Summary
In this episode of School Behaviour Secrets, we explore Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) with Tiffany Voigt, experienced speech and language pathologist from eLuma.
We cover the hidden challenges faced by students with DLD, and how these affect their learning and behaviour. Discover why early intervention and targeted support are crucial, and learn practical strategies so you can support students with DLD effectively.
Important links:
Click here to find out more about the support available at eLuma.
Get our FREE SEND Behaviour Handbook: https://beaconschoolsupport.co.uk/send-handbook
Download other FREE behaviour resources for use in school: https://beaconschoolsupport.co.uk/resources.php
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Show notes / transcription
[00:00:00 - 00:02:42] Simon Currigan
Did you know that one of the most accurate predictors of whether a child will have SEMH needs in school is actually whether they have difficulties processing and using language. In this episode, we interview speech and language expert, Tiffany Voigt from Eluma, who explains how developmental language delay impacts on student behaviour, what kinds of behaviour in the classroom you might see from a student affected by DLD and gives us strategies for helping them meet their potential in school. Don't go away because this is a massive issue that affects every teacher and every classroom wherever you work. Welcome to the School Behaviour Secrets podcast.
I'm your host, Simon Currigan. My co host is Emma Shackleton, and we're with helping teachers, school leaders, parents, and, of course, students when classroom behaviour gets in the way of success. We're gonna share the tried and tested secrets to classroom management, behavioural special needs, whole school strategy, and more, all with the aim of helping your students reach their true potential. Plus, we'll be letting you eavesdrop on our conversations with thought leaders from around the world, so you'll get to hear the latest evidence based strategies before anyone else. This is the School Behaviour Secrets podcast. Hi there. My name is Simon Currigan, and welcome to the School Behaviour Secrets Podcast.
Imagine all the other educational podcasts were a ton of celebrations, you know, one of those collections of mini chocolates where each chocolate is individually wrapped, while the other 'podcast would be like the Mars bars or the Galaxy's or the Twix that go quickly. You know?
Everyone grabs them from the box. We would very much be the chocolates that are left in the bottom of the tin, The chocolate that no one wants. That's right. You know what I'm talking about. The Bounty, coconut confection. Sorry, bounty lovers out there. If you do indeed exist, but I've seen tins of celebrations left out in staff rooms.
And while all the other chocolates get devoured at pace, what you're always left with at the end of the day is a layer of unwanted bounty chocolates. I've genuinely watched teachers go into a staff room, see the tin, clearly think to themselves, oh, I fancy a chocolate, walk over to the tin, look inside, see there's only bounties left, and then think, now I can do without it. Turn and walk away, in podcast terms, with that layer of Bounties. Now you might be listening to this thinking, I love bounties. If you do, be sure to let me know on Twitter or x. My handle is at I don't give a rat's ass about bounties.
[00:02:42 - 00:02:47] Emma Shackleton
I am going to be messaging you on x because bounties are my favorite.
[00:02:48 - 00:02:50] Simon Currigan
Oh, people are gonna be hunting me down now.
[00:02:50 - 00:02:56] Emma Shackleton
I thought you were gonna say toffee pennies. Toffee pennies are the devil's work. There's just no need for them.
[00:02:56 - 00:03:01] Simon Currigan
That is the voice of reason there. My co host, Emma Shackleton, I should should say hi Emma
[00:03:01 - 00:03:01] Emma Shackleton
Hi Simon
[00:03:01 - 00:03:07] Simon Currigan
Before we get into today's show, I've got a question I've been desperate to ask you, and it's nothing to do with chocolates.
[00:03:08 - 00:03:08] Emma Shackleton
Go on then.
[00:03:08 - 00:03:18] Simon Currigan
Have you ever been in a situation where someone has said something or done something and you've been completely lost for words.
[00:03:20 - 00:03:23] Emma Shackleton
Is this a trick question? It feels like a trap.
[00:03:23 - 00:03:26] Simon Currigan
Well, I mean, if anyone's ever been to one of our staff meetings.
[00:03:26 - 00:03:33] Emma Shackleton
Anybody who knows me knows that I am never lost for words, and you of all people should know that, Simon.
[00:03:33 - 00:03:35] Simon Currigan
Oh, no judgment. No judgment.
