Background

On average, one in five children in East Lothian live in poverty. After housing costs, in some areas this rises to one in four. There are higher levels of deprivation in the western part of the authority with pockets of deprivation in Haddington and Dunbar. In East Lothian, 24% of homes are in fuel poverty. East Lothian is one of six local authorities in Scotland with the largest increase in deprivation.

Rationale

Several schools have found gaps in language and communication in the early years. This is particularly evident for children living in areas of social disadvantage. There was an increase in referrals to Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT). This was impacting on levels of attainment.

Attainment Scotland Funding

Pupil Equity Funding under £5,000.

East Lothian Council case study

Speech and language therapists collaborate with schools to identify the areas of need. This includes the analysis of data and evidence. They then develop a bespoke plan for each school. This includes targeted and universal approaches, target groups and measures of impact.

They use quality improvement methodology to plan interventions and to measure their impact. Data is collected regularly to ensure changes can be made quickly to adapt to the needs of the school.

Therapists deliver whole school training. They model and coach staff in a range of interventions and provide resources. They also gather observation evidence which supports language and interaction strategies. Working with staff is a way of building sustainability beyond the SaLT intervention.

Interventions include:

• vocabulary development
• emotional regulation
• social thinking
• phonological awareness
• the sign-supported communication system 'signalong'

Supporting parental engagement is also an important feature of the plan.

Speech and Language therapists offer an information session for headteachers each year. These take place in advance of planning for Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) the following year.

Impact

East Lothian has measured impact has in every school in the region. They are using qualitative and quantitative data to evidence results.

So far they have seen:

• increased use of visual supports in classrooms
• increased pupil engagement in learning new words
• increased knowledge of speech, language and communication needs and how to support them
• improved listening skills and sentence length