Receptive language refers to the way that children understand words and sentances. Some of the common difficulties that children can have with receptive language are the following:

• Listening, paying attention to and remembering what people say.
• Following instructions in the classroom -  a child may only retain part of an instruction or have difficulties listening to a whole instruction.
• Learning and remembering new words.
• Understanding different sentences, particularly longer or more complicated sentences.  
• Understanding questions – a child may not respond, or they may give an answer that is unrelated to the question or doesn’t make sense.
• Understanding grammar such as word endings (e.g. words with ‘-ed’ on the end mean something happened in the past).
• Making sense of ‘hidden meanings’ - As they get older, children might find it hard to understand terms of phrase such as ‘pull your socks up’ or ‘get a wriggle on’. They might also find it hard to follow jokes and slang.
• Staying calm – it can be frustrating, confusing and stressful when you don’t understand what people are saying.

 

Blank Levels of Questioning are a framework developed to help children develop language comprehension skills. The framework is built around four stages of questioning, which become progressively more complex; moving from relatively simple, concrete questions to more complicated, abstract queries.

There are four Blank Levels of Questioning as follows:

• Level 1: Matching perception - basic questions about the things around you.
• Level 2: Selective analysis of perception - questions going into more detail.
• Level 3: Reordering perception - questions that need outside knowledge.
• Level 4: Reasoning about perception - complex questions involving problem-solving and justifying.

Expressive language refers to the words, phrases and sentences that children say. Expressive language doesnt only include spoken language, it also includes Augmentative and Alternative Communication (also known as AAC)  and this can involve sign language, pictures and/or symbols or using a communication device. Some of the common difficulties that children can have with expressive language are the following: 

• Learning and using new words.
• Being able to tell you what they want or need.
• Putting words together in the right order in sentences.
• Telling you about something they have done in a way that you can follow and understand.
• Telling you how they are feeling and why.  
• Using all the important words in a sentence, including little words like ‘a’ and ‘is’, and the correct grammar and word endings.
• Putting sentences together in a longer story in a way that is easy to follow and understand.
• Having a conversation 

Vocabulary refers to the words we understand and use. These include names of things (nouns), action words (verbs), and describing words (adjectives). Many children with language difficulties may struggle to learn, understand and use new words.

Colourful semantics is an intervention approach, which aims to develop expressive language, focusing on developing children’s grammar, by linking the structure of a sentence (syntax) and its meaning (semantics). Each part of a sentence (who, what doing, what, where) are represented by a different colour.

Colourful semantics can be delivered by a Speech and Language Therapist, Speech and Language Assistant, school staff or parents. Please click on the link below for further information.