[00:03:35 - 00:03:43] Emma Shackleton
I think we need to flip this question. Simon, have you ever been lost for words in a situation and why?
[00:03:44 - 00:04:44] Simon Currigan
Well, it doesn't happen often, but it did happen to me very, very recently. As an adult, I don't really sort of experience awe and wonder very often. But recently, we were lucky enough to take a family trip to Disney World, and there was a ride there called rise of the resistance. It's in the star wars area of the park. Right? And I don't wanna ruin it. For anyone who's never been on it.
It's a massive queue. I think the queue was about 90 minutes. There's this one moment where you go into a spacecraft and you think you are somewhere, and then you walk out of the spacecraft and you are somewhere else. And my son and I went on this ride, and the way they did it is just absolutely incredible. And we just looked at each other, and we were like, oh my god.
How did we get here? And I don't wanna say any more than that because that might ruin it if if you've not been on the ride because it's a genuine moment of awe and wonder. But if you're ever lucky enough to go to Disney World, go to rise of the resistance. It is worth the cue because we were just, like, blown away.
[00:04:44 - 00:04:47] Emma Shackleton
Oh, wow. Right. Should we do some work?
[00:04:47 - 00:05:23] Simon Currigan
Okay. We've covered the important topics of Bounty and Disney World and being lost for words. Right. So the link alright. It is tenuous. We're gonna be talking to Tiffany Voigt, who is an expert in children's speech and language, and we're gonna discuss how children's ability to process what people are telling them verbally and their ability to articulate their own thoughts and desires is actually at the root of lots of difficult classroom behaviour and how by helping them overcome those difficulties, the root cause, the behaviours we often see associated with them kind of melt away.
[00:05:23 - 00:06:18] Emma Shackleton
A 100%. This this really resonates with me. It really makes sense. But before we get into that episode, I've got a quick favour to ask our listeners. If you're listening to the podcast today and you'd like to support us, the easiest way, and it's completely free, is to subscribe. When you subscribe, not only are you telling your podcast app to download future episodes of School Behaviour Secrets so that you never miss another thing, but it also prompts the podcast algorithm to share our podcast with other listeners too, helping us to grow the show and spread the information to teachers and parents who need it most. All you've got to do is pause the podcast now, tap the subscribe or follow button, press play again, and you'll be back into the show.
It'll take like 3 seconds. Perfect. Done that. Brilliant.
[00:06:18 - 00:06:43] Simon Currigan
And by the way, if you work with kids who present behaviour that you find challenging or difficult to manage in the classroom and you're not sure why they're acting that way and you want to dig into the root cause of that behaviour, we've got a download that can help. It's called the SEND handbook, and it will help you link behaviours you've seen in the classroom with possible causes like trauma, autism, and ADHD, and it does cover DLD.
[00:06:43 - 00:07:00] Emma Shackleton
And the idea, of course, isn't for teachers to make a diagnosis. We're just not qualified to do that. But if we can start to link behaviours to possible causes quickly, it means that we can get the right help and get early intervention strategies into place.
[00:07:00 - 00:07:12] Simon Currigan
And aside from developmental language delay or DLD, it even comes with a set of fact sheets that cover conditions like oppositional defiant disorder, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, pathological demand avoidance, and more.
[00:07:12 - 00:07:27] Emma Shackleton
The handbook is a completely free download, and we'll put a link in the episode description. So all you've got to do is open your podcast app and click directly through to get your copy. And now here's Simon's interview with Tiffany Voigt.
[00:07:28 - 00:08:24] Simon Currigan
I am more than delighted to welcome Tiffany Voigt to the show today. Tiffany is the director of customer success at Illumina, which is a mental health and special educational provider for k 12 or primary students in the United States. She's been a speech language pathologist for over 18 years with invaluable experience in the k12 education sector. Tiffany's journey started as an SLP in health care and private practice before she seamlessly transitioned to the realm of education. She recently earned her MBA from Saint Cloud University and her commitment to lifelong learning is evident. Her passion for serving students and schools in creative and effective ways led her to customer success at Illumina. And drawing from her experiences in the classroom, Tiffany uniquely understands the diverse needs and challenges of districts and schools allowing her to develop tailored solutions for each one.
