Advertise to Speech and Language professionals across the globe

We have kept our advertising rates the same this year so if you have a product or service you would like speech and language therapists/pathologists to be aware of let me know. Our prices are very competitive based on £850 for a full page. We anticipate 12,000 copies of the February issue will be downloaded.


Readership breakdown is: 

United Kingdom			30%
United States			29%
France			16%
Russia			15%
Ukraine			1%
Slovenia			1%
India			1%
Germany			1%

Artwork specifications
Size: Adverts submitted must be full size at a minimum of 72dpi.
Format: PDF or jpg format.
Delivery: All artwork to be emailed to: advertising@slworldbulletin.com
All new advertisements must be approved by the editor before they can be included in S&L World
In-house artwork service
If you would like S & L World to create your advert for you, costs are as follows:
Display from £250 each,
Recruitment at £200 each.
Please allow 5 days for artwork production.


You can download the first issue for free at www.slworldbulletin.com

Email to: advertising@slworldbulletin.com or call  Advertising Sales 07792 906741

Do you use sign with babies and children under 8 years?

If so please complete the attached survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QM3BVJD 


This survey is being conducted to gain an understanding of resources and materials that you, as a parent, carer or professional, would find useful in supporting your learning and making signing more accessible, interactive or memorable in your home or workplace. 

Please do share this with anyone who uses signing in any context with children under 8 years as every response provides us with valuable insight into future projects.

If you enter your email address at the end of the survey, you'll be entered into a draw to win some fantastic signing resources from BSL Early Years author, Cath Smith.

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

Smart Talkers Pre-School Communication Groups: nominated for award!

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We are delighted to have been nominated for the best local pre-school activity in the annual What's on for Little ones awards. Its the 3rd year in a  row that we have been entered in this category and I don't expect to win but its good publicity for the cause of children's communication. Anything that gets people thinking about this subject can only be good.

There are 20 award categories for 2012 with some really exciting new awards and developments! Nominations will open on 4th January 2012 and will close on 29th February to make sure your favourite gets the recognition they deserve - each nominee will need 5 nominations to go through to voting as sponsored by The Mumpreneurs Networking Club (MNC) which will commence on 7th March 2012 and close on 6th May at 5pm.

They received over 32,000 online votes for last year's awards and already the momentum is building to make 2012 another record year! Even more exciting - for the 1st time the UK awards will run alongside the 1st What's On 4 Junior Awards to be held in Australia! For more on the Aussie awards and What's On 4 sites down under see here!  (What's On 4 Junior Sites are also now in Ireland, the USA and will soon be supporting parents in New Zealand too!)


For more info http://www.whatson4littleones.co.uk/awards.asp

Do you get sick of hearing "They grow up so fast!" ??

....... Well they do and yet we take so much for granted and rarely take time to really appreciate what amazing things happen as a baby grows. I know harp on about the fabulous achievement from helpless reactor at birth with no words to interactive communicator with approx 900 words just 36 months later but there's so much more that goes on in addition to this. 


The website Growingupmilkinfo.com portrays this succinctly and superbly. Take a look........

"Despite progress, still too many gaps in support for 10% of children with communication difficulties"

I CAN, the children’s communication charity, this week expressed concern that there are still many gaps in the support available for more than a million children across the UK with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), despite recent advances.

Responding to the report of the outgoing Communication Champion for Children, Jean Gross CBE, the charity welcomed evidence of improved awareness amongst parents, policy makers and professionals about children’s communication. Her report, Two Years On: Final Report of the Communication Champion for Children also highlights good practice for children with SLCN. However, it makes it clear that this is the exception rather than the rule: joint commissioning of integrated approaches across health and education, is still not happening in 70% of local areas.

