Are you a trainee teacher? What do you know about speech, language and communication difficulties?

....Let's talk about it!

The Communication Trust have developed a booklet for people who are training to become teachers to give advice and guidance on children's communication skills. Let's Talk About It includes information on:

• The importance of communication
• The impact that speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) can have for children and young people on learning and attainment, and on social, emotional development and behaviour
• How teachers can better identify children with SLCN and through making communication a priority, work more affectively with all children in their classroom
• Signposts trainees to a range of further information sources

The booklet will be available to order shortly. If you are interested in receiving copies please e-mail enquiries@thecommunicationtrust.org.uk with your full postal details or call 0207 843 2526.

What is your favourite nursery rhyme?

What is your favourite? Why do you like it? We would love to know!


Some that we sing:

• Old MacDonald. You can add to this by having pictures of animals so that younger ones can choose what to sing next
• If you're happy and you know it: get the child to choose, if they don't you could always sing about what they are doing e.g. Wriggle your legs, give a smile, 
• Incy wincy Spider, add the actions
• Twinkle Twinkle: by far the favourite of the Bony Hay Teeny Talker group!
• The Scarecrow song; they love the adult lying on the floor too
• Baa baa black sheep: some of the language is bit obscure e.g. dame, master etc but it doesn't matter
• Humpty Dumpty: sad but they like it
• Hickory Dickory: all four verses to make full use 
• Wind the bobbin up: simple but effective
• Wheels on the bus; have pictures of the options so the can choose what's next
• Sleeping bunnies: I'm always surprised how they love this given that it's so simple.
• 5 little monkeys: add sign or actions
• 6 fat sausages: add sign or actions
• Head, shoulders, knee and toes: do it really slowly so they can access it
• 5 Little ducks:  add sign or actions

I have a bag of props and a little book of pictures so that children can choose what they want to sing. You can make it into a spoken language activity too by hiding 1 prop in a bag, talking about it then asking what song you could sing about it.

www.smarttalkers.org.uk

Too busy to talk to our children... so what?

If you are asked the question: what makes humans different to animals? Many people would answer that it is our unique ability to communicate. However, in the 21st century this fantastic achievement is being eroded. Language learning just seemed to happen effortlessly and easily in the past. Without TV, computer games, DVDs etc it was much easier to 'just' interact. 


As well as the technological developments there are other pressures of modern living which are having a major impact on this interaction.This was conformed by a recent ICAN survey which reported on parents' busy lives.The survey of 2,000 parents by children’s communication charity I CAN found that parents often have to work longer hours and therefore spend less time with their children. Three-quarters of those surveyed are taking on extra work and 35 per cent admitted increased workloads meant they rarely have time to talk to their children. One in five parents said they are too tired to talk with their children when they get home from work and 55 per cent said they have less quality time with them due to work.

Among those surveyed, one in five has taken a second job and a similar proportion is taking work home. A third said work calls or responding to emails at home often hampers attempts to talk with their children. 

Yet the lack of parental interaction can cause a huge knock on effect. Parents have a major role to play in developing their children's speech, language and communication skills so paucity of their interaction means that spoken language skills will not be as good as they should be. This will then later affect schooling as they need an appropriate level of spoken language  before they are ready to learn written language.Too many children are starting school without these necessary levels.


It is very hard being a parent today, we have many, many pressures to cope with which weren't around in the 60s and 70s and so many other issues that make us feel guilty for not being the perfect parent. I should know, I am a single parent with my own business,  which is may be the worst combination for time demands. However, it's vital to make time for them as that's probably the most important thing you can do.

We've all made New Years resolutions about dieting, getting fit, earning more money but may be we should have a resolution of just spending more quality time with our children. I want mine to look back at their childhood and remember the time we had together, not that I was too busy for them. At the end of the day they are more important than anything else. 


I've just done a reality check and know I could be better, how about you?