Tiffany, welcome to School Behaviour Secrets.
[00:08:24 - 00:08:27] Tiffany Voigt
Hi, Simon. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here today.
[00:08:27 - 00:08:50] Simon Currigan
I am too because we're gonna talk today about a subject that I've been trying to get an expert on to talk about for a long, long time because it's really important. We're gonna focus our conversation today on developmental language disorder or DLD. Now DLD will be new to lots and lots of our listeners. So can you tell us a little bit about what DLD, developmental language disorder, actually is?
[00:08:51 - 00:10:01] Tiffany Voigt
Absolutely. So developmental language disorder is actually one of the most common developmental disorders that we see in children. What it is, is really a communication disorder. So students and children struggle with learning, understanding and using that language. So we often talk about it as receptive language and expressive language. So that receptive language is when you're talking to me, do I understand what you're telling me? Do I understand the directions that you're giving me?
And the expressive language on the other side is how I communicate with you. What words am I using? How am I putting those together? Am I effectively able to communicate with you to get my message across? And the developmental language disorder is pretty common. You know, it can affect anywhere from about 1 in 14 children in kindergarten. We see it very frequently.
As a speech language pathologist, it was probably one of the top things, that I was really seeing students for and working with children on. It impacts our speaking, listening, reading, and even up into writing. One of the other things that you might hear developmental language disorder referred to as is language impairment, language delay, or, developmental disorder.
[00:10:01 - 00:10:22] Simon Currigan
And of course, this is gonna have a big impact on the way children negotiate and cope with classroom life because those skills you were just talking about, the ability to receive language and understand what adults are telling them and their friends are telling them and the ability to articulate and express themselves, those are pretty key components of survival in the classroom, aren't they?
[00:10:22 - 00:11:57] Tiffany Voigt
Absolutely. I think what we see with communication and developmental language disorder is that we'll go into a classroom and we have a student and they're like, you know what? Their behaviour is really hard to manage. They're not listening. Participating. Those are students that get labelled as maybe they're being naughty or it's intentional that they're not paying attention. When in reality, is they have no idea what the teacher is telling them.
So they're lost. They're frustrated, They don't know what's going on with their peers. And so they're keeping themselves busy. And unfortunately, sometimes the way that they keep themselves busy is not what the expectation is. But part of that is they don't understand the expectation because they haven't understood the directions that they've been given. Unfortunately, a lot of those children get labelled as the students who are misbehaving when really it's a communication disorder that we need to solve for them. I have had students that I've gone into the classroom.
I can think of one in particular and he was everywhere. He was sitting on the bookshelves. He was in the teacher's desk. He was just not able to sit in the circle. Well, he didn't understand basic directions. So if you would say, please sit, he didn't know what that meant. And he also wasn't able to communicate that he didn't understand.
And so once we were able to get some of that basic language going, that behaviour dramatically increased in a positive way. And it also increased at home and across really the the continuum of his life.
[00:11:58 - 00:12:15] Simon Currigan
So basically, we're saying if we can track down to that underlying need, in in that case, DLD, then we can make a real difference for the students in the classroom. I'm just curious. What's the prognosis like for kids that have DLD but don't get that kind of support? What what does their trajectory tend to look like?
[00:12:15 - 00:15:01] Tiffany Voigt
Right. Those are our students who struggle throughout the lifetime in school, and they're also gonna struggle as adults because that language is delayed. And sometimes if those skills haven't even been learned yet, what we do as human beings is we cope. We figure out ways to make things work. However, there's so much potential for those students that unfortunately, they miss out on their full potential because they haven't been given that boost and step. With specialised treatments from speech language pathologists, from even in the classroom with additional supports, the outlook for those students is fantastic. It's like any outlook we would have for a student without the developmental language delay.
Throughout school, again, those students get labelled as misbehaving, but it comes from a deep sense of frustration. They're often very discouraged because they see their peers doing things that they say is easy or looks easy, and they often stop trying.
I have a student who... who is my daughter, who has a little bit of DLD as well. And so with math, she has stopped trying this year.
