Language impairments
Around 7-10% of children experience specific difficulties with speech, language and communication. Read our introduction to language impairment, the development of speech, language and communication.
ELCISS team
The schools
Read about the schools participating in the ELCISS project from the boroughs of Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham
Testimonials
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
- 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
We are now in the third and final year of the ELCISS programme. We are busy in schools visiting the children one last time to assess their language and learning and see what strategies have been learned from the ELCISS intervention programmes. We hope to finish this final stage of language assessment by around May 2009.
The ELCISS research team will then be busy inputting and analysing the data. At the end of the project in around August 2009, we will prepare a summary of the entire project-so watch this space. We will put this on the web, and also send it to all the participating schools.
Workshops in participating schools
Over the next few months a range of workshops will be given to all mainstream teaching and support staff in the 21 participating schools in the Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham Boroughs.
These workshops will take the form of twilight insets and half and full day workshops. The teaching assistants who participated in the interventions will be involved in the workshops and help disseminate the outcomes of the ELCISS programme.
Additional funding for these workshops has been provided by The Communication Trust. See the ICAN website for more details.
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.
ELCISS at RCSLT Scientific Conference, March 2009
The ELCISS research team will be attending the RCSLT Scientific Conference in London, on the 17th and 18th of March 2009 and will present papers on two main themes of the ELCISS research: Training of Teaching Assistants and Narrative and Vocabulary Enrichment Intervention Programmes. For more information please visit http://www.rcslt.org