Staffordshire Early Years SLCN Conference

Come and join us for our first annual Staffordshire SLCN Conference

Sat 16th April
The Conference CentreJohn Taylor High school Dunstall Rd, Barton-under-Needwood, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire DE13 8AZ

Registration - 9.30am

Selective mutism:  the way forwards Libby Hill is a consultant speech and language therapist and one of the very few in the UK who is trained to work with children with selective Mutism. With 1 in 150 being diagnosed with the condition, we all need to know how to deal with it. Libby will discuss how to identify SM from reluctant talkers and practical ways to manage in your setting.

Behaviour is communication: Kathryn Stinton is a specialist early years teacher who has worked in mainstream and specialist settings for twenty years. Kathryn will look at the typical development of social skills and factors which can impact on this, as well as the role of the environment in promoting positive behaviour for both adults and children.  A range of practical strategies will be discussed.

The development of language for learning: a Blank solution Natasha Hallam is a speech and language therapist who works in mainstream and special schools settings. Natasha will look at the development of children’s language for  learning and give you practical ways to both assess the children’s levels and tailor your activities accordingly.

2 year olds not talking; how to measure what they can do Margaret Gomm and Georgina White are both speech and language therapists with a great deal of experience of working with younger children in children’s Centres and Nurseries. They will look at the common issue of 2 year olds who cannot talk. They will give you practical ways to record communication before words and tips for working with non-verbal children.

Closes - 3.30pm

Buffet lunch provided

FEES & PAYMENT £85 per delegate £65 early bird until 28th February 2016. 

Places are limited to 50 so please book early to avoid disappoinment.

Payment and booking is all managed online: BOOK HERE

For more information: Libby Hill Small Talk SLT Ltd 

office@smalltalk-ltd.co.uk www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk

Billy: Born Naughty? Channel 4 series 1 episode 4

 I was asked to assess Billy as part of the programme 'Born Naughty?' to see what might be causing his bad behaviour at home and more recently at nursery. He had already been seen by the Paediatrician Dr Ravi Jayaram who had made some important observations.

Billy aged 3 years, along with his Mum and Grandmother came to a children's centre which was local to me but was a good 3 hours drive from their home. I played with him a for a short time and then screened his spoken language skills. I was looking for: his attention level, listening ability, auditory memory, understanding level (information carrying words), vocabulary, verbal reasoning and expressive language. I was also looking for his social communication/pragmatic skills which includes three major communication skills:

        Using language for different purposes, such as

§       greeting (e.g. hello, goodbye)
§       informing (e.g. I'm going home)
§       demanding (e.g. Take me home)
§       promising (e.g. I'm going to take you home)
§       requesting (e.g. I would like to go home, please)

Following rules for conversations and storytelling, such as

§       taking turns in conversation
§       introducing topics of conversation 
§       staying on topic
§       starting conversations appropriately
§       finishing conversations e.g. not walking away mid-sentence
§       how to use and read verbal and nonverbal signals
§       how close to stand to someone when speaking
§       how to use facial expressions and eye contact

It also includes Modifying language according to the needs of a listener or situation (for older children but Billy is too young for this), such as
§       giving background information to an unfamiliar listener
§       speaking differently in a classroom than on a playground
 

He coped really well with the assessment and scored highly on everything. I'd also put out a variety toys to see what the level of his play was like. His pretend play was amazing: he used lego as soup, made Batman and Robin from square shapes and pretended with imaginary toys too.

His family were concerned that he might have Autism as his uncle has  a diagnosis of ASD. They were worried that his behaviour was due to this. However, if we look at the older way of looking at ASD: i.e. the triad of impairment of language ability, social communication and flexibility, Billy scores so highly as to void any suggestion of ASD, this, together with Ravi's observations, meant I did not therefore do any formal ASD assessment. His mum is to be congratulated on a fantastic job done!

