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Sandwell on show
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Diana McQueen and Jane Oates reflect on their involvement as exhibitors rather than visitors at the Education Show 2009, and consider the implications for speech and language therapy departments looking for creative ways to engage with other professionals.
he Education Show at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham is the UKs largest showcase of educational resources of all kinds. It enables educators to see what is new, try out resources and take part in free continuing professional development so that they can teach and manage learning more effectively.It attracts up to 15,000 education practitioners each spring, but has limited focus on either special educational needs or speech and language impairment. As speech and language therapists with Sandwells Childrens Therapy Services, a few of us had visited the show at various times. In the year following the Bercow report (Bercow, 2008), we decided to tap into this opportunity to engage with a large number of delegates.
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Jen Casson and Bethan Jones, speech and language therapists in Sandwells Childrens Therapies department, prepare for a hard day answering visitors questions

Our aims in this initiative were: 1. Through a snapshot of attendees, to find out the national picture of how speech and language therapy is perceived We wanted to find out what those attending know about speech and language therapy, what they value, and what they would like. We did this via face-to-face conversations and a written survey, with a prize of 20 Marks & Spencer vouchers as an incentive to participate. 2. To showcase our resources Our department publishes and sells a small range of therapy items such as CD-ROMs of pictures for both phonological and language therapy, The Talking Jigsaw (a DVD concerning language interaction with children) and Make Talking Fun, a lavishly-illustrated book aimed at parents. 3. To act as a resource, offering advice and written handouts

To this end, we prepared a series of 25 information sheets on various aspects of speech, language and communication in the classroom context. Some of these were taken directly from free material produced by other agencies, such as the British Stammering Association and the Department for Children, Schools and Families Inclusion Development Programme for SLCN, and were directly attributed. We wrote others especially for the show. They all offer fairly standard information and advice, and were designed to support whatever model of therapy was being offered to delegates locally. A list of the handouts is available to Speech & Language Therapy in Practice members at www.speechmag. com/Members/Extras, together with four samples of purposewritten sheets.

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Considerable autonomy
We benefited from the support given by our PCT, including the 1000 cost implication. Their style is relaxed, and individual services already enjoy considerable autonomy. We explained why we wanted to exhibit at the Education Show and the goahead was immediately given. Our decision to take a stand was made at least six months before the date and, with hindsight, this was sensible. It enabled us to plan the activities and resources according to a timetable which did not detract from our clinical commitments. It also allowed us to book a small corner stand, carefully situated between the Early Years and the SEN zones. The booking arrangements were all done electronically. We were given access to a website which guided us through a myriad of forms from health and safety to lighting and furniture requirements. We did experience some frustration when, having allocated time for specific pieces of work, either our own systems were down or certain sections of the site were non-operational on that day. We designed our display around the maximum capacity of the stand shell, opting for four large posters with connected themes. Themes were general enough to have postshow application during the usual course of service delivery. These were professionally drawn, printed and laminated, and we felt that the expenditure was easily justified by their long-term usefulness. Since the Education Show, we have already used them for two more exhibitions as well as for the AGM of our PCT. The wall display also included a banner providing brief information about the specific resources we were showcasing. Apart from this, we kept equipment to a bare minimum: two laptops to demonstrate
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200 150 100 50 0 Midlands South East East Anglia Yorks South West Wales Ireland South Not stated

Figure 1 Where visitors came from

100 80 60 40 20 0
Student Teacher SENCo

Figure 2 Visitors job titles

Deputy Head Head

Educ. Lecturer Nursery NNEB/ Teaching Not Manager BTEC Assistant stated Psych.

the electronic resources, questionnaires and resource samples. Exhibitors were allowed access to the halls on the day before the exhibition. For us this was probably the trickiest day as access and time allowed in the unloading bays (without incurring a financial penalty) was challenging and somewhat reminiscent of Its a Knock-out. We were grateful for our minimalist display and the forethought which saw us taking our own wheeled trolleys. This also meant that dismantling was done with military efficiency. We staffed the show with the eight speech and language therapists and assistants who comprise our departments Sales and Marketing working party. A minimum of three of us were at the show and around the stand at any one time. This allowed for breaks and the opportunity to go off and learn from other displays at the event, whilst also making enough people availa-

ble to answer questions immediately. We estimate that easily 500+ delegates visited the stand and engaged in discussion. Over the three days, 119 people completed our survey sheet and 102 people requested handouts. By far the majority of the visitors to our stand were from the Midlands (figure 1). This initially surprised us, given that The Education Show is UKwide. However, we are aware of several more SEN-specific shows (for example in Islington, London, and Bolton, Greater Manchester) and also specific Early Years shows, and it could be that nationally the various elements of our target audience attend these in preference. We were less successful in establishing the job titles of respondents (figure 2). The high number of job title not stated was possibly the result of pen fatigue, this question coming towards the end of a 2-A4 page questionnaire which some