I CAN backs the report’s 30 major recommendations. In particular, it supports Jean Gross’s proposal for the Health and Social Care Bill to be amended to make joint commissioning of children’s community health services compulsory to improve services for children with SLCN. The charity also called for better support for school-aged children with communication difficulties. Without continued focus and investment, there remains a long way to go before every child with SLCN receives integrated support, particularly once they get to primary and secondary school. Virginia Beardshaw, I CAN CEO said: "This report, coming at the end of the 2011 National Year of Communication, tells us what works best for children with communication needs and how far we’ve come, both on the ground and at government level in recognising the importance of this issue.

Despite this progress, children and young people are still not getting the help they need when they need it. I’m deeply saddened that joint commissioning, which is the cornerstone of good services, is still a ‘minority sport’ across the NHS and local government. And we know from the families who contact I CAN every day, parents face real barriers to finding information and practical help which meets their children’s needs. 

Speech, language and communication skills are essential for children to start school ready to read, learn, form friendships and grow into thriving adults. Without early intervention SLCN impacts on all aspects of a child’s development - unsupported, around one-third of young people with SLCN will go on to develop mental health problems.

Jean’s report shows the benefits for children’s communication when communities, parents, health, education and social care professionals combine efforts to identify and support those who are struggling. Integrated, area-wide approaches and focus on workforce development is illustrated by I CAN’s work with early years staff, settings and local authorities. But we need to expand this approach from the 30% of local areas identified in Jean’s report and plug the gaps in support for school –aged children. 

Much has been achieved since the 2008 review by John Bercow of children’s speech language and communication. We need a continued focus on this issue to ensure that our gains are not lost and that the 1 million plus children and young people with speech, language and communication needs can go on to fulfil their potential."

I would agree that we are making progress in both the identification and acknowledgment but we are not moving forwards with what happens next. Small Talk Independent SLT has been inundated with referrals in 2012 already. Unfortunately most of these parents are at the end of their tether having being massively let down  by the system in place. These are not referrals of minor difficulties such as lisps or the like but serious language problems which are having a major impact on the child's life, relationships and progress. We need to keep up the momentum!!


www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk

A potty list?? What's that?

You have all heard of a 'bucket list' but Parent Dish brought to my attention the 'potty list'. This is a must do list for 3 year olds. 

The 36 must-do activities that make up "The Potty List" are:

1. Made a mud pie

2. Baked a cake

3. Finger painted

4. Sung loudly in public

5. Climbed a big hill

6. Picked fruit

7. Danced with no inhibitions

8. Made sandcastles on the beach

9. Been chased by a monster

10. Jumped in a puddle so hard the water went in mummy's shoe too

11. Belly-flopped

12. Fed the ducks

13. Blown bubbles

14. Had a teddy bears' picnic

15. Chosen a favourite book

16. Ridden on the top of double-decker bus

17. Visited a museum

18. Been on a train ride

19. Fed an animal

20. Grown cress in the shape of your name

21. Worn pants on your head

22. Ridden the tea-cups at the fair

23. Flown a paper aeroplane

24. Pooed in the bath

25. Stayed the night away from home

26. Ridden on daddy's shoulders

27. Scribbled somewhere you shouldn't

28. Cleaned your own teeth

29. Answered the phone

30. Mastered a party piece

31. Had a "first love"

32. Bought something in a shop

33. Set your sights on a future career (pirate, fairy or builder, perhaps?)

34. Told a fib

35. Made up an inappropriate nickname for someone

36. Broken something valuable

Having said it's for 3 year olds, I do have at least one friend who is still revisiting this list. Not mentioning any names Helen! It's fun and lovely for your 3 year old or your 43 year old. However, it makes me really sad because there are so many children who won't ever do such fun activities. 

Do I mean the toddlers from war torn Iraq or youngsters from the Yeman? No! I am referring to children from our own families here in the UK. Children of parents who are just so stressed, busy , hassled or perhaps don't know about creating fun experiences for their little ones.

May be the Health Visitor's little red book ought to include the list so parents can consciously work though it?!!  What are your thoughts?

Check out Parentdish as it has some really useful articles www.parentdish.co.uk