She's very discouraged. She's very frustrated. She doesn't misbehave, but she definitely does not try. It is setting her behind for where she needs to be to learn those skills now. But also, of course, math is a skill that builds as we go along with reading. And so having to really focus on that, not even to get her where she needs to excel, but really just to keep her up to where she needs to be is really a challenge. We also see a lot of anxiety in students, a lot of shyness.
They are much more apt to withdraw from social situations and be more socially isolated, which can lead to depression. They have fewer peer relationships now and as they grow into adults without any interventions, and really a greater risk of being bullied, being victims, because they don't understand what's being told to them. They can't read some of the literal and non literal language that's being used with them. And so that outlook into adulthood without any supports just continues to be a challenge up into the workforce. However, there is a huge bright light for us of getting in and providing support to students with DLD in the classroom that really sets them up for success, and they can be just as successful as any other student without DLD, which I think is really the exciting part that this isn't disability that you can't overcome. You might need to have some alternative ideas, maybe some different ways of doing things, maybe some additional supports, but it isn't something that you can't overcome, which I think is most exciting.
[00:15:01 - 00:15:29] Simon Currigan
Okay. So that's a very positive message. And we're gonna get on to how we support those kids in a moment. It sounds like unless the adults are being attentive and observing their students carefully, for some children, this is something that could go under the radar maybe because they're not externalizing the behaviour. They're not all throwing chairs or swearing or walking out or whatever it is. For some children, they it sounds like they can just quietly sink. I don't know if that's the right word, but
[00:15:29 - 00:16:27] Tiffany Voigt
They definitely fly under the radar. Like my daughter, for example, she will sit in her desk and she will be quiet and she might be doodling, but she is not paying attention whatsoever because she doesn't understand. So we assume that she tries right away. And the minute that she gets frustrated, then she just kind of daydreams off into space. So it's not all about students who are having behaviours that we notice that are very noticeable and may be dangerous to themselves or others. But it is definitely also our students who are disengaged, who might be not engaging with their peers. And, of course, there are different personalities of students too who are gonna be a little bit more shy, and not as willing to be part of of groups.
They want to be more independent and alone. But I think when we see students not engaging at all, that's definitely something we wanna understand and look into. Is it an activity that they're not interested in, or are they really dealing with some anxiety with withdrawing from from peers?
[00:16:27 - 00:16:44] Simon Currigan
Okay. So as teachers, how do we tackle that? How do we separate children who who have sort of separate needs from DLD. What is it specifically about DLD as teachers are we looking for so we put the right support in place?
[00:16:44 - 00:18:21] Tiffany Voigt
It's really a continuum. It's a gamut. It's not just one thing or another.
There are different levels of DLD. There can be very mild DLD where it kind of looks like students are just struggling, but they're making it through versus students who are really falling behind academically, who are not getting those passing grades in any of their grades. So it's definitely a continuum of severity with that. But in our younger students, for anybody working with those preschool and pre k levels, you know, are our students putting words together? Are they putting them in sentences? Are they able to follow basic directions, you know, line up, get your shoes, let's go outside, those kinds of things. If they're really struggling with those, I think those are big signs to look for.
I think even one thing or a few things that we look at are those students making grammatical errors when they're speaking. Are they able to learn new words? And are they initiating responding? Does their response to the question make sense? Or is it kind of just way off base way out in left field for those students? So things to look for are what are the peer relationships look like? Are they isolating themselves? I think the big trigger really is how is the student doing academically but And even if you have the opportunity to see how they engage maybe with siblings or parents, that is often a great way to look for some of those common signs of DLD.
[00:18:21 - 00:18:57] Simon Currigan
If we just talk about younger pupils for a moment. I was in a nursery the other day where we were sort of looking at a number of pupils and sometimes it's hard when you're working with really young children to separate what might be something like developmental language delay to just normal, normal in inverted commas, development because kids are so early on in their development. Sometimes it's it's hard to untangle, you know, where they should be developmentally ill and try and unpick whether there's something like DLD affecting the child. Any tips or strategies for sort of unpicking that for people that are working in the early years?
[00:18:57 - 00:21:55] Tiffany Voigt
I think what as an SLP, I'm always gonna say utilize your speech pathologist. If you have any questions and you kind of have that gut instinct of the student seems to be struggling or this little child is struggling or not understanding, really have them come in. And generally speech pathologists, if just doing a little bit of observation, you can kind of tease out and pinpoint things that, well, this is developmental. This is something that maybe isn't so developmental. That's what we're trained in. And so I always say utilise your speech pathologist if you have access to one. But I think other things that you can do to separate those behaviours and really support students is to start with very basic commands.
I think sometimes we are all moving at a very fast pace. And so we make things more complicated for kids. So if we're looking at those younger, younger kids, can they follow just single step commands, like go line up, put your shoes on? If they're struggling with those, then I think that's a red flag really to call in more support and get a little bit more, like a speech pathologist involved in that realm. I think we can make things more simple for students. We can give them one step at a time or 2 step directions. I think one of the other thing that is really great is to have the student repeat to you what you said to make sure that they understand.
Because often, if you say put on your shoes, and then you ask them, what did I ask you? If they can't repeat it back to you, it often means they don't know what you told them. And doing it in tandem of saying put on your shoes, or we put on our shoes while you're doing it. And combining it with the words and the action will really be a way to help that student. Because lots of times those students are great visual learners because the developmental language disorder is affecting their processing. And so doing, seeing is really helpful for them early on. And so I think making things as simple as possible, slowing down and giving those students time to process is also really important.
We get going really quickly. And we're saying, okay, do step 1, do step 2, do step 3, but we don't actually give them time to process that information, and then actually do it. And so being patient is really important. And sometimes you have to wait a really long time to let them process that information and try before kind of swooping in and helping them. I think in our attempt to support students and help them learn and grow, we often jump in too quickly. And we don't give them the opportunity to do it themselves, or even doing it wrong. It's okay to do it wrong, okay to do it wrong, because we can follow-up with a positive correction and support on how we want them to do it.
But it doesn't serve students when we are swooping in to help them before we give them the opportunity to do it.
[00:21:55 - 00:22:24] Simon Currigan
You know, that is so true. As teachers and adults supporting in school, we don't wanna see kids struggle. We don't wanna see them looking awkward or unsure what to do. So we so often with the best intentions jump in, but actually, if you would've given them that extra 10, 20 seconds processing time, they would've been able to work that out for themselves, which of course is is so much more powerful. How about children move through school and sort of get older and move toward secondary, high school? What kind of classroom strategies and adaptations work to support them?
[00:22:24 - 00:24:36] Tiffany Voigt
I think what's really important is being clear and having really explicit directions for them. We need it to be clear. We need it to be exact, but we also need it to be short. I think that's a little bit of the challenge. We can't give them an entire page of written directions, you know, things like putting their directions or assignments into bullet form. It's clear math, page 7, reading, chapter 9. To be able to do that, it takes out a lot of that excess language that can kind of clutter up how they're processing the information and how they are then going to carry it out.
You know, our students with DLD, too many words is not helpful for them. We need it to be clear and to the point and to use simple language for them because then they can focus on doing the assignment that they need to do instead of figuring out how to even start the assignment because lots of times they are getting distracted because they don't even know where to start. So I think those are the things that are really instrumental for them. We can also do something, called chunking or kind of a drip feed of information. So you break that big task down into little chunks. And so today, we're you're gonna do chunk 1. Tomorrow, you'll be able to do chunk 2.
Instead of giving them all 5 things to do at one time, break it into smaller pieces so that they're not overwhelmed. Our students with DLD will look at the entire picture and go, oh my gosh, it's too much. I'm not even gonna start it because too much. I don't know where to go because they're focusing on step 5 instead of step 1. So let's break it into those manageable pieces for them and then really support them in completing each one of those tasks as they go. I think we need to be explicit with those students in those higher grades as well. Okay. We didn't get it all right today.
We got the first part right, we got the middle part right. But now we would need to work on the end and build off of the successes that they do have to help build that feeling of accomplishment for them, because they're gonna see everything as a failure. The whole thing was a failure if they miss any of the steps. And that's not true. So we need to practice with them, create opportunities for success, and then celebrate that success for them. And
[00:24:44 - 00:24:59] Simon Currigan
You can get the expertise of an external agency in to support you and understand which strategies are gonna be appropriate for each child. You used a term there, speech pathologist. Could you explain what the difference is between a speech pathologist and a speech and language therapist?
