Smart Signing in Nurseries & Early Years

What is Smart Sign? 

This is based upon Makaton supplemented by BSL where necessary. Our programmes are designed to work on essential interaction and communication skills. All our programmes are developmentally based and are written by me, Libby Hill, a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist with advice from colleague, Franky Shepperson a Highly Specialist SLT who is fluent in BSL and Makaton.  They have been piloted and thoroughly evaluated before being used extensively in nurseries and also with children with communication delay including children with ASD. We are also developing a programme for use with bi-lingual children.

Baby Smart Sign

In nursery the group leader will sit with staff and babies and sing interactive songs. Turn-taking, attention, listening, eye-contact and recognising their own name are all important aims of the session.

There will be opportunity to discuss signs around the baby room and how to add sign to everyday commands e.g. ‘Shall we change your nappy?’, ‘It’s time for lunch’.

Toddler Smart Sign

This involves teaching the 2-3 year olds simple vocabulary from a 6 week programme in a circle-time style. This is topic based, as evidence shows they learn vocabulary more effectively this way. We have some songs and a story to follow the topic. The aims here include attention, listening, turn-taking, eye-contact, receptive skills and vocabulary development. The main aim is to teach the staff signs so they can supplement understanding.

Pre-School Smart Sign

This age group just love learning the signs so the vocabulary for the topic can be taught directly and they will be highly involved in signing to the adults. There is still room for a story and a couple of songs. Aims here include attention, listening, receptive language and expressive language skills, as well as eye-contact.

Smart Sign in Reception & KS1

A programme of vocabulary which the children learn to sign as well as to understand. We use stories and songs too. The aims are to aid receptive and expressive skills as well as narrative.

We can also do specific sessions for parents or staff.

For more information: www.smarttalkers.org.uk

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The power of the blog

I wasn't sure when someone suggested doing a blog. I couldn't see why the news section on my websites weren't sufficient. After all, I also added it onto both the Small Talk Speech Therapy and Smart Talkers Pre-School Groups Facebook pages. I didn't think I'd have time to blog with FaceBook and Twitter too, there are only so many hours in a day.


However, Ive just e-mailed the person who originally recommended it, Carol Garrington from Passionate Media*. I usually just do whatever she suggests, as she is an expert in her field and always knows what she's talking about. I've apologised for ignoring this part of her advice until June this year.


It's fantastic! Firstly, I've really enjoyed doing the blog. It's quite indulgent really, writing or reporting about topics about which I'm passionate. I can write whatever I want with the rider that its my own personal opinion, it's been great fun so far and has felt more like a hobby than work. Once I realised it could be graded, I wanted to make at least 50!


I've also had so much interaction from people I have observed from afar, experts in the field of speech, language and communication or child development. I have shared personal views with people for whom I have a great deal of admiration and respect.


It's a really effective way of reporting about what I feel are vital issues and letting people know what we're doing. I know we're carrying out fascinating, varied projects so its great to be able to tell the world.


By the world, I mean that literally. The blog has been the way I've come to the attention of international followers. Consequently, I have a lady from Singapore coming on Thursday to see my groups as she would like to have a  franchise in Singapore and a lady from Delhi who wants to be master franchisee for India.

I've tied it into Twitter and  Facebook to really maximise the social media marketing opportunity. So if anyone is thinking of blogging but can't see the value..... please see me!






*Carol Garrington runs courses on how to make social media marketing work for you carol@passionatemedia.co.uk


If you want to see example of how I tie it into Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hednesford-United-Kingdom/SmallTalk-Speech-Language-Therapy/209724150244?ref=ts and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Smart-Talkers-Pre-School-groups/126998813993019?ref=ts

Speech and Language Therapist? What's that then??

We had a local group meeting for the association of speech and language therapists in independent (ASLTIP) practise last night. We had decided to have 3 presentations about 3 different aspects of our work. Christine Charles discussed a case of severe stammering, Franky Shepperson reported on ASD from a parent's and professional perspective and Sumathi Sinnapan shared her quest to have vitalstim therapy recognised in the UK.

What occurred to me most was that all three women were completely passionate about what they did. They are skilled, knowledgeable and expert in their field. It also reminded me of how fantastic  it is to be a speech and language therapist. Human communication is one of the most wonderful achievements and to be able to study it and use the knowledge gained to assist people is really a privilege.

Unfortunately in a busy, over stretched NHS, we easily forget this! It also means we tend to keep quiet about what we can do. I thought a reminder was needed, this is taken from the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists website:

Speech and language therapy is concerned with the management of disorders of speech, language, communication and swallowing in children and adults. Speech and language therapists (SLTs) are allied health professionals. They work closely with parents, carers and other professionals, such as teachers, nurses, occupational therapists and doctors. There are around 11,500 practising SLTs in the UK.  