We needed to look for an different explanation of the behaviour and called in the wonderful Deb Sugden, sleep expert. 

www.libbyhillspeechtherapist.co.uk

Another 2 year old not talking

This morning,  I went to the home of Fred, a lovely two year old who isn't talking. He did say some words but now doesn't. Understandably his parents are worried. When I first qualified, parents would have been a little concerned BUT there was no internet so they couldn't google their problem. (Let's face it we all do and  we could all convince ourselves that we have a terminal disease if we check our symptoms in this way!)

The same happens for parents: there's so much on the internet about Autism that parents are drawn to this as the only reason a child might not talk. However, there are several reasons why a 2 year old isn't talking, not just because they have ASD. They might just have a delay in the area of speech, language and communication (there might be a family history), it might reflect overall ability, they might not need to talk as everything is done for them or a combination of some of the above. We have had an influx of referrals for younger children who aren't developing language as they should be. We like to have referrals as young as possible so we can put plans into place to help. Early intervention is vital.

We're interested in:

• Interaction skills, do they want to interact?
• What is their eye contact and non-verbal ability like?
• What is their attention and listening like?
• What is the level of the child's play? This gives us a good idea of overall developmental levels
• Do they understand what is said to them? We need to see if they understand word and phrases. There is a difference between situational understanding so of you have your car keys in your hand and you say 'Shall we go in the car?', they don't need to understand the words to be able to work out what's going on?
• What are they communicating without words? 
• How do they get their message across?

In Fred's case, his interaction and non-verbal ability is really good. His verbal understanding is age-appropriate. Play is developing well. He gets everything without needing to talk but is sensing the pressure to talk. There is also a family member who had language difficulties as a child. His functional communication is great!

We decided to do the following for 1 month:

1. To take the pressure off making him say things, so don't ask to repeat or ask too many questions in a story (handy rule 1 question to 4 comments). He is a very strong personality and knows whether the adult knows the answer so is unlikely to 'play the game'

2. Step up the opportunity for him to as make as many choices (non-verbal at the moment) see http://www.smarttalkersblog.com/2014/02/reasons-means-and-opportunities-choice.html

3. Encourage non-speech noises e.g. animals, vehicles etc  

4. Keep adding language to his grunts/noises adding what you think he'd be saying if he could talk, children learn by echoing to start with so need a model to echo

5. Use repetitive rhymes to hesitate on words to give him chance to add the approximation of the word (don't care how he says it just that he has an opportunity).Work out which songs and words so  both parents do the same.  

6. Make a word book of Fred's things and people using photographs

I'm going into nursery to discuss Fred's communication skills with them and to see what help they might need. We'll review him at home in 4 weeks and I'll keep you posted on how he gets on!

Please help AFASIC... and have some fun too! 'Zip It' for Afasic

As we enter a New Year, AFASIC are encouraging us to get involved in their latest challenge that should be a bit of fun, and also raise some money towards their work. They are often the only place a parent can turn when they have a child with SLCN and no-one else seems to understand that it affects the entire family.
 
They really need  help to ensure that Afasic has the funds it needs to provide this ongoing help and support for children, young people and their families who are affected by speech, language and communication disabilities now and into the future.
 
How to get involved
Please take part in the Afasic ‘Zip It!’ challenge this spring  - you can take part yourself, encourage your local school to take part, get people in the office to take up the challenge, or get the family to have a quiet and challenging evening at home!
 
The challenge is to stay silent and use only non-verbal methods of communication for a period that you can decide (it could be 5 minutes, an hour, a morning, a day etc.). For more information and to register for a full information pack go to  http://www.afasic.org.uk/support-us/fundraise-for-us/zip-it-challenge/

Nasen Live 2013 - 22nd to 23rd May

Nasen is delighted that the Department for Education (DfE) has agreed to host briefing sessions at Nasen Live 2013. DfE officials working to revise the SEN Code or Practice and develop the new single SEN category (to replace School Action and School Action Plus) will be in attendance on both days to give an update and discuss the thinking behind the changes.