[00:25:00 - 00:25:35] Tiffany Voigt
There is no difference. We tend to answer by all the names. The official title is speech language pathologist. We go by speech teacher. We We go by speech language therapist, speech therapist, speech pathologist. All of those iterations are the same thing. In medical settings, you're more likely to refer to yourself as a speech language pathologist or a speech pathologist.
In educational settings, we tend to refer to ourselves more as a therapist because it has a little bit of friendlier tone to it. And it's more understandable for students and for parents than what in the world is a pathologist.
That kind of sounds like
[00:25:35 - 00:25:37] Simon Currigan
I suppose to do with death. That was
[00:25:37 - 00:25:39] Tiffany Voigt
Or some weird virus out there somewhere.
[00:25:39 - 00:26:08] Simon Currigan
I think that's actually a really important point to clear up because if you are listening to this and you might be thinking, yeah, but I don't have access to a speech pathologist' but someone might be doing that job in your school or visiting your school so it's important to know that the support's out there. We've touched on this but I'm interested in the trajectory of children that do get support kind of in more detail. What's the long term impact of DLD with the right support? Can you share any sort of success stories of students with DLD that have made significant progress with the right support?
[00:26:08 - 00:31:45] Tiffany Voigt
Absolutely. So I've worked with students that have been nonverbal when I have met them, and we have started working together. At this point in time with this student, Being nonverbal was you just kind of hang out in the classroom all day while everybody else is learning, and you're off playing because you're not being disruptive. So you're kind of doing your own thing and they bring you in over for story time and you sit on the rug, but you know, you might be tracing the shapes on the rug. And so we worked really hard, had some really focused strategies that we would do outside of the classroom on just basic labelling. And then we would go into the classroom and we would label things in the classroom, you know, books, desk, those kinds of things. And then I always love to use peers.
So we found that student's best friend who was kind of a student who was very outgoing, who would grab, my student kind of by the arm and say, you're coming with me. And so they were kind of best friends. And little by little, as we work throughout the course drink of water. And so connecting to go get a drink of water. And so connecting those words with the meaning started very, very small, but it was very successful from being nonverbal to being able to say one word and communicate what you wanted, things like restroom. So we knew they needed to go to the bathroom. All of those things were so impactful.
And they And they would stop other students and say, no, they know what they want. And so it was just really, really great. I saw him for about 3 years, and then he transitioned to a different school. But I mean, we had gone from being totally nonverbal, receptively, he understood, but he just couldn't get the words out, to a point where he was using short phrases and sentences. And then I I kind of tracked him all the way through as he had moved to a different building. And by the time he got to middle school, they were working on really high level skills of reading and comprehension, but was able to perform at grade level. Reading was still a little bit of a a challenge at times, but they were working on those skills.
So that was a student who wasn't engaging at all, up to a point of being able to be fully participating in in the classroom and all the activities and had really great friendships as well. I've also had, I think of a student in particular who their communication struggles really were exemplified by behaviour. The student who cleared off the teacher's desk every single day through staplers, through chairs, tried to escape the room, spent a lot of time in the principal's office because they were considered to be so disruptive that the teacher didn't want them in the classroom because it really was impacting the learning of other students. I spent a lot of time with her. She came into my office quite a bit. Because when I had open times, you know, I could see that it was a communication issue, and we knew that it was. And so I said, you know what, send her down to my room instead of sending her to the principal's office.
And so I would just have her come with me and do tasks during the day outside of therapy sessions. You know, we need to go down to this room and take this classroom, making copies and cutting things out. Instead of sitting in the office, just staring at the wall, she was with me doing something. And then I could incorporate therapy into those everyday tasks. You know, we could walk down the hall and say, we're walking to the office, and say I need you to get me the scissors and work those into activities we were already doing so it felt like she wasn't necessarily doing therapy. And the more language that we were able to get her to understand, and the more we worked at communicating what her thoughts and feelings were, the behaviour in the classroom started to decrease little by little. It wasn't overnight, but it was definitely something where as she was able to understand the directions, the first things that they saw in the classroom really were staying at your desk or being in the right part of the room, they had alternative seating.
