How Home Learning affects Language Enrichment and Building Vocabulary in Early Years
The ongoing situation and school closures as result of Covid-19 have a number of different implications for the education sector. We want to dig deeper into this issues, with help from the experts. This week, Kirstie Page, Speech and Language Therapist at Launchpad for Literacy, explores the impact of home learning on language development in Early Years.
Although all young children and families are different, children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds are statistically more likely to be developmentally behind their peers, especially in relation to language development. Quality Early Years education is essential for all young children but it is particularly crucial in order to close the disadvantage gap as soon as possible. Statistics suggest that children from more disadvantaged homes may be behind their peers from more economically advantaged homes by about 11 months when they start school. Central to closing this gap is the language enrichment and building vocabulary offered by Early Years Practitioners. There is a real danger that the current pandemic will prevent or significantly disrupt this, especially for the most disadvantaged students.
With the current closure of many Early Years settings, it is important now to consider what impact this will have on the development of language and vocabulary skills. Home Learning places a tremendous emphasis on the hands-on and play experiences children have access to at home and the interactions that are shared as these happen. Although the skills and knowledge base of Early Years Practitioners vary, working in teams and following Curriculum Guidance arguably brings a little more equity in comparison to differences between adults in different homes.
In the Early Years, language and vocabulary skills are facilitated through quality interactions alongside shared experiences. These quality interactions are seemingly simple when you get a chance to observe them or carry them out yourself. However, in reality, they are complex and skilful at the same time.
The knowledge and skill of the adult is key to make the most of these interactions and shared experiences. The adult should consider positioning, the amount of language used, grammatical structures and vocabulary to be added and modelled. The more practitioners know about the sequential aspects of language development and children’s next steps, the more productive these interactions become.
Sharing multisensory experiences alongside language enrichment is also crucial, allowing children to see, touch, feel, smell and experience new vocabulary as it is added. Hands-on, shared experiences are also fundamentally important for the adult to build verb vocabulary, adding language to describe what the child is doing and what is being done together. When the child is ready, links can be made between what is happening now and experiences that have been shared before or that are going to be shared in the future.
Providing a range of experiences within Early Years settings enables a broad range of vocabulary and language skills to be built when these experiences are shared. It also allows different children’s interests and learning styles to be considered, whilst also expanding the experience-base and vocabulary of children.
In the Early Years it is developmentally not feasible to build new vocabulary through talk alone. Even as we share vocabulary in stories, we need to give young children the chance to see pictures or to use props or actions.
In relation to Home Learning, it is also very difficult to offer guidance from afar on the essence of language enrichment. It is far easier and ‘concrete’ to suggest carrying out an activity requiring the children to listen for sounds in words and begin to recognise letters or numbers. Although this learning is highly valuable, it is difficult to advise and compensate for the fact that most language will be learnt through interactions alongside daily routines and play.
There are always significant numbers of children who present with delayed or disordered speech and language development. Speech and Language Therapy Services are already swamped with the numbers of children and levels of concern from educational colleagues. There is a need for Early Years Practitioners to know more about language assessment and to set next steps, taking more ownership of minor delays and skill gaps related to children’s differing range of experiences.
The need for this will only increase in the current climate. It is yet to be confirmed, but it is strongly suspected that more children in the Early Years will present with language and vocabulary skill gaps and issues with readiness.
Although our levels of educational concern will be even higher about even more children, we need to be aware that non-essential NHS services and assessments have been put on hold at the moment. Many children will not have been referred to Speech and Language Therapy or, even if they have, may not have been seen. Waiting lists are likely to be even longer. It is essential that we do not tackle this as an Outside Agency and 1:1 or small group intervention issue.
Using this current, strange situation to bring language and vocabulary even more to the core of Early Years will help us to deal with the issues we are likely to face in the very near future. In the long-term, embedding speech and language interventions into Early Years practice and Quality First Teaching whilst still collaborating with specialist colleagues has to be the way forward to dealing with language, vocabulary and closing the gap.