Our Pre-School groups are ideal to focus on pre-school interaction. We are also Hanen licensed Speech and language therapists so qualified to encourage parent-child interaction   www.smarttalkers.org.uk www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk

Why buy a franchise?

I read 2 great posts about franchising by Pippa Middleton on the Business plus Baby site from Helen Lindop. It made me realise that perhaps people need more information about franchising and why it may be preferable to starting out on your own. In the first of the two posts Pippa looks at her top five reasons to consider buying a franchise. I have looked at them from the Smart Talkers Pre-School Groups franchise perspective:

• Greater financial certainty: We have a tried and tested format of working. Yes we have made mistakes along the way and learned from them. You don't have to make the mistakes because we did. We have tested it out, we know what works and what doesn't. Obviously nothing can be guaranteed 100% but you can see how we have achieved it. We also did a pilot that was separate to the first groups to make sure it was the groups that worked rather  than the personalities involved here. These financial books are available so you can see the necessary outlay and also the income. 

• Business support and training: Starting off on your own is a huge step and not one to be made lightly. There is  so much to learn that this can be very time consuming. We are here to help with that. We work on your business plan together, not just the piece of paper you might need for the bank bur a real action plan with timescales. We then make sure you are keeping to the schedule that you have set yourself to support you all the way.

• A recognised brand and business model: Pippa says 'it takes most companies many years and a big budget to build a reputation. By buying into a franchise you are piggy-backing on a brand that has national backing giving your business kudos and credibility. As well as a brand, you are buying a business model or way of doing business'. We have a detailed manual and session plans so you can get on with things straight away. 

• Easier route to financing your business: We offer a payment plan for successful franchisees  so this is less important with us.

• Franchisee support network: We have a team approach so that you can talk to others in the same position. Annual training days are planned and an on-line forum for franchisees.

I will look at her second post in relation to what we do next time.

See www.smarttalkers.org.uk for more information

 Pippa can be contacted on 01908 583232 or bedford@raring2go.co.uk  If you are starting out in business, you will gain lots of inspiration, information  and sensible ideas from Helen's site http://businessplusbaby.com

Are nursery rhymes out dated?

A recent Small Talk survey showed that many people today are not really aware of nursery rhymes. People over 40 were more likely to recall one or two, whereas, an entire class of 17 year olds studying child care, could not think of even one.  May be nursery rhymes have had their day, are old fashioned, out dated, even boring? 

Does this matter if they are dying out and parents are not singing to their children?

YESSSSSSS!

Nursery rhymes are important for many reasons:

1. Most importantly (to me as a speech and language therapist) is that they help develop spoken language skills. They are a  powerful tool in the repertoire of language developers. They show the child the rhythm and flow of language, help connect words to actions and help a child to understand and remember words. They also help attention and listening. A room full of noisy babies will still and quieten when I start singing (No, that's not my awful voice!!) and to add action keeps their attention for longer.

2. Bonding: Singing together helps language development but also interaction between parent and child or carer and child.

3. A recent Swedish study published in the journal Integrative Physiological and Behavioural Science suggested that singing, not only increases oxygen levels in the blood but triggers the release of “happy” hormones such as oxytocin, which is thought to help lower stress levels and blood pressure. As other studies show the increased levels of  both parental and child stress levels in the 21st century, this must surely help.

4. They can be used in conjunction with other communication enhancers e.g. choice making. The ability to be able to make choices is fundamental to human communication. Choosing which song to sing from a variety of props or choosing the next behaviour for action rhymes such as  'if you are happy and you know it'. These are non-verbal behaviours so do not require a verbal response. 

5. Increases confidence. Even if they haven't got the necessary expressive skills to join in verbally, they can take part with the actions.

