All Talk have developed a range of resources to support practitioners and families when supporting children achieve successful communication or those children with speech and communication needs.
Everyday play and interactions are the perfect opportunity to develop language and communication skills. Think about the way that you engage and interact with the children in your setting. We have developed a series of ‘Top Tips’ for successful communication. Download the posters below to display in your setting and share with parents:
Everyday routines are a great time to encourage communication and language with children. Use these resources to help you improve your everyday practice during these daily activities.
Responsive Practitioner Evaluation Tool
Use the Responsive Practitioner Evaluation Tool to support you in reflecting on the way that you interact and engage with children in your setting. Team up with a peer, observe each other and choose a strategy you would like to try or do more of.
Some children will need more targeted support to help them develop their speech, language and communication skills. Their skills may be delayed and they may also have difficulties in other areas of their development. Being able to listen and concentrate, play and interact with others and understand language are all important skills for developing language.
With the right support and early intervention many children will ‘catch up’. Other children with more complex speech, language and communication needs may continue to have longer term difficulties that require ongoing support. If you are concerned that a child in your setting has speech, language and communication difficulties you can:
Use these resources to help you support children who are presenting with difficulties:
The Setting Self Evaluation Tool provides a framework to help you consider all aspects of your early years setting, in relation to creating a quality communication environment. Use the tool to reflect on a range of key areas – from the environment, to the way that practitioners respond and interact with children, to the way that you engage and share information with parents. The tool will support managers and practitioners in identifying key strengths and areas for improvement in promoting all children’s language and communication development. Please contact us if you would like support in completing the tool in your setting.
Our Early Communication and Language Screening Tool enables practitioners to assess the developmental level of children’s speech, language and communication skills. Use this tool alongside your own observations and assessments when you are concerned about a child’s speech language and communication skills. The tool facilitates early identification of children who are presenting with delays in their speech, language and communication development. With the right early identification, children make better progress, the longer-term impacts are minimised and many children can even catch up.
These suggestions may help to support a child who is growing up with more than one language:
If a child is presenting with difficulties in both their home language and their second language, this indicates language difficulties and they will benefit from a referral to the Speech and Language Therapy Service.
Share these handouts with parents in your setting: