What are the causes of poverty and social break down?

A new study has been launched, which will explore the fundamental causes of poverty and social  breakdown. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has identified these as:

• welfare dependency
• family breakdown
• educational failure
• drug and alcohol addiction
• serious personal debt. 

Communication Trust Professional Director Wendy Lee will be part of the working group on educational failure, which will feed into the overall report.  Wendy Lee said: “The research evidencing the poor language of children living in socially  disadvantaged areas is becoming stronger and stronger and we know the massive impact poor language has on educational success, attainment and on long term prospects for children and young people in socially disadvantaged areas. We also know how strong language skills can help children in these areas “buck the trend” and do well in school and beyond. “We are pleased to be able to feed in the issues for these children and some of the evidenced solutions and our optimistic about the impact the report could have on children’s life chances.”  

The CSJ also commissioned a YouGov poll to coincide with the launch of the study aimed at 
identifying the causes of the serious social problems facing Britain. About 55 per cent of people surveyed said at least one of their local communities features broken families, crime and poor schooling.

A busy few weeks........

I can't believe we are almost at the end of November, where did the time go? I have been too busy to regularly blog. What have we been doing in recent weeks?

Speech & ; Language Therapy

We have:

•  had lots of new therapy clients most of whom have complex communication needs 
• lots of lovely 'old' clients for therapy and review
• Two new members of the team: Natasha Hallam and Georgina Deakin
• Started to carry out a project in 8 schools in Lichfield to help narrow the gap between children with delayed speech, language and communication and their peers
• Almost finished Chuckle Talkers with Chuckle Productions at Silkmore Children's Centre Stafford
• Finished the tendering process for the county council (the worst job of all!)
• written an article on tendering for ITP magazine
• Written an article on verbal reasoning and behaviour for Nursery World

www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk


The Book 

The book, 'How to get your child ready for school' is finished and is being formatted. This is a book to help parents know what to do to help before school. I have long moaned about them teaching the alphabet and counting by rote, so this is my answer.


Smart Talkers Pre-School Groups

These are a series of groups for pre-schoolers which focus on communication.

• A new team member Kirsty to help cope with 6 new  groups in Children's Centres in the Tamworth area
• Interviewing again on Friday
• Met with franchisees 
• Smart Talkers Surrey and Smart Talkers Essex have exciting plans
• Smart Talkers India are expanding to school aged children
• Smart talkers Cambridge is on hold due to illness but she will be back with avengance!
• We are planning an AGM training day for June next year

www.smarttalkers.org.uk



S &  L World; the global bulletin for SLT/P

This is an international quarterly publication for professionals in the speech therapy/pathology world. New issue out now www.slworldbulletin.com


Speech Therapy Activities website

This is a website we are developing with lots of information for parents. We will have free downloads with advice and help. We will also sell resources: so far we have  an auditory memory pack, an s -pack, a t-pack, a k-pack, an l-pack and a d-pack. These have all been tried and tested by clients. Meeting Andy at Devmac next week so will have more news then.


Training & Consultancy

We have a huge range of courses for parents and professionals. Ones this month include voice tips for teachers, which we ran throughout Staffordshire and An introduction to Signing. We are running the accredited under 5s Elklan training in January and have plans to run business development days across the UK from Spring see https://bookwhen.com/smalltalk or for the range of courses http://smalltalktraining.blogspot.co.uk/


Bits n bobs

We also help another training provider with their marketing and are producing the special edition of Independent talking Points for  ASLTIP. We have also made videos of signs and interviews about Baby Sign with Shelley from Little Signers Club.

Think that's about it.......  but the to-do list is still growing!! 

Voice Tips for teachers

Last year a teacher received thousands in compensation for losing her voice, and thereby her source of income, but I don't know any schools who have invested money into training so it doesn't happen in their school. There will be at least one teacher in every school who has trouble with their 'throat' or voice and all would benefit from being shown good practice.

Looking after your voice should be part of all teacher training but it isn't. We cover the essential points in an hour workshop. Participants will:

• understand how voice is produced
• realise the important factors involved
• identify the environmental factors
• be able to reduce the risk factors

The workshop has a practical element so participants may want to wear loose, comfortable clothing.

Cost: £100 per staff meeting

A few places left at Barton Children's Centre Thursday 29th November 4-5 pm £20 per person

Shine a light updates

Excitement is building around the Shine a Light Awards 2012!

Shortlisting took place earlier this month and the judges have made their choices. Over the next week, we will be sending out invitations to the awards ceremony, which will take place at Pearson's headquarters in Strand, London on November 21st. 

We wish all the best of luck to Wyndham Primary Academy in Derbyshire which  has been selected to receive one of the following awards, either winner of Primary school of the year, a runner up or the winner of an outstanding achievement award. They have been through the Elklan school accreditation process which has helped them develop their working practises to this excellent level.
They're also delighted to announce that the celebrity host at this year's award ceremony will be television presenter Paul Ross.

Mr Ross has formerly been a journalist and radio presenter, and is perhaps best known as showbiz reporter on This Morning. He played the part of 'Mr Sit-up Britain' in the film Bridget Jones' Diary and was a contestant on Channel 4's Celebrity Come Dine With Me in 2009.

Thank you to everyone who helped us spread the word about the Shine a Light Awards 2012 and bringing in some interesting applications.

Are you thinking of developing your therapy business?

Are  you already working independently, thinking about developing the business but not sure where to start?  It's a big decision to go  from working part-time or by yourself to take the next step.

We have put together a course to go through the essential factors that will enable you to do this.

Participants will: understand essential business drivers, learn about effective advertising and marketing, identify social media potential and learn how to harness this and look at websites and SEO.

We will also look at how a business plan can be a practical tool.

Presented by me, Libby Hill and Ray Wellington. I am the Consultant SLT from Small Talk Ltd with extensive NHS and private experience as well in other industries. I am also the editor of S & L World:the global bulletin for SLT/SLPs. Ray is Director of Strategy at Milton Bayer Communications which is a strategic,creative marketing agency. Between us we have the knowledge and experience to help you decide if you want to take things further and how you could do this in simple, practical ways.

 

We are running them in London 15/3/13, Manchester 30/3/13, Bristol 13/4/13 and Birmingham 11/5/13. £150.00 per person

https://bookwhen.com/smalltalk for more info and to book a place.

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