SLCN in key stage 3: More teaching strategies (part 4)

So far in this five-part series on supporting pupils with speech, language and communication needs, we have explained how important it is to identify SLCN as a primary need when pupils transfer to secondary school so that appropriate interventions can be put in place. We said that support comes in three “waves”:

Last week we began looking at Wave 1 support strategies. Before we move on, let us explore some further strategies for quality first teaching that work particularly well for pupils with SLCN (and indeed for all pupils):

Dual coding is the combination of words and images. We have two specific yet connected cognitive subsystems: one specialises in representing and processing non-verbal objects or events; the other specialises in language. In other words, we process verbal and visual information separately and so can double the capacity of our working memory if we utilise both verbal and visual processing at the same time.