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delegates had been encouraged to complete mainly to get a chance to win the prize vouchers. We established that 55 per cent of our visitors worked in Foundation Stage, 27 per cent in Key Stage 1, 21 per cent Key Stage 2, 9 per cent Key Stage 3 and 5 per cent Key Stage 4. (Some visitors worked across more than one Key Stage, thus percentages added up to more than 100.) We based the menu of options in our questionnaire (figure 3) on what we provide as a quality service in Sandwell, and used it as a starting point for seeking information from delegates do they have access to speech and language therapy locally and / or would they want access if it was available? It was interesting that, despite the evolution of the profession in explaining our role as facilitators, 74 per cent of respondents still identified the fact that they wanted regular specific help and only 31 per Figure 3 Questionnaire responses
Where do you usually go for advice about children with speech, language and communication needs?

cent perceived that they had access to training.

Confidence
Confidence in working with children with speech, language and communication needs was largely engendered by having lots of help and advice coupled with experience. The delegates did not rate reading / self-study so highly in helping practical approaches. They did consider training courses to be more useful, but not as useful as help and advice plus experience. Around a third of respondents felt that they lacked confidence in meeting the needs of pupils with speech, language and communication needs. Almost half of these under-confident delegates said they felt this way because they needed more help / advice and support. We identified an increased amount of unmet need within independent schools, compared to

SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) Speech and language therapist Educational Psychologist Advisory teacher Other

50% 40% 17% 6% 20% 63% 40% 20% 12% 5% 31% 19% 15% 10% 5%

Where are children in your setting seen for speech and language therapy?

School Clinic Home Childrens Centre Other

How often are they seen?

Weekly Termly Half-termly Less often No access to speech and language therapy

Training 31% Delegates identified what they were able to access Face to face contact 48% locally from speech and Detailed advice 44% language therapy from the menu on the right. (Almost Resources 36% universally, those who did Advice to parents 36% not currently have access to speech and language Regular updates on progress 31% therapy identified that Support in writing Individual Education Plans 35% they would like to.)

schools in the state sector. Whilst within Sandwell we do not have an independent school where this appears to be an issue, it is of note for the profession generally. Whilst most practitioners within the state sector reported contact with the speech and language therapy profession and collaborative help in meeting the speech, language and communication needs of the students, the experience of those in the private sector was frequently: were told not to bother referring as they wont be seen we would like more support in our setting but dont get it our local service is unmanned so cant offer help. Hearing impairment, in both the state and independent sector, was often mentioned as an area of concern: We are teachers of the deaf and so much of what we do seems to overlap with speech and language therapists. We would like more liaison. There were moments of gentle humour for us as well, including the Irish special school contingent led by a delightful man. His lifetimes (largely unsuccessful) quest for speech and language therapy in his school resulted in him passing the stand more than once, staff posse in tow, for the sole purpose of counting the number of therapists he could see in one place at the same time! The debrief had been put into our diaries well before the Exhibition so that the maximum number of people could be there to contribute to the feedback and discussion. Learning encompassed a variety of themes: about the team themselves as individuals with different personalities and skills, about the delegates and their knowledge and skills and about life in general when faced with something completely different.

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As a group, the themes included: how scary it can be to operate outside the usual comfort zone and initiate conversation with complete strangers when the agenda is unwritten and not controlled by the professional how confidence increased markedly as time went on and experiences were positive how much the delegates wanted to know how little (or how much) people already knew how good some peoples experiences of speech and language therapy are how difficult it is in some parts of the country where services are scarce and stretched.

about their abilities to meet the needs of their students. Our experience suggests that, as a profession, we still need to get out there and give advice in person. Whilst people overwhelmingly stated they would use websites for information (84 per cent), only 19 per cent had any current awareness of websites that could help them. Where people were confident it was because they felt theyd had lots of help and advice, from speech and language therapists and others, and were adequately experienced.

