What is receptive language?
Receptive language is the ability to understand and comprehend the language we hear or read.
Identification – what you may see in the child or young person
- Appears to ignore you or may ‘tune out’ whilst you are talking to them.
- Only follows part of an instruction or follow an instruction incorrectly.
- May rely on routines, gesture or following others, for example non-verbal cues, to know what to do.
- Responses are delayed or unrelated to the question or input.
- May have poor attention skills.
- Demonstrates difficulties remembering what has been said (auditory memory difficulties).
- May find generalising information, retaining new vocabulary and understanding concepts in different contexts difficult.
- May misunderstand jokes and/or figurative language.
- Difficulties with understanding will be observed across all curriculum areas.
- May appear frustrated or confused when they don’t understand what someone is saying.
- Behaviour may present as quiet or withdrawn, or disruptive. They may present as disinterested in learning.
- Finds it difficult to interpret other people’s feelings, facial expressions, gesture and tone of voice.
Planned provision in school
Based on need, some of this provision will be effective.
- Develop a language and communication profile. Results from screeners or school-based assessments, as well as pupil voice, should be collated to form a language and communication profile or communication passport in collaboration with the child or young person. This should detail their strengths, needs and helpful strategies, be shared with all relevant staff and reviewed with the pupil at least annually.
- Check understanding by asking the child to explain. Ensure adults deliberately ask the child to explain what they must do, rather than repeat back instructions, to check for understanding.
- Use of differentiated question or adapted language. Staff adapt their own language and use differentiated questioning to match a child or young person’s understanding, for example using the Blank Levels to ensure language is at the correct level.
- Planned opportunities to take part in barrier games, for example Lego Therapy, talking or drawing challenges, battleships, to practise active listening, comprehension monitoring and following multi-step instructions.
- Develop language using a planned, structured approach, such as ‘Language for Thinking’.
- Planned sessions to pre-teach vocabulary – individualised or small group vocabulary teaching with phonological and semantic cues considering all tiers and a focus on key words and linguistic concepts.
- Use of structured programmes to promote vocabulary development, such as ‘Word Aware‘. For vocabulary support in secondary schools, see Enriching Vocabulary in Secondary Schools: A Practical Resource for Teachers.
- Colour coding, for example Colourful Semantics, is used to promote the understanding of the meaning of words and how they link together within sentences.
- Support the child or young person to monitor their own understanding and employ strategies to overcome this, using a resource such as The Comprehension Monitoring section of ‘Language for Behaviour and Emotions’.
- Record verbal instructions so that the child or young person can replay them when needed, as well as using visual and task planners to assist with understanding.
- Children and young people use an agreed cue to show they have not understood. Have an agreed cue or desktops cards for the child or young person to discreetly use to communicate if they haven’t understood something.
- Staff use unambiguous, clear and direct language. Where figurative language is used, this is explicitly explained to the child or young person.
- Use of targeted resources to develop receptive language skills. The ‘Language for Behaviour and Emotions‘ resource can be used to support pupils to develop receptive language skills, particularly in relation to social interactions, for example Comprehension Monitoring, understanding figurative language).
Resources for schools
Support services
- Speech, Language and Communication | Children and Family Health Devon
- Request support from Devon’s Communication and Interaction Team
- LEGO-based therapy training | Devon Education Services
Further reading and information
- Ages and stages | Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives
- NAPLIC | DLD bubble toolkit
- Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) educational support | Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives
- Visual supports
- Developmental Language Disorder
- How teachers can help in the secondary classroom
- Webinar: SLCN and DLD: What Every Teacher Needs to Know | Whole School SEND
Resources to share with parents
- Progress checkers for parents: Signs and symptoms | Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives
- Parent workshop: Simplify language and support understanding | Children and Family Health Devon
- Parent workshop on visuals: Using visuals to support communication | Children and Family Health Devon
- Parents | DLD and Me
- What is DLD? | DLD and Me
- Afasic – Guides for Parents