These sessions are free but book early to avoid disappointment.

Don't miss out on:
• Nasen's new School Inspection Toolkit
• Children and Families Bill
• Revised National Curriculum
• New assessment and examination systems
• Radical reform of how schools are funded
• Increased Pupil Premium for disadvantaged pupils

With a comprehensive seminar programme, FREE DfE sessions on both days and a FREE to enter SEND exhibition, there is something for everyone.  

www.nasenlive.org.uk

New Children Centre Groups

We have started some new groups in children's centres in an area which is considered to be in the lowest 20% according to socio-economic studies. The children are delightful but have language levels which are way below the average expected. I spoke to a reception classteacher who reported that the OFSTED Inspector last week had been shocked at how low the over-all profiles were. If speech, language and communication skills are delayed, it has a knock-on effect to all learning.

We are working with children who have been identified as  lagging behind even this level. Their attention, listening, short-term memory, understanding and expressive language skills are delayed and the incidence of speech sound difficulties is really high (especially those associated with dummies). The other thing they all shared was low confidence and self esteem issues.

Talking to their parents revealed a similar profile of low confidence, little self esteem and an inbuilt distrust, boardering on hostility, to any form of establishment or professional. They are mostly third generation of unemployed and have worries about finances, housing, relationships and more, which are forming a barrier to successful interaction with their children. They all want the best for their children but just don't realise what they need to do. It is interesting that they are spending far more than me on Christmas presents this year and the pressure to have the latest fashion for themselves and their children is much greater than mine will ever be i.e. they want the best with no compromises.

It used to be instinctive to talk to children to develop their communication skills and without interaction they won't these skills develop properly. However, this has been lost some time ago with many families so that they just don't know any different.

Studies show that how a parent feels about themselves has a huge bearing on their interaction with their children (Roulestone et al 2011). How can we change the behaviour without appearing to criticise and thereby further destroy any remaining confidence?

It's a difficult task to change what they are doing (or not doing). Our Smart Talkers groups use demonstration to show what works for us. It's hard to feel intimidated by a woman sitting on the floor with her hand up a puppet, singing so they tend to feel almost superior, to begin with, at least. The hope is that parents will see what works and copy this themselves as their trust in us develops. We do have really good feedback to show that this works.

We show that by positive encouragement the children will achieve more e.g. when we are working on listening, we describe the behaviour we want i.e. good sitting and good looking, then we praise those who are doing it so that the ones who aren't, want to please, so they do it too. We also show how confidence can be encouraged, for instance, yesterday was the first time I had had one group and they all had very low self esteem. This manifested itself in 5 not looking at me or making eye contact and looking very worried and one who talked all the time in the hope I wouldn't ask him anything he couldn't answer. By the end of the session, with stickers proudly emblazoned on their chests, all were looking at me, smiling and waiting for my next instruction!

We use simple games and stories which can easily be copied by parents. Afterwards, we discuss what we did in the session, why it worked and what they could try at home. All done in a  non-threatening, non-critical way.  

There are other agencies involved, who are all doing their bit too such as family support workers, parent support workers, Book Start, Home Start, Health Visitors and the NHS SLTs. I'm looking forwards to seeing the progress of the children over time. 

We are commissioned to running the groups until April. After that will depend on how well I've filled the tender documents in. Lets hope I didn't miss of a tick box!

More than a third of five-year-olds are struggling to communicate

More than a third of five-year-olds are struggling to communicate – or understand the basics of reading and writing – because of key failures in early years care, it was revealed in OSTED's annual report earlier this week. Record numbers of young children – some 96 per cent – were currently in some form of pre-school education but it warned that “significant weaknesses” remain in terms of how well providers use the Government’s early years curriculum to “prepare children for school”.

In a damning conclusion, it was claimed that children from the poorest fifth of homes were on average 19 months behind wealthier classmates in their use of vocabulary by the age of five.

The gulf between rich and poor was wider than in most other major English-speaking nations, it was revealed.

From this it appears that the situation hasn't moved on despite the best efforts put in place since the Bercow report.

Our Smart Talkers pre-School Communication Groups  run in Children's Centres and also nurseries to help develop  language and communication skills to reduce the gap between these children. We have excellent results. We will be reporting on a project in the Lichfield area that we are currently doing, soon.

www.smarttalkers.org.uk

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9706275/Ofsted-third-of-five-year-olds-not-ready-for-school.html

What are the causes of poverty and social break down?

A new study has been launched, which will explore the fundamental causes of poverty and social  breakdown. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has identified these as:

• welfare dependency
• family breakdown
• educational failure
• drug and alcohol addiction
• serious personal debt. 

Communication Trust Professional Director Wendy Lee will be part of the working group on educational failure, which will feed into the overall report.  Wendy Lee said: “The research evidencing the poor language of children living in socially  disadvantaged areas is becoming stronger and stronger and we know the massive impact poor language has on educational success, attainment and on long term prospects for children and young people in socially disadvantaged areas. We also know how strong language skills can help children in these areas “buck the trend” and do well in school and beyond. “We are pleased to be able to feed in the issues for these children and some of the evidenced solutions and our optimistic about the impact the report could have on children’s life chances.”  

The CSJ also commissioned a YouGov poll to coincide with the launch of the study aimed at 
identifying the causes of the serious social problems facing Britain. About 55 per cent of people surveyed said at least one of their local communities features broken families, crime and poor schooling.

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S HEALTH OUTCOMES FORUM REPORT

The Communication Trust has welcomed recommendations from the Children and Young People’s Health Outcomes Forum to improve health-related care for children and young people and address long-standing system issues.

The Forum launched by the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, included the Government's former Communication Champion, Jean Gross CBE. Last year, The Communication
Trust managed and delivered the National Year of Communication (Hello campaign) in partnership with Jean Gross. Cara Evans, Interim Director at The Communication Trust, said: “The Communication Trust is  particularly pleased the  Health Outcomes Forum report makes strong recommendations around more effective integration of health with education, social care and other local authority led services.

"Over 1 million children and young people in the UK today have some form of long term and
persistent speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). For too long these children have
fallen through the cracks of health and education, being passed from one agency to another, with
families stuck in the middle of local disputes.

"Improving joint commissioning of services for children and young people with SLCN is vital and we
need to take their views, and those of their families, firmly into account. The Trust wants to ensure
that children with SLCN and users of alternative and augmentative communication aids (AAC) are
supported to express their opinions on matters that directly affect their life chances.

“The Trust wholly endorses the recommendation that  all those working with children and young
people should possess the right knowledge and skills to support children and young people's
communication development and to be able to identify when they are struggling."

Julie Wagge, Director of Speech and Language Therapy Services at Symbol UK, one of the Trust’s
consortium members, said: “Getting it right for children and young people with SLCN relies heavily
on effective joint commissioning. An inherent difficulty has always been that the specialist resource -
speech and language therapists - sits within the NHS but the ultimate legal responsibility to provide
therapy sits with the local authority as the education provider.  "The care pathway for children with SLCN includes nursery-based provision and schools. Effective clinical outcomes rely heavily on the collaboration between practitioners, teachers, speech and language therapists (SLTs) and parents. Early and timely intervention is critical or we face great economic and societal costs down the line."

At the end of the National Year of Communication, Jean Gross CBE published her final report as the
Government's Communication Champion for children. It highlighted that joint commissioning is still
not taking place in seven out of ten local areas. The report can be downloaded from
www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/media/9683/nwm_final_jean_gross_two_years_on_report.pdf

Help pre-schoolers' communication skills... urgent action required!!

Middle-class children hear 33 million words by the time they start school - 23 million more than poorer children of the same age, a Government adviser has revealed.

