Sad to say goodbye..... for now!

I've had to say goodbye to 2 groups of children this week. I've been working with them since January and had come to really look forwards to both groups.
The first one was at Stretton Springs Pre-School where we've been delivering Languageland for nursery. We've had a small core of children plus a rotation of others so they could all 'have a turn' on the magic carpet. The sessions were for the staff, mainly to help share a speech and language therapist's knowledge to add what to what they already know.

The other group was a set of 12 children from Pirehill First School and their parents. These were a bright, wriggly group who needed extra help with confidence, attention, listening and other simple skills so that they can achieve their potential. I used a languageland style approach here too with homework. Feedback was very good with all the parents feeling that they had learned something.
Languageland is a programme that has been developed over a 7 year period by Newcastle under Lyme PCT. It is demonstration training so that the SLT can show staff simple techniques to help in their own groups/classroom. It is available from Blacksheep Press with a  special offer at the moment www.blacksheeppress.co.uk
The good news is that I can still keep in touch with both places, as they have valued what we've done. I'll be doing further training for parents and staff at Stretton Springs and plan to run some pre-school groups for the up-coming intake at Pirehill, so that they are ready to listen and learn when they start school in September.

Small Talk @ The Richard Clarke First School

The reception class at Richard Clarke First School in Abbots Bromley have just finished a 6 week programme of Languageland training. They have ‘travelled on a magic carpet’and had fun with puppets, songs and games but in reality those activities were part of a training programme for the class teacher Miss Le Grove to assist her in dealing with the challenges of teaching a reception class in the 21^st century.

Miss Le Grove called in Small Talk to deliver the training. It’s ideal because we can train reception and KS1 teachers without taking them out of the classroom. We looked at rhyme, syllable awareness, vocabulary, narrative, auditory memory, sequencing, expressive and receptive language skills with the children.

Small Talk Speech & Language therapy began to do lots of different training with nursery and primary school as a result of major concerns about the general level of children’s language when they start school. The Government’s Communication Tsar Jean Gross reported in January 2010 that 1 in 6 three year olds have a recognised problem but many, many more have delayed skills which will affect progress when they start school. A previous Government report in 2008 showed that this can be as high as 50% of children in some areas (Bercow, J.). A questionnaire to Primary Head Teachers by Small Talk Speech & Language therapy this year showed that 100% were concerned about declining speech, language and communication skills. 


These problems are not class or area specific and can affect all levels of society.

We live in a very visual, fast- paced age and often the first time a child is required to do any formal listening is when they start school, 

Previously, in the 1970s for example, when attention, listening and language levels were much better, reception class Teachers didn’t have the complex demands they have today. Their job is therefore doubly difficult, they have more to get through, with children who are not as ready as they were. It’s not fair on the child or the Teacher.  


Miss Le Grove felt that the sessions were very helpful, it confirmed what she was already doing and added lots more suggestions and ideas which she has already begun to implement. 


For further information please contact Libby on 0844 704 5888 www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk  or www.smarttalkers.org.uk or the Head Teacher on 01283 840206

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

Buddying at its best in Stafford

Thanks to the Buddying scheme and the local Community and Learning partnership, the nursery and the pre-school at Doxey Primary in Stafford were able to participate together in a joint project of Languageland Training. This is a package which was developed to provide a complete programme to improve the speech and language skills of children in Primary and nursery education. It works by demonstration training to support nursery & class teachers in adjusting their teaching practice through demonstrated language lessons, and to achieve collaborative practice.
Uniquely, Doxey also invited parents to attend so they could see what I was doing and to have the opportunity of discussing language activities they could do at home. Each week they had materials they could take with them. 
When this idea was first mooted, I wasn't sure it was good one, as it meant 8 children, 8 parents and 8 staff. It can be quite difficult to keep the children's attention, control the group and be discussing what you're doing with staff but to have to then also present it in a way that's readily understood by the parents too was quite daunting. 
The activities were delivered  to children from the nursery and pre-school via Circle Time style sessions and targeted language basics such as: General interaction/social skills, Good listening, Sound awareness skills, Vocabulary and Comprehension. The children just thought we were having fun playing games, singing songs and pretending to ride on a magic carpet but each session was structured to show staff ideas for activities.
I needn't have worried as it worked very well and feedback was 100% positive from staff and parents. Jo Upton from the pre-school said  that the staff were 'inspired', they also signed up for our next project on signing training.
We are hoping to do more with the Buddying project as its a great way of sharing good practise. The next one is in Stretton near Burton with staff from Lansdowne nursery and the Stretton pre-school. Helen Stretton  will aptly do that one!
We're also writing our own version for younger children of around 2 yrs. Watch this space!!


Languageland is avialable to buy from www.blacksheeppress.co.uk