6. There is overwhelming evidence that early learning of nursery rhymes and rhythmic poems, songs, and chants significantly enhances early reading skills and phonemic awareness.  In fact research highlights phonemic awareness as a strong predictor of a child's reading success. It helps them:

• to hear rhymes or alliteration
• to blend sounds to make a word (e.g., /a/-/t/ = at)
• to count phonemes in words ( how many sounds do you hear in "is"?)
• to identify the beginning, middle, and final sounds in words
• to substitute one phoneme for another (e.g., change the /h/ in "hot" to /p/
• to delete phonemes from words (e.g., omit the /c/ from "cat")"

Does it matter if they are not the traditional nursery rhymes? I would say that singing anything with your baby and toddler  is better than not singing at all but the latest Adele or Beyonce track is not designed to assist phonological awareness skills which will give all the benefits above.

Does it matter if you can't sing? Definitely not. A parent's voice is the best in the world to a baby or a toddler. They are no X factor judge, likely to shoot you down in flames. They will just enjoy the interaction and see it as great fun.... and whats more it's free!

The next blog post will look at which nursery rhymes we use in the Smart Talkers Pre-School Communication groups www.smarttalkers.org.uk

How can I help my Toddler Talk?

Surprising research tells us that in some areas of the UK, over half of the children going into school don’t have the communication skills they need to learn, make friends and succeed. There are many theories why this is the case. One thing is for sure, toddlers need help to learn to talk. Much of this help comes from a close, trusted adult who responds to their attempts to communicate and who provides a stimulating environment for them to learn in. Our Smart Talkers Pre-School communication groups are designed to help by using games, puppets, stories and songs to work on the essential pre-requisites for healthy communication. We offer advice for activities to do at home and how the child's everyday activities can be excellent opportunities for language development. But what if there isn't a group near you? Check out this excellent publication from ICAN priced at £12.99

Revised and bolder than before, Toddler Talk is a beautifully illustrated activity pack to promote communication development of toddlers from 18 months to 3 years old that now comes in a paperback and hardback edition.

Toddler Talk includes 35 inspiring activities on durable cards for parents and other adults to play with the toddler to develop the toddler's communication skills. The activities have been developed by practitioners with specialist experience in developing communication with under threes. The activities are focused on the following five areas:

1. Attention and Listening
2. Understanding what is said
3. Learning and using new words
4. Building sentences
5. Talking socially

Toddlers need the space and time to process sounds and to learn what they mean. Eventually, words build into sentences, into mini-conversations and this means that children will be able to get the best of their new learning environments.ISBN: (978-1-908173-02-7)

Also available, Babbling Babies activity pack.

Communication consortium expresses concern about Phonics Screening Check

The Communication Trust, a consortium of nearly 50 leading voluntary sector organisations specialising in speech, language and communication in children and young people, has expressed its concern over plans to roll out the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check. The results from the first round of screening were published recently   by the Department for  Education.  The Phonics Screening Check is a short, light-touch assessment to confirm whether pupils have learned phonic decoding to an appropriate standard. It also identifies children who need extra help so they can receive extra support to improve their reading skills. They can then retake the check so schools can track them until they can decode. But independent evaluation undertaken by Sheffield Hallam University showed most teachers still had difficulties in judging whether a word was read correctly, including in children who were good readers but had speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). Anita Kerwin-Nye, director of The Communication Trust, said: “We fully support the Government’s ambition to improve literacy standards in English schools, and welcome the Department for Education’s support for communication, language and literacy in the Early 

Years Foundation stage. “However we are very concerned about the impact the Year 1 Phonics Screen, and the wider emphasis on phonics, on children with speech, language and communication needs. 


This concern is backed up by the findings of the evaluation carried out by Sheffield Hallam University. This showed that nearly 29 per cent of schools felt the experience of the Phonics Screening Check was negative for children with SLCN and that only 35 per cent felt the check accurately assessed the decoding abilities of children with speech difficulties. “These figures alone suggest significant changes need to be made to the way the Screen is implemented and I have urgently requested a meeting with Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State 
for Education to discuss the precise details. Phonics is a valid approach to teaching reading but it is essential that it is delivered as part of a well-rounded approach to communication and literacy skills.”