According to Frank Field, the Governments advisor on poverty, collapse in parenting skills in poor homes with unstable families blights a child's prospects by the time they are three-years-old.

In a report on child deprivation, he said that wealthier children from stable homes will have heard 440,000 more positive comments from their parents than children from dysfunctional families by the age of three. As speech & language therapists know, the level of communication between a parent and child has a more drastic impact on a child's future than any other factor including class, race or income.  The findings are only set to continue for future generations if action is not taken as young people brought up  in dysfunctional families have no experience of being a good parent when it comes to raising their own children.

Mr Field aims to 'break into this cycle of deprivation so the whole thing is not automatically handed on the next generation'. He is calling for a 'parenting curriculum' at schools where pupils will learn about child care as well as a formal 'rites of passage' ceremonies attended by local mayors for children not christened. 

Some of the latest research is very damning as it shows that youngsters who were behind when they started school never caught up to their peers. He blamed the situation on the low aspirations of parents trapped in poverty where no one in the family has worked for generations. These parents do not bother to play with, talk to or read to their children. Mr Field’s study warned that children’s life chances were almost entirely determined before they even got to school.

His report called for health visitors to measure children’s behaviour and communication skills from the age of two to catch youngsters who were falling behind in their development.

The reason I started Smart talkers Pre-School groups was an attempt to address some of these issues see www.smarttalkers.org.uk


What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments.

Help! my child is not talking

Are you concerned that your child's speech, language or communication is not developing as it should? Sometimes, if you don't see other children of the same age, you just don't know what is expected. Other times you may see others of the same age chatting away while your child isn't. How are you supposed to know whats OK and when you need to worry? When should you seek help? 

We strongly recommend that you seek help from a speech-language professional if your child:

By 12 months

• doesn’t babble with changes in tone – e.g. dadadadadadadadada
• doesn’t use gestures like waving “bye bye” or shaking head for “no”
• doesn’t respond to her/his name
• doesn’t communicate in some way when s/he needs help with something

By 15 months

• doesn't understand and respond to words like "no" and "up"
• says no words
• doesn't point to objects or pictures when asked “Where’s the...?
• doesn’t point to things of interest as if to say “Look at that!”  and then look right at you

By 18 months

• doesn’t understand simple commands like "Don't touch"
• isn’t using at least 20 single words like "Mommy" or "up"
• doesn’t respond with a word or gesture to a question such as “What’s that? or “Where’s your shoe?”
• can’t point to two or three major body parts such as head, nose, eyes, feet

By 24 months

• says fewer than 100 words
• isn’t consistently joining two words together like "Daddy go" or “ shoes on”
• doesn’t imitate actions or words
• doesn’t pretend with toys, such as feeding doll or making toy man drive toy car

By 30 months 

• says fewer than 300 words
• isn’t using action words like “run”, “eat”, “fall”
• isn’t using some adult grammar, such as “two babies” and “doggie sleeping”

3-4 years 

• doesn’t ask questions by 3 years
• isn’t using sentences (e.g., "I don't want that" or "My truck is broken")  by three years
• isn’t able to tell a simple story by four or five years 

If you’ve noticed one or more of these warning signs in your child, it’s important that you take action right away to ensure that he receives the help he needs.

Taken from the Hanen website which has useful info for parents as well as professionals. We are Hanen accredited SLTs www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk

Tiny Talkers Training programme

Do you sometimes find yourself saying 'yes' then working out the practicalities later? I'm really bad at that, so when I was asked if I could  devise a training programme for 2 year olds that could be delivered mainly without taking the staff out of the nursery or pre-school, similar to the Languageland Programme that caters for 3-7yr olds, I said.......... 'Of course!'. I enlisted the the help of Helen Stretton, and we set about working out a training package with a 6 week programme.


There will be an initial training session without the children to set the scene and introduce the ideas that we're going to demonstrate. There isn't anywhere that pulls together the framework of communication and how everything fits together, so we'll start with that.We'll look at attention, listening, auditory memory, information-carrying words as well as vocabulary and other important concepts.


