WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!!! ITV, babies need parents not TV

How irresponsible of ITV Signed Stories to show a photograph of a 2 year month old baby with an ipad in his cot! (picture removed as they have now taken it down)

I was delighted when they began to do signed stories. Using sign with little ones can be useful for many reasons as we know but we also know (as Shelley Ensor of Little Signers Club points out):

1. Screen time for under 3's is not a great idea.
2. The wifi near this baby's head is dangerous.
3. Babies can't learn to communicate from TV, they need the stimulation of their parents speech and to be held too for bonding and attachment.
4. This is over-stimulation for a baby who will kick back with crying fits and not be able to settle. It provides a low-level stress which also can affect the baby's learning 

  

It shows a complete lack of understanding to promote their 'business' with such  a picture. Parents will see and think it's OK. Let me spell it out IT'S NOT!!!!

For the benefit if the misguided twit who put on the photograph, (that's the politest term I can think of):

• Babies need the stimulation of human beings to develop language and communication.
• These skills develop right from birth – attachment is vitally important for this area and early interaction skills are the foundation for future development (Routledge et al) 
• These skills only develop through interacting with other people – one person responding to another.
• The attachment to the significant carer that occurs around birth is the basis for communication development.
• The amount and type of language used at home have an effect on children’s overall language development (Hart and Risley).
• Good early communication sets the pattern for later childhood and adolescence.

Cracking Communication conference: Manchester

King’s House Conference Centre in Manchester will hold this exciting event on Tuesday 13th November.

There will be information and advice to help schools support outcomes for all children and young people through enhancing and promoting good language and communication skills. This conference follows on from our successful inaugural Cracking Communication conference held in London and will bring together the leading experts in speech, language and communication from the voluntary, education and private sectors.

The aim of the conference is to link together policy, evidence and practice in order to support schools to identify children with speech, language and communication needs and to enable all children to achieve their full potential through better communication skills. We are very excited about this event, with a fantastic range of speakers including:

• Anne Duffy, HMI, Ofsted
• Geoff Lindsay, the Better Communication Research Programme
• Wendy Lee, Professional Director, The Communication Trust

Keynote speeches
Will link together policy, evidence and practice and you can view the timetable for the day .

Workshops
Will focus on practical advice and tools that will enable school leaders to consider a range of practical solutions, based on good practice and clear evidence for their own individual communities.

Exhibition
Will also be on offer throughout the day to give participants the opportunity to network and see resources firsthand.

The conference will be suitable for the following audience:

• Primary and Secondary head teachers and deputy head teachers
• Curriculum leads, leads for teaching and learning and anyone implementing National Curriculum changes in their schools
• SENCO's
• Commissioners in the education and health sectors

Register now!
Book your place now to take advantage of the early bird rate of £150 per delegate
If you would like to register for the event, please visit www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/conference or contact Jo Bolton jbolton@thecommunicationtrust.org.uk

 

Is it good parenting or good schooling that helps our children at school?

Good parenting is more important than good schooling in determining your child's academic results, says new research Trust, good communication and active involvement in a child's academic life 'can help them succeed more than sending them to a good school'

Youngsters do best when their parents help them with homework, emphasise the importance of education and attend school events, researchers found.

Children with supportive parents – even if they attend poor quality schools – tend to outperform pupils at good schools whose parents take little interest in their education.

 The findings prompted the researchers to warn that improving social mobility cannot be achieved only by ‘fixing’ the school system. 

Initiatives were also needed which aimed to enhance parents’ involvement.

 

What do  you think?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2216202/Good-parenting-important-good-schooling-determining-childs-academic-results-says-new-research.html#ixzz296b5gFBY

Ban under-threes from watching television, says study

We're often hearing about the dangers of too much TV but now Dr Arik Sigman reveals the results of new research today. He says that parents should curb the amount of time children spend watching television to prevent long-term harm.

 Doctors and government health officials should set limits, as they do for alcohol, on the amount of time children spend watching screens – and under-threes should be kept away from the television altogether.

A review of the evidence in the Archives Of Disease in Childhood says children's obsession with TV, computers and screen games is causing developmental damage as well as long-term physical harm. Doctors at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, which co-owns the journal with the British Medical Journal group, say they are concerned. Guidelines in the US, Canada and Australia already urge limits on children's screen time, but there are none yet in Britain.

