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Colourful Semantics is an approach created by Alison Bryan, a Speech and Language Therapist based in the UK.
- It is a method of teaching children how to understand and build sentences.
- It is aimed at helping children to develop their grammar, but it is rooted in the meaning of words (semantics).
- In Colourful Semantics, sentences are cut up into their thematic roles and these are colour coded:
- Who (Subject) – Orange
- What doing (Verb) – Yellow
- What (Object) – Green
- Where – Blue
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Pictures are also used to help construct the sentences and they are also colour coded to match the above. For example:
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Colourful Semantics can be used to help all children develop their language, but can be especially helpful for children with a range of Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) including:
- Developmental Language Disorder
- Developmental Delay or Disorder
- Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Down Syndrome
- Dyslexia
- Literacy Difficulties
- English as an Additional Language (EAL)