How to support your child at home

Please see the links below for general advice and strategies that you can use to help support your child’s speech, language and communication development; as well as links to other organisations and support groups.

STAR vocabulary is a way of developing your child's vocabulary skills by focusing on the sound and the meaning of the word.

STAR stands for:

S select pick the most relevant words to teach

T teach introduce new words to the whole class

A activate bring the new word to life, help pupils remember and

understand the word

R review transfer the word to the pupil’s long term memory

Method:

1. Say the word. Who has heard this word before?

2. Introduce picture/symbol (and an object if possible) which represents the word. Place in the centre of a ‘Star Word’ poster.

3. The phonological (sound) features: Get your child to clap out the syllables of the word. How many rhyming words can the class think of? These can be real or nonsense words. What sound does the word start with? Record on the Star Word poster.

4. Identify the semantic features (meaning): Give a simple definition, writing it on the ‘Star Word’ poster. Ask your child to add more.

5. Get your child to put the word into a sentence.

6. Act out the word. How could the word be represented?

7. Use a song or rap to reinforce the word.

8. Put the picture and word onto a display.

9. Put the picture into a Word Pot ready to be pulled out during the rest of the week for a recap.

Activate

Aim: To help your child remember and understand the word revisit it every day.

Review

Aim: To make sure the word stays in your child’s long term memory.

Ask questions such as: ‘What was the word again?’ ‘Let’s clap the word together,’ ‘Can you think what the word means?’.