The review was written by psychologist Dr Aric Sigman, author of a book on the subject, following a speech he gave to the RCPCH's annual conference. On average, he says, a British teenager spends six hours a day looking at screens at home – not including any time at school. In North America, it is nearer eight hours. But, says Sigman, negative effects on health kick in after about two hours of sitting still, with increased long-term risks of obesity and heart problems. Read more http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/09/ban-under-threes-watching-television

What do you think? We'd love to hear your views.

What can I do to encourage conversation?

• At mealtime, include your child in family conversation by encouraging your child to talk about what happened in school and listen as family members talk about their experiences. Cue your child to look at the speaker’s face. Eliminate as much background noise as possible. If your child has difficulty following or adding to a conversation appropriately, recap by speaking in short sentences with expression.

• Play games that require the players to use logic, strategies, and problem-solving. Spelling and vocabulary games are good. Games in which no one “loses” are best.

• Encourage the habit of making lists for a variety of purposes such as groceries, chores, and homework assignments. This helps to develop planning and organizational skills.

• Encourage your child to plan what to wear for the next day. Help the child to select clothes that are appropriate. Explain why some combinations may not match, and show your child other combinations that go well together. Let your child help select new clothes.

• Play the telephone game. One child whispers a secret to the next child, who whispers the secret to the next child, and so on.

• Watch good ½ hour television programmes that involve characters and plot development with your child. At the end of the program, discuss with your child opinions, solutions to problems, sequence of events, character flaws, poor choices made by characters, and alternative endings.

• Play games in the car that involve identification, for example finding license plates with particular letters or numbers. Ask riddles and sing silly songs.

• Talk to the child about listening for words that give order clues, words such as “now,” “later,” “after,” and “before.”

• When reading stories, ask the child to recap what was heard, after a page or two. At the end of the story, ask the child to summarize the entire story (Kelly, D.A., 1995).

Do you work in a pre-school or education setting?

Whatever your role within a pre-school or education setting you can benefit hugely from the excellent accredited training provided by the Elklan tutors.

Most of those who have completed one of their courses would say that they have found it extremely beneficial because they:

·         Feel more confident in working with children with speech, language and communication need (SLCN).

·         Can be a specialist resource to the other members of staff in the school.

·         Understand the importance of their role in developing children's communication.

·         Can support the communication development of all children in the school environment across the curriculum and in the playground too!

·         Have a range of strategies at their disposal which can be used to support children's communication whatever and wherever they are being taught.

·         Feel more confident in interpreting SLT reports and programmes which means they can be implemented more easily and effectively.

·         Know how to modify their interactions which is of benefit to ALL children.

·         Can change the way they speak to children so they understand more of what is said.

·         Can encourage talking by using specific strategies such as modelling language which can be used anytime, anywhere!

·         Know how to support a child with interaction difficulties

·         Know the types of children they can work with and those which need to be seen by the speech and language therapist.

·         Are more confident in talking to parents about the child's speaking and listening skills.

·         Share a common language with the SLT service and so understand what they are being asked to do quickly and can complete activities more efficiently.

Small Talk are licensed to run all the Elklan courses www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk We can travel across the UK if necessary

For more information see www.elklan.co.uk

Selective Mutism; a phobia of talking

I went to an excellent course on Friday by Maggie Johnson on Selective Mutism (SM). Thinking on this has changed so that it now needs to be considered as a phobia; a phobia of talking. Consequently, our approaches need to change. 

If we had a child who was scared of spiders we wouldn't expect then to confront their fears head-on immediately e.g. by sitting in a bath of spiders or putting their hand onto a box full. We wouldn't cajole, coax, bribe or order them to do it, yet we do all of those to children who are speech-phobic or selectively mute. If we had a child who had a phobia, we would use very small steps in any programme to help them overcome their fear. Similarly, we need to use very small steps with children who have SM.

Maggie recommended an excellent website www.selectivemutism.co.uk who produce advice sheets and resources. They also do videos. This is an interesting one, take a look:



If you are concerned that your child may have selective mutism, we can help: www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk