Sharing Student Projects

Speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN) include difficulties related to all aspects of communication including fluency, forming sounds and words, formulating sentences, understanding others, and using language socially (Bercow et al., 2008). SLCN is estimated to affect 10% of children and young people (Bercow, 2018). Children with SLCN are more likely to present challenging behaviours than peers with typical language development (Yew & O’Kearney, 2013). Yet, SLCN may not be recognised in children and adolescents presenting challenging behaviour (Hollo et al., 2014). Previously undiagnosed SLCN is widespread amongst young offenders (Snow et al., 2015). As teachers manage behaviour daily, they need to be aware of factors that affect behaviour. However, only one study had considered if teachers believe SLCN may affect behaviour, and this took place in the US with preschool teachers (Nungesser & Watkins, 2005). In the UK, secondary school pupils are ten times more likely than primary pupils to be permanently excluded (Gov.uk, 2020). Therefore, this project focused on what secondary mainstream teachers perceive to be the causes of challenging behaviour and their awareness of the link between challenging behaviours and SLCN. Seven current mainstream secondary teachers and one secondary special needs teacher, who had previously worked in mainstream, were interviewed through Zoom. They were recruited to the study through social media rather than through schools to encourage them to speak freely about the topic. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed to look for patterns. Four themes were constructed: impact of home and local area; the indirect role of education systems on behaviour; role models and relationships; and the links between SLCN and social-emotional development. The impact of the home environment on behaviour is consistent with previous research (Wang & Hall, 2018). Similarly, the importance of the student-teacher relationship in behaviour has been previously discussed (Stanforth & Rose, 2020). Generally, teachers have been found not to consider school-based factors to affect behaviour (Wang & Hall, 2018), which was not the case in this project. Teachers believed the curriculum and ability grouping affected self-esteem and behaviour. As this was the first study to consider secondary teachers’ perceptions on SLCN and behaviour, the link that teachers made between SLCN and social-emotional development was a new finding. Teachers in this study showed limited explicit awareness of SLCN. However, they discussed relevant factors such as how pupils struggled to discuss feelings, how teachers used simple questions to help students explain incidents, and how students’ behaviour may show that they are unhappy or finding school-work difficult. This study supports the recommendation that more training on SLCN is needed for education professionals (Bercow, 2018) but would add that the link to challenging behaviour must also be shared. An increased presence of speech and language therapists in secondary schools is also recommended to help schools recognise SLCN and provide additional support for those displaying challenging behaviours.

School leadership could use this dissertation to improve the professional development they offer staff, ensuring awareness of the link between SLCN and behaviour. With increased awareness that SLCN may accompany challenging behaviours, schools and teachers are more likely to arrange for assessments from SLTs and implement SALT programmes. SALT has been reported to improve confidence, communication, and behaviour in YOs (Snow et al., 2018) and similar outcomes could be expected for school students. As challenging behaviours can cause disruptions in learning for peers (Gregg, 2017), SALT could improve outcomes not just for students displaying behaviours but also for others in the class. The findings of this study could be used by universities to improve their teacher training by including content on SLCN and behaviour. Understanding students’ additional needs has been found to impact how teachers appraise behaviour (Hart & DiPerna, 2017) and teachers with less experience have been found to be more likely to engage in exclusionary practices (Stanforth & Rose, 2020). Thus, including SLCN in teacher training may support inclusionary practices amongst teachers who are new to the profession. Finally, the findings of this dissertation may empower parents to seek more support and assessment from schools if their children are displaying challenging behaviour. If parents are more aware of factors that may cause challenging behaviour, they can push for schools to provide the correct assessments and support. This would subsequently improve the wellbeing of students displaying challenging behaviour.