3. Limit equipment and paraphernalia Think ahead as to where you will store your coats and bags. We used plastic crates, covered with a drape, to store our possessions and resources. 4. Include a quiz and a prize This really does attract people to your stand, and gives you something to talk about with them as they visit. SLTP Diana McQueen is Childrens Therapies Manager and Jane Oates an Inclusion Support speech and language therapist with Sandwell Primary Care Trust, Glebefields Health Centre, St Marks Road, Tipton, West Midlands DY4 0UB, tel. 0121 530 8035.
Reference Bercow, J. (2008) Bercow Review of Services for Children and Young People with Speech Language and Communication Needs. Available at: http://www.dcsf.gov. uk/slcnaction/. Recommended resources British Stammering Association www.stammering.org Department for Children, Schools & Families Inclusion Development Programme (SLCN) - http:// nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf. gov.uk/node/165381.

as a profession, we still need to get out there

So, would we do it again? The expense for the PCT and commitment of staff time mean that exhibiting at the show is something we would be unlikely to undertake every year. It was, however, a very valuable and worthwhile experience, and we would like to repeat it when the opportunity presents itself. Everybody enjoyed it and, as a team, we got to know each other far better than we had before. Those relationships will endure well beyond the shared experience of the exhibition. If you are thinking of undertaking a similar exercise, our advice would be: 1. Budget carefully We had not originally realised that the cost of hiring a stand would not include the necessary lighting, furniture, electrical power points and display boards. You may not be permitted to take your own lighting and display boards without exhaustive certification that they are safe. 2. Book early This lets you choose the position of your stand strategically. We were pleased to secure our corner position in the location we wanted, and it afforded us more space than a similarly sized stand along a row.

Universal issues
Staff recognised how much they themselves know, but how challenging it can be to answer some queries in a practical and useful way in five minutes. There was considerable satisfaction in being able to talk about children with speech, language and communication needs and to know that issues for our education colleagues are universal across the country and not just close to home in Sandwell. The team learned that the Sandwell model of service delivery is based on sound principles and delivers what school and nursery staff actually want. Life may be more hectic and physically demanding for the therapists but the high level of user satisfaction (which can only improve outcomes for children) more than makes up for this. We should be pleased that, postBercow and across the range of professionals concerned with child language impairment, we are generally making an impact. Eighty two per cent of practitioners who responded to our questionnaire at the Education Show were either confident or neutral
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REFLECTIONS DO I CAPITALISE ON NATIONAL INITIATIVES WHICH HAVE RAISED AWARENESS AND INTEREST? DO I PLAN EVENTS SUFFICIENTLY IN ADVANCE AND BUILD IN TIME FOR DEBRIEFING AFTERWARDS? DO I RECOGNISE THAT PERSONAL CONTACT IS VITAL IN MAKING PEOPLE FEEL CONFIDENT TO FOLLOW MY ADVICE?
Do you wish to comment on the impact this article has had on you? Please see the information about Speech & Language Therapy in Practices Critical Friends at www. speechmag.com/About/Friends.

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Jane Oates Winter 2009 www.speechmag.com

Appendix 1 List of Handouts for Education Show No. Title 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Some Information about normal Non-fluency How to help a child who stammers in class Schedule of Normal Development of Articulation Phonological processes Jolly Phonics activities Phonological awareness, what is it, and why is it important Activities to practise SLT target sounds Helping Speech Intelligibility in class Strategies to help children who have difficulties with understanding Levels of Attention The memory load Language comprehension plotting where your child is Vocabulary and Word Webs Inferences and Subtleties in Teachers Language in the classroom Strategies to investigate, for children with Social Language Difficulty Implementing a Social Language group Spoken Language Expression; building up sentences Helping spontaneous writing- a SaLTs contribution to Big Write Helping Spoken Language: Modelling and Expansion Some ideas for a Communication Friendly nursery environment Features of a Communication supportive school; primary Features of a Communication supportive school; secondary Principles for Working at P Levels Some definitions How to get the best out of your Speech and Language Therapist

