideas into sentences
Responding quickly to their peers and adults
Making friendships with other children
Understanding the world around them
Understanding abstract ideas
Speech sounds
Making themselves understood

Clearly, the skills listed above are all vital skills in enabling children to be successful learners. Therefore, we know that having a severe speech and/or language disorder is a BARRIER to learning.

All of our children need a considerable amount of help to enable them to develop their “Language for Learning” so that they can understand, communicate and respond in lessons and begin to break down the barrier.

Children at the Speech and Language Classes receive an intensive level of Speech and Language Therapy, which is achieved through:

Speech and language therapy staff work with the teachers to deliver therapy in the classroom environment.
Speech and language therapy staff and teachers jointly set the individual targets that each child will work towards at home and in school.
Regular liaison with the class teacher to discuss progress and review targets.
1-3 weekly groups in the speech and language therapy room, dependent on need.
1-3 weekly individual sessions to work on specific targets, dependent on the individual’s needs.
Liaison with mainstream teachers and support assistants when required
Multisensory teaching strategies in class
Language rich teaching including supported language displays in classes and Makaton signing, colour and shape coding and Writing with Symbols

The Curriculum

The drivers for our adapted curriculum are “Language” and “Language for learning”.

Alongside these, we incorporate “Life Skills” and a strong emphasis on independence and building self-esteem.

We aim to provide an exciting, multi-sensory, language rich environment where children can experience the curriculum through a range of different practical activities. We use a ‘topic-based’ approach to many subject areas to enhance this, basing each topic around our Talk For Writing Books.

We offer small group, specialist teaching and intensive speech and language therapy within lessons and also as group work. We have four part time teachers and a similar number of Specialist Support Assistants. The team work collaboratively with the children so that each child benefits from a range of different teaching styles and approaches to the curriculum. Children will be taught by all members of staff at some stage during each week.

Our aims

Children’s Language will be within the expected range in most aspects.

The barrier to learning will be overcome, so that children can access classroom learning with moderate support.

Children will leave Green Street Green Speech and Language Disorder Classes:

Children are able to use strategies independently to help them cope with their speech, language and communication needs and be able to communicate effectively.

Children’s self-esteem will be raised and they will be confident in socialising both in and out of school.

The Future for Our Pupils

The majority of our pupils transfer from us to a mainstream setting. Some children that are with us through to Year 6, go on to a local mainstream Secondary School which has a Speech and Language provision.

A few children transfer to special schools, or different primary provisions. Children initially need funded support to enable them to successfully transition to these settings.

Once a pupil starts to demonstrate that their language skills are much improved and that they can access the teaching and learning in a mainstream class, we will expedite a return to a mainstream setting. This means that we seldom reap the benefits of seeing a child’s learning assessments start to soar. Whilst we are pleased that, in this way, we can enable new children to take up places in our very special setting.

The downside for us is that we don’t have the opportunity to “show off” the effect of the removed “barrier”, on children’s learning.

We very much enjoy return visits from past pupils. It is a joy to find out how well they have progressed since leaving us.

Parental involvement

We recognise the importance of working together with parents to gain a deeper understanding of each individual child’s needs. We provide regular opportunities, both formal and informal, for parents and staff to meet.

Parents are informed of events and diary dates via a daily contact book.

We appreciate parents sharing “home news” with us, such as visits at the weekend or family outings. This is a good basis for group work and shared talking in school.

All children have an Individual Learning Plan, which is designed jointly between teachers, speech and language therapists and parents. These detail the child’s learning goals for a set period of time as they work towards the “Outcomes” in their Education Health Care Plans. Parents play an active role in supporting this plan through working and playing games with the child at home.

We welcome parents along to participate in their child’s individual speech and language therapy sessions. Children may be asked to do some specific speech and language therapy work in addition to school homework.

We are proud to share some of the comments made by parents in 2017

“---- can now talk and be understood. His Grandparents just could not believe the progress that he has made since starting at Green Street Green.”

“You change lives. What you do here is special, very special indeed. “

“Thank you for everything that you have done for my son and for the family.”

“I remember when he started with you. He was in a silent world. He cried without a sound. Now I have to tell him to stop talking!”