Welcome to ELCISS!

We are about language for learning, learning for language.

The ELCISS programme aims to enhance language and communication in secondary school students. It provides training to teaching staff on different ways of supporting the learning and accessing of the curriculum of students in secondary schools.

It will increase our understanding of different levels of language and communication in secondary school, and provide different support systems for the students, teaching staff and parents.

Current news

• ATTENTION: ELCISS Narrative Intervention Programme now available...more details
  
  Please note that the ELCISS Vocabulary Enrichment Programme is due out next month so watch this space for more details or go to www.speechmark.com.
• We are currently presenting the outcomes and findings of the ELCISS research programme at a number of conferences:
  
  

  Afasic Cymru Conference
  September 2011: Communication Counts

  Primary Care Conference 2010
  May 2010: See www.primarycare2010.co.uk for more details

  Speech, Language and Communication Needs Conference June 2010: See http://conferences.teachingexpertise.com/slcn for more details

  Child Language Seminar, City University, London
  June 2010 See http://www.city.ac.uk/lcs/childlanguageseminar.html for more details

• City University London, together with RCSLT and ASHA are hosting a summer seminar and champagne reception with Professor Marilyn Nippold from the University of Oregon, USA on the evening of the 5th of July. Professor Nippold will be giving a talk on: "How speech and language therapists and teachers can help adolescents succeed in school: using research to guide clinical practice.". For more information, see attached invitation and map for directions
• City University, London is hosting the next RCSLT special interest group for older children and young adults with speech, language and communication needs on the 5th of July. See attached agenda for further information
• The ELCISS programme is being extended and is now running in secondary schools in various boroughs. For more information and if you are interested in setting up the programmes in your school or local authority, contact Victoria Joffe on v.joffe@city.ac.uk
• A new ELCISS research programme has begun in collaboration with the Barking and Dagenham Local Authority and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. This project is being funded by the "Targeted Mental Health in Schools" project and is concerned with enhancing mental health and well-being in secondary school students. The ELCISS strand of the project will be exploring the relationships between mental health and well-being and language and communication functioning. An ELCISS social and life skills programme will be devised to enhance communication and social skills in students at risk for social and emotional difficulties. This project has only just started, but watch this space for further information and details.
• City University leads the way in celebrating communication success. Click here for more info
• Enhancing Language and Learning in Secondary Schools Conference Click here for more info

Exploring the project

Our study explores the prevalence, nature and type of language and communication impairment in secondary school students - a significantly under-researched and under-serviced client population.

We investigate the effectiveness of two speech and language therapy (SALT) interventions in improving language and communication skills and also explore the effectiveness of different levels of training support given to teaching staff. Read more

Current status of the ELCISS Programme

The main part of the ELCISS research programme, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, ended in December 2009. We are now in the process of analysing the data and preparing manuscripts for publication in practitioner and research publications. The data is looking exciting and preliminary findings suggest that the ELCISS programmes were effective in improving secondary school students language and communication. A short synopsis has been drafted of the preliminary findings which you can download here

Workshops in participating schools

A series of workshops are still being conducted in secondary schools targeting mainstream teaching and support staff in the 21 participating schools in the Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham Boroughs.

These workshops are taking the form of twilight insets and half and full day workshops. The teaching assistants who participated in the interventions are (will be) involved in the workshops and help disseminate the outcomes of the ELCISS programme.

The workshops will summarise the findings and outcomes of the ELCISS programme as well as provide information on speech, language and communication development and impairment, highlight key markers for identification and provide a range of strategies to enhance language and communication in the classroom.

Additional funding for these workshops has been provided by The Communication Trust. See the The Communication Trust website for more details. Additional schools, local authorities and primary care trusts have subsequently come on board and are involved in running the ELCISS programmes. Do contact us if you are interested in adopting the ELCISS programmes in your work.

ELCISS at Child Language Seminar Conference, June 2010

The ELCISS research team will be attending the Child Language Seminar Conference taking place at City University, London on the 23rd and 24th of June, 2010, and will be presenting a paper on the 24th of June on the outcomes of the ELCISS research programme - An effectiveness study: enhancing language in adolescents with language impairments through two intervention programmes - narrative and vocabulary enrichment.

For more information please visit http://www.city.ac.uk/lcs/childlanguageseminar.html