Each of the 6 sessions following will see the therapist run the group and discuss why she is doing an activity. The staff will be able to follow with aim/activity sheets with explanations which tie in with what they learned in the first classroom session. There will also be sheets which give more ideas, further activity suggestions and useful books to back up what has been covered. 


We have designed it so that others can use it so there is a sheet for each session for the person delivering the session to suggest exactly how to deliver it for maximum effect.
Helen is piloting it in September in Burton with a project working with staff from 2 pre-schools and a group of 2 year olds and their parents, funded by the Community and Learning Partnership. Lisa Griffiths, the Smart Talkers Franchisee from St Neots will do a second pilot in her area. The idea then is to sell it to other speech & language therapists or special needs co-ordinators so they can deliver the training in their settings. We have a  publisher who is interested already.


If you know of any settings who are wondering how they could improve their knowledge of language in 2 year olds but who don't want to spend money on staff cover, then this is for them. www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk or www.smarttalkers.org.uk

Small Talker Pre-school Communication Groups:

• ·         At least 40,000 children will have started school this September without the necessary level of speech, language and communication skills (Prof. J Wright, de Montford University, 2008)
• ·         A high percentage of these are transient difficulties which could have been prevented or dealt with pre-school. ICAN estimates 50% of the reception population fall into this category
• ·         Studies show that if a child starts school with delayed language his chances of success after school are less (Prof. J Law, City University, 2009)
• ·         At least 85% of those starting school will have poor attention and listening skills which will prevent them learning (Hill, 2010)

The Small Talker Groups were set up exactly to try to help alleviate the problems faced by the Class Teacher. We work on everything they need to be successful, effective communicators including attention, listening, vocabulary, understanding, expressive language skills and social interaction.

They are for all children but are ideal for those who really need a boost before they start school next year www.smarttalkers.org.uk

Grumpy old woman: sad observations of society

I know I'm rapidly approaching 50, so I probably qualify for the role of grumpy old woman but what I saw today made me not only angry but very sad. I'd taken a  break from work to have my nails done in Rugeley.  It's a small market town which is suffering more than its fair share of the recession. There is a wealth of charity shops and many boarded up pubs but the level of socio-economic well being in general is much the same as elsewhere. They had the door open because it was warm, so for an hour and a half while I was sitting in the chair 'being done', I could hear the general hum of human activity as families, teenagers and a good sample of the general population passed by on their way to the market hall or the bus station on a warm summer afternoon. Sounds peaceful, a slice of England going about its business?

NO!! It might have been a sample of society on a summer afternoon but  what I heard was most upsetting and made the whole session quite stressful. At least 3 children crying and being screamed at from a very close proximity to either 'Shut up', or 'Shut the f@&k up' in one instance to a little boy who couldn't have been more than 18 months old. One 2 year old got a smacked bottom because he dropped his dummy (yes dummy, why on earth they need dummies at that age in the middle of the afternoon!). There was a loud, heated argument between a couple in front of their bemused 3 year old with too many swear words to mention and a teenaged mum with a cigarette hanging precariously over her newborn. I could go on but I won't. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO SOCIETY? Are we so stressed, caught up in our own world of problems that we have forgotten how precious and in need of nurturing our children are.

We have a national crisis where parents are not adequately interacting with babies and children which leads to social interaction difficulties, language  and communication problems. At least 40,000 children will have started school this week without the necessary levels of spoken language ability to access the curriculum. These are NOT children with speech, language or communication disorders which they have through no-one's fault, these are victims of what is, in reality, negligence. Had they had better parenting they'd be fine. I am not condemning just families with low income, as some of my most language deprived children who I see come from very affluent families. Conversely, some people I know are struggling on very low income but are fantastic parents.