They work in:

·         Community clinics

·         Hospital wards

·         outpatient departments

·         mainstream and special schools

·         children's centres

·         day centres

·         clients' homes

·         courtrooms

·         prisons

·         young offenders' institutions

·         independently/in private practice

Speech and language therapists work with:

Babies with:

·         feeding and swallowing difficulties

Children with:

·         mild, moderate or severe learning difficulties

·         physical disabilities

·         language delay

·         specific language impairment

·         specific difficulties in producing sounds

·         hearing impairment

·         cleft palate

·         stammering

·         autism/social interaction difficulties

·         dyslexia

·         voice disorders

·         selective mutism

Adults with

·         communication or eating and swallowing problems following neurological impairments and degenerative conditions, including stroke, head injury, Parkinson's disease and dementia

·         head, neck or throat cancer

·         voice problems

·         mental health issues

·         learning difficulties

·         physical disabilities

·         stammering

·         hearing impairment

How can I become a Speech & Language Therapist?

All speech and language therapists must complete a recognised three- or four-year degree course and register with the Health Professions Council before being able to practise. The courses combine academic study and practice/clinical placements.

Most courses require three A-level passes or five Scottish highers as minimum entry qualifications. Some courses require specific GCSE and A-levels, such as English and biology, so check the entry requirements with each university.
The practical components of the courses are very important. These may take place in schools, NHS hospitals and community health clinics and are designed to develop skills in assessing and treating people with communication disorders.

For more information contact the Royal College of SLTs  on www.rcslt.org or http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/details/Default.aspx?Id=288  For more about Small Talk Speech & Language Therapy www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk

Active listening

As we mentioned in previous blog posts, listening is a learned skill and involves distinct components which need to be taught:

• good sitting
• good looking
• good waiting
• good thinking

This is an example of using a puppet to teach 'good sitting'. This was the first time we had done this in this nursery with this group of children and I was delighted with the results.

Selective Mutism

There will be some children who started school in September who aren't saying anything in school. Its always very difficult for a class teacher to know if its just shyness an underlying receptive language difficulty, an expressive language disorder or whether it could be selective mutism. 


Selective Mutism occurs when children who can speak and understand language perfectly normally at home are unable to speak elsewhere e.g. school or nursery. Unusually, there are many more girls who have selective mutism. It's also apparent that when boys display this condition they often have other social interaction or learning problems as well.


Selective Mutism used to be known as elective mutism, as people including professionals believed that children were choosing not to speak, and were therefore thought to be challenging and manipulative. The term Selective Mutism reflects current understanding that the children’s silence is not something they can control. It can be seen as a type of extreme social anxiety or phobia.


Michael Jones, specialist speech and language therapist has done a lot of work on this subject. This is an extract from his excellent article featured on his website.

How does selective mutism (SM) develop?

Michael says that 'SM can begin as shyness, but for various reasons children become progressively unable to speak in public, and especially at pre-school or in school. No single cause has been identified, though emotional, psychological and social factors may play a strong part. In some cases trauma can be an important factor, perhaps in school or hospital. Some children with SM are also anxious about new or unfamiliar situations and activities, and may be overly worried about taking risks.


Children may have other behaviours, such as limited eye contact and facial expression, physical rigidity, nervous fidgeting and withdrawal. SM often develops as children get older. It may not always improve spontaneously, and in some cases can become an intractable condition that severely limits young people’s life chances.

How can children be helped?

Early identification and appropriate support is of vital importance. If a child is not speaking at pre-school or school after a period of ‘settling in’ then a Speech and Language Therapist should be consulted. The most important form of help is to establish good links between home, school and any professionals who are involved. Maggie Johnson and Alison Wintgens, two Speech and Language Therapists, have produced a practical and comprehensive book about SM. ‘The Selective Mutism Resource Manual’ offers practical and effective strategies for helping children and young people with anxiety about talking in public. Their approach to developing confident speaking is a comprehensive guide to research and literature about SM, as well as offering effective advice to parents and professionals.


Maggie and Alison identify two very important ideas: that children with SM do want to talk, but need help to become confident speakers; children need a step-by-step approach that involves the family and school working closely together'. read more at http://talk4meaning.myhomepagemanager.com/selectivemutism.php


The Selective Mutism Information and Research Association (SMIRA) support families and schools by providing information and advice. Their DVD ‘Silent Children: Approaches to Selective Mutism’ is an excellent introduction to SM and to effective strategies.

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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

September Podcast