And so being with the students, and then the expressive part came not too far behaviour, but definitely understanding what the expectations first were really made a big impact. This was a student who a naughty student. But up until the 3rd grade, she had just been deemed as a naughty student, but she really didn't understand where she was supposed to be. And she went on graduated from high school, she went to college. I don't know what she did when she got to college, but she was very, very successful. There were always some things that she needed to do a little bit differently. She definitely needed to keep lists.
She definitely needed to ask a lot of questions to make sure that she understood. But those were very easy ways for her to make sure that she could have that language and understood what was happening to be successful. We worked a lot on her understanding that she needed to use those skills of asking and keeping lists to be successful, or she would be frustrated. And so I think one of the things that we can do with those older students is really make sure that they're part of the plan. I think a lot of the times we plan for them, but asking them what's important to you is really important to their buy in. And they have great ideas. They know what might work or not work, and so we need to ask them and involve them in what that plan is for them.
[00:31:45 - 00:32:56] Simon Currigan
I think in those stories there, 2 of the things that jump out for me that are super important are how intertwined communication, verbal communication and behaviour really are. And I think it's still true that the best predictor of whether a child will have behaviour needs in school is whether they have a communication diagnosis or difficulties with communication. When you unpick that, how that can unlock success in the classroom for those individual students which is so powerful. And also, I think it's about the importance of also celebrating small victories. Often when you're teaching in the classroom, you're looking at quite complex skills and you've got another child there. Like you said, you might celebrate they got the word water for the first time. And for you, that might seem like such a small thing, but actually for them, it's a big breakthrough.
And it's seeing those moments for what they are and really celebrating them. And celebrating them both for the child, but also for you as an adult because it's it's a big thing. You've helped them make that big breakthrough.
It's worthwhile work. We could talk about this all day. If you're a teacher or a parent, actually, listening to this podcast, what's the first step that you could take today to start helping a pupil in your class with DLD?
[00:32:56 - 00:36:37] Tiffany Voigt
I think the very first thing you can do is just be aware and be connected with your student. I think in the landscape that we're in, in a world that moves very quickly, it's easy to go, okay. Something's not right, but I I don't know what. Or maybe they're just having a bad day. I think we can talk ourselves out of things at times As a parent who has a child who struggled in school and knew as a speech pathologist that, hey. I know the signs to look for. When my students struggled, I didn't want to really see them because it was a hard a hard thing to deal with that your student or your child that you have had a plan for in your mind for years is struggling with something.
And so I think really being aware of what your student and your child is doing, what they're capable of, and being aware of, of things that you see as a struggle for them is is really the first step. I think really setting up an environment of success is really important as well, because we move so quickly. And, you know, in a world of social media where we get everything immediately when we want it, it seems like things should move much faster. But I think we need to just slow down a little bit and then look for those resources that we can find, especially if your student is in school, to reach out to the other professionals within those buildings and utilise them because they have a plethora of knowledge that we can really build from. I think some of the basic steps that we can do are simplifying our language, simplifying our directions, and making sure our students and our kids are understanding what we're saying. I think we take for granted a little bit that sometimes we are going faster because we have experiences and knowledge that they don't have. So if we can slow ourselves down, that's really gonna be a benefit.
I think with social media and the world out there, the company that I work for, Illumina, has the ability to provide services virtually from anywhere. And so if those resources aren't available where you are or you don't have a speech therapist in your school, there are options out there. At Illumina, we have licensed professionals who meet and do live sessions, over your teleconferencing software, and provide those skills and that practice to the student, but also can provide that support to parents and teachers as well. So I think in a fast paced world, yes, it might be a little bit fast, but I think we have some really great opportunities as well to support students maybe in a different way that we haven't thought of before. I know, especially with the online services that used to be very hard to get people to realize that the quality can be the same, but our students are very savvy in technology. And so it's actually been very successful for the students that we've served because they like being on a computer. Really asking questions.
If you're a parent, ask your teacher, how is my student doing? What are things that we can do to support them and not kind of overcoming that feeling of, man, have I failed as a parent or a teacher if my student isn't learning? Because you haven't.