We must keep trying to spread the word about good practise but its going to take a long time. I was discussing social change with a  friend, we were discussing the fact that everyone wears a seatbelt now and we all know that we shouldn't drop litter. These were two very powerful social messages that various governments managed to sustain. We need one now, about something I think is more important than both of those put together:how we should be talking to our children, valuing them, listening to them and showing them a good example.

The Smart Talkers groups were devised because of this decline see www.smarttalkers.org 

Ban TV to protect children's health, top psychologist tells EU politicians

Taken from The Daily Mail 31/8/10

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
TV should be banned for toddlers and severely rationed for other youngsters to protect their health and family life, a leading psychologist will tell MEPs today. 

Dr Aric Sigman claims that millions of children spending hours slumped in front of TVs and computers is 'the greatest unacknowledged health scandal of our time'. 

He says it is linked to ills ranging from obesity and heart disease to poor grades and lack of empathy. 

Ban: Toddlers should not be allowed to watch TV, according to expert Aric Sigman, and viewing should be limited for older children as well to protect their health

Some British children spend as much as seven-and-a-half hours a day in front of a screen  -  the equivalent of a full year of 24-hour days by the age of seven. 

Dr Sigman, an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, believes that the youngest children, whose brains are undergoing massive development, should not watch any TV at all. 

From the ages of three to 12, boys and girls should be limited to an hour a day, rising to an hour and a half for teenagers. 

Expert: Dr Aric Sigman believes too much TV results in health problems such as heart disease and mental issues such as a lack of empathy

The psychologist will tell an EU parliamentary working group on the 'quality of childhood' that TVs and computers should be kept out of bedrooms until a child is 15.

'Governments throughout Europe regularly advise their citizens on the most intimate health matters: from daily grams of salt intake and units of alcohol to number of sexual partners,' he will say.

'Yet when it comes to children's main waking activity, politicians are mysteriously lost for words. 

'Irrespective of what our children are watching or doing on the screen, a clear relationship is emerging between daily hours of screen time and negative medical, psychological, behavioural and educational consequences. 

'The more hours per day, the more likely the risk of these negative consequences and the greater their intensity. 

'Most of the damage linked to screen viewing seems to occur beyond exposure of one-and-a-half hours per day, irrespective of the quality of the content. Yet the average child is exposed to three to five times this amount.' 

Dr Sigman's work and studies by other researchers around the world link TV and computer time with problems including obesity, high cholesterol and blood pressure, inattentiveness, declines in maths and reading, sleep disorders and autism. 

A recent US study found that many youngsters are so engrossed in surfing the internet, playing computer games and watching TV, that they don't even notice when their father comes home from work. 

France banned TV programmes aimed at under-threes two years ago.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1307550/Ban-TV-protect-childs-health-psychologist-urges-European-politicians.html#ixzz0yCzayhNH

 

Free Smart Talkers classes in the Staffordshire Surestart Children's Centres

Smart Talkers Pre-School Communication Groups, in conjunction with SureStart, have more free classes this term:

Willows Children's Centre Tues 10.00 a.m. Tiny Talker suitable for 2 year olds

Charnwood Childrens Centre Thurs 1.30 p.m. Small Talker (3-4 years)

Shenstone Childrens Centre Tues 1.30 p.m. Small Talker

Little Aston Childrens Centre Wed 1.30 p.m. Small Talker

Springhill Childrens Centre Tues 1.30 p.m.Small Talker

Bony Hay Childrens Centre Thurs 10.00 a.m.Small Talker, 10.45 a.m.Tiny Talker

Barton-under-Needwood Fri 1.30 p.m. Small Talker

St Mary's Childrens Centre,Uttoxeter Weds 10.00 Small Talker


Stapenhill Childrens Centre Tues 1.45 pm Small Talker

We work on everything your child needs to be a confident, successful communicator using stories, puppets, games and songs. Come and join us! 


Groups are run by Nicky Wilson, Franky Shepperson, Helen Stretton and Libby Hill 


www.smarttalkers.org.uk