Jane Oates Winter 09 www.speechmag.com Appendix 2 Sheet 9

Sheet 9
Almost without exception, children need to work on language understanding first, before they can be expected to develop their expressive language:Strategies To Help Children Who Have Difficulties With Understanding Language Good looking! Make sure the child is looking towards the speaker when giving an instruction. Be specific eg John look at me. Use gestures, pictures, objects to hold his/her attention, these will also support understanding of the instruction. Call their name! Some children do not realise that an instruction given to the whole group also applies to them. You can cue them in by using names at the beginning of the instruction. This reduces the risk of the child missing the instruction. eg: Do say Daniel, Mary, come and sit down on the carpet. Avoid saying come and sit down on the carpet Daniel and Mary Give clear, specific instructions to the child. Simplify your language! Simplify the length of your instructions. Use short sentences, emphasise key words. Use visual supports such as gesture, objects and pictures to hold up/ show as you are giving the instruction. Chunk instructions! Chunk instructions, give one piece of information at a time, pause, allow the child time to process the language and respond, then give the next chunk. Demonstrate! If a child is struggling to follow instructions, demonstrate what you want him/her to do. Use simple language to describe what you are doing. Pair the child up with a peer who will provide a good role model and demonstration. Tell them what to do! Try and tell children what you want them to do rather than what you dont want them to do. eg: Avoid saying Molly dont roll on the floor. Do say Molly, show me good sitting

Jane Oates Winter 09 www.speechmag.com Appendix 3 Sheet 8

Sheet 8
Helping Speech Intelligibility in class

Respond to what the child says, not to how he says it. Provided you can understand what the child said, react to the information imparted, not to the accuracy of the sounds.

Ask questions for which you can predict the answer. If you are not confident that you will be able to understand the child, try sometimes to ask him questions in class where his answer can be predicted, so that he is able to contribute to the discussion.

Model. Give a clear example of the target word, with no additional comment or demand. Dont distort the word by over-emphasising target sound, and dont ask the child to repeat it back.

Labelled praise. I like the way you used a f in four

Auditory Bombardment. Try to give plenty of opportunities for the child to hear his target sound in words.

Choose a few words that the child can say with his target sound, encourage him to use the new sound consistently in these, while you just model (as above) the sound in other words. e.g. for ch you might pick chair and choose but simply model instances of chicken and chocolate

Dont draw attention to mispronounciations.

AND FINALLY Keep in Touch with speech and language therapist, if the child has one, for further, specific, advice.

Jane Oates Winter 09 www.speechmag.com Appendix 4 Sheet 17

Sheet 17
Spoken Language Expression ; building up sentences Pupils may need specific teaching to build up their sentence structure from single words to connected speech in sentences. One method that SaLTs use for doing this is by using colour-coding to prompt inclusion of each part of the sentence. This is called Colourful Semantics and comes from a researcher called Alison Bryan. In our system:Orange denotes the subject of the sentence Yellow = the verb (doing) part Green denotes the object of the sentence Red = prepositional part (place) Blue = the adjective (descriptive) And Purple = connectives

BEWARE other colour-codings are commercially available. ( e.g. Sentifix from Philip & Tacey or TTS). Do not mix different colour-coding systems within the same school! Make sure the child knows some verb as well as noun vocabulary

Start with single pictures of people doing things

Use a strip of paper with a Orange then a Yellow part to prompt the child to say (The) children (are) dancing (You can if you wish use visual symbols or written words too)

Build up to Orange | Yellow | Green

The children | are riding |a camel

Or Orange | Yellow | Red And so on.

The baby | is | in the pram.

Orange | Yellow | Blue | Green

The boy | is lighting | the big | cake

The colour-coded strips remind the pupil to use all the words in the sentence

(with thanks to Cambridge University Press, Story Street for the use of illustrative pictures)

Jane Oates Winter 09 www.speechmag.com Appendix 5 Sheet 14

Sheet 14

Inferences and Subtleties in Teachers language in the classroom Besides taking account of the Memory Load (sheet 11), and the number of Information-carrying words (sheet 12), it will be helpful for classroom practitioners to be aware of idiom, inference and subtlety when working with pupils with social language difficulties. There is a style of speech that is almost unique to classrooms, for example, consider the utterances I think it would be a good idea if you didnt use that bottle as a hammer now tell me, there is one thing I do not like. What is it? Theres three people not working that I can see. All of these are actually commands, although they are phrased as if they were statements and questions. The student needs to know that they are being asked to do (or not to do) something. Similarly, some students may not be able to detect the sarcastic tone in Well, that was a really good piece of work there, Derek Drew! or the non-intention in If you dont get these right, I shall get a pen and join all your freckles up! REMINDER : Try to avoid. Sarcasm, double meanings and metaphors, particularly when working with younger children. If you do use them, make sure you explain what you mean.