You have not failed. If your student has developmental, language disorder, there are things that you might not know that you don't have the skills to teach them to do. And that's okay, because there are people out there that have the skills, you are doing everything you need to, if you're advocating for them and helping them get the support that they need.
[00:36:37 - 00:36:46] Simon Currigan
It's it's never a weakness to ask for help, especially from a specialist because you can't know everything. If you're a teacher or school leader and you're interested in engaging with Eluma, how how do you do that?
[00:36:46 - 00:37:51] Tiffany Voigt
Absolutely. You can go on to our website. It's eluma. com. It's eluma. com. I always like to spell it out because it can be a little bit tricky of what does that say or what do you mean?
But you can go on to our website, there's a button on there where you can submit questions, and our team can reach out to you, and talk through some of those options. We have anything from speech therapy therapy to occupational therapy, counseling for students who are in special education, school psychologists who are gonna do cognitive testing, academic testing. And then we also have a large mental health program as well for students who aren't in the special services, but need support, maybe a couple sessions, they need to speak with a counsellor. We also have options for professional development for staff and teachers as well because we know they need resources because the landscape of the classroom is changing. So, we provide support to students in schools anywhere, in what is the MTSS framework from whole classroom learning to universal screeners for classrooms and students all the way up through the specialized services in special education.
[00:37:52 - 00:38:02] Simon Currigan
Tiffany, finally, we ask this of all our guests, who's the key figure that's influenced you or what's the key book that you've read that's had the biggest impact on your approach to working with kids?
[00:38:02 - 00:39:29] Tiffany Voigt
So I had an aunt who had polio when she was 9. And she went from being a running around 9 year old to a 9 year old who, was in a wheelchair because it really affected her muscle control. And this was in the fifties. And so the approach to students with disabilities was very different. She was very, very bright, very smart. She just couldn't walk. She needed to use a wheelchair.
She worked hard. She went on to get her master's degree actually as a speech language pathologist and actually did a second degree in counselling. And her philosophy and theory was, no, disabilities aren't limiting. They can be, but they don't have to be. And so if you get the right support and the right help and you're willing to do the work, you can do anything that anyone else does. You might need to do it differently, and you might have to approach it differently, but we shouldn't limit anyone or any of our students. And so I think she's the one who's really had a big impact.
She went on to do amazing things at a state level, also at a personal level. She impacted so many, so many people, and never let her disability, get in the way of doing what she wanted and how she wanted to do it. And so she she's definitely somebody that had a huge influence on my life because she put her mind to it. She did things a little bit differently, but she always accomplished the same end goal that anyone else could have.
[00:39:29 - 00:39:38] Simon Currigan
Wow. What a positive message to end the interview on. Tiffany, I've learned so much today. I really appreciate you giving us your time and sharing your expertise. Thank you for being on the show.
[00:39:38 - 00:39:51] Tiffany Voigt
Thank you so much. It was a pleasure to be here and a speech language therapist, we love to talk about language, and so I hope there's been a lot of great information and useful information for for teachers and parents.
[00:39:52 - 00:40:02] Emma Shackleton
It's really interesting how when you dig down into it, that language difficulties are behind so many of the behaviour issues that you see in school.
[00:40:02 - 00:40:22] Simon Currigan
Yeah. And how putting the right compensating strategies and support strategies in place can make a big difference for the child. And as promised for those of you who want to know more, I put direct links to Tiffany's website and resources in the episode description. To make it easy for you, all you gotta do is to open up your podcast app, and you'll be able to tap straight through to them.
[00:40:22 - 00:40:45] Emma Shackleton
And if you've heard something today that you thought, well, that would be useful for a certain colleague to know, don't keep this information to yourself. Use the share button on your podcast app to share this episode with them either on your social media or through messenger or WhatsApp or even through a text. Your podcast app lets you send them a direct link to this episode really quickly and easily.
[00:40:45 - 00:40:48] Simon Currigan
And that about wraps it up for today's school behaviour secrets.
[00:40:49 - 00:40:56] Emma Shackleton
We hope you have a very productive and enjoyable week, and we look forward to seeing you next time on school behaviour secrets. Bye for now.
[00:40:56 - 00:40:58] Simon Currigan
Bye now. Don't touch those Bounties.
(This automated transcript may not be 100% accurate.)
