Communication and Interaction 

Communication and interaction are vital to children’s development. Communication and interaction enable children to:  

• attend and listen 

• understand what is being said to them 

• express their thoughts and feeling  

• socially interact with others 

What will every child access as part of their day-to-day learning? 

Within all classrooms, staff ensure that there is high quality, inclusive teaching for the children within the classroom. Below are some of the things that teachers consider when planning learning:  

• Quality first teaching   

• Multisensory teaching approaches 

• Purposeful seating arrangement 

• Physical – visual – abstract concept used within learning 

• Language activities being scaffolded 

• Modelling language 

• Differentiated questioning  

• Opportunities to support and facilitate early play skills  

• Physical and visual prompts to support language 

• Working Walls 

• Visual timetables to help children understand the structure of the day 

If my child is struggling, what additional support might they be able to access in school?  

Some children can find it challenging to communicate and interact effectively. This might be due to a speech delay, developmental delay, difficulties forming speech sounds, a diagnosis such as autism, having English as an Additional Language, or for another reason. At Field End Infant School, staff ensure there is support in place for children where this as an area of need. We use a range of teaching strategies and make adjustments in the learning environment / lessons to ensure children’s needs are catered for.  

For children that require additional support, we run a range of interventions such as:  

• Attention Hillingdon   

• Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI)  

• Talk Boost  

• Articulation Station  

If my child has more complex needs, how might the school make provision for them?  

If a child has communication and interaction needs, the school will be in regular communication with the child’s parent / carer to ensure both home and school are working in partnership to support the child.  

Sometimes the school or parent / carer might feel a child would benefit from the support of an external agency and with parental / carer consent, a referral might be made for the child to be assessed by a Speech and Language Therapist. Due to the geographical location of our school, we work with therapists based in Hillingdon, Harrow and Ealing. If a child requires ongoing speech and language support, where possible, members of staff will attend the sessions with the therapist to ensure the activities can be continued throughout the week. 

Useful Websites:  

Tiny Happy people offers support and strategies on how to develop your child’s communication skills. 

Hillingdon Children's Integrated Service (CITS) provides advice sheets and videos on how to support your child at home. 

Ealing's Speech and Language Therapy site provides advice sheets on how to support your child at home and advertises events happening within Ealing.