Analysis: Sign up for 'Hello' campaign

Nurseries across the country are being urged to promote children's communication skills as the National Year of Speech, Language and Communication gets underway.

The campaign, which has been named Hello, aims to help the 1.2 million children and young people in the UK who have some form of long-term speech, language and communication needs.

Jean Gross, Communication Champion and leader of the National Year (pictured, right), tells Nursery World that the Communication Trust, the charity behind the campaign, is already hearing examples of innovative activities designed to promote children's communication skills from all over the Britain.

She says, 'In the London Borough of Wandsworth, for example, practitioners are organising a competition to look at people's favourite words, which they are putting on to balloons and launching at Wandsworth Museum. It's a perfect example of the local energy that is getting behind the campaign.

'Another setting in Plymouth has organised sessions for parents of young babies to help them to understand how they can promote speech and language,' she adds. 'The practitioners have given the parents ideas such as making eye contact and making little treasure boxes to discuss with their children. These kinds of activities are very important, because we need to make sure that parents are talking to their baby right from the beginning.'

EARLY YEARS ROLE

Ms Gross believes that early years practitioners have a vital role to play in the success of the Hello campaign.

'There is a substantial body of research which shows that if you don't tackle speech and language difficulties by the age of five and a half, a child will almost certainly go on to have literacy problems and possibly behavioural problems as well,' she says. 'So, it's crucial to get it right in the early years.'

Around a half of children identified with SEN problems at Key Stage One have speech, language and communication as their primary need.

'It is the biggest type of special need that people are identifying, and we can help to prevent problems through early intervention,' says Ms Gross. 'We hope that, by the end of the campaign, everyone who works in the early years will know children's milestones for development and will know how to identify speech or language difficulty.'

The Hello campaign aims to improve understanding of communication difficulties, disseminate information on typical communication development and offer advice on how to identify children who are struggling, plus give information on where to go for help and support.

'We want better - and earlier - identification of children who have difficulties in this area,' says Ms Gross. 'There are a lot of children who struggle to communicate for a long time before they get any help.'

BERCOW REVIEW

The idea to have a year in which the promotion of children's communication skills would be made a priority was first proposed in John Bercow's review of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) in 2008.

The Bercow Review, which drew one of the biggest responses to a Department for Children, Schools and Families consultation, noted that there was 'grossly inadequate recognition across society of the importance of communication development', and argued that SLCN 'is a skill which has to be taught, honed and nurtured. Yet ... children's ability to communicate, to speak and to understand (is) taken for granted.'

It found that 77 per cent of parents who responded said they did not get the information and support for their children's communication problems when they needed it, and that 12 per cent of parents did not know where to go for help. Many said they felt alone because they believed that speech, language and communication needs were not understood by frontline staff, including early years practitioners, teachers and health visitors, or by family members.

Ms Gross says, 'There is still a widely held perception that children learn to communicate naturally, but it is a skill that needs to be stimulated by adults. The Bercow Review identified the need for a National Year which would change people's perceptions and highlight that children's need to communicate must be supported.'

MONTHLY THEMES

The Hello campaign features monthly themes, listed on the campaign's website at www.hello.org.uk, to inspire practitioners with ideas for activities to promote speech and language.

The theme this month, entitled 'Don't take communication for granted', urges people to recognise that communication is a skill that affects every area of their lives.

The theme for February and March, 'Early chatter matters', aims to highlight how communication is a skill that needs encouragement from adults and that does not develop by chance.

'We are organising events that can be mirrored at a local level,' says Ms Gross. 'Each month has a focus or flavour that practitioners can look at and plan activities around that theme. However, this is not a top-down Government campaign. The people who are managing the campaign are trying to support local communities and local people who have their own ideas, and to provide resources and ideas to support them. We want to shine a light on good practice in early years settings.'

The Communication Trust has developed numerous ideas and resources to help promote speech and language skills and to get the message across to parents about the importance of communication. The charity has also set up an additional website - www.talkingpoint.org.uk - where practitioners can download useful resources, including toolkits, booklets and checklists.

Ms Gross says, 'The resources we have produced include an ages-and-stages booklet that goes through the development of language and things that you might want to check at various ages. Practitioners can also access the unit on speech, language and communication from the new Level 3 Children and Young People's Workforce Diploma by visiting www.talkingpoint.org.uk/eymp.'

Nurseries can choose to take part in the Hello campaign in many different ways. 'We would like practitioners to order copies of the ages-and-stages booklet, which is free, and to have a look at a progress checker tool on the website,' says Ms Gross. 'The progress checker has a series of questions and practitioners can use it to identify whether a particular child's communication skills are a cause for concern.

'Other things they could do include looking at the environment of the setting and asking if it is it communication-friendly. The National Strategies website has lots of tips on how to make a setting communication-friendly. Or practitioners could agree on a list of five things that everyone in the setting will do to promote children's communication skills.

'If enough people take part in the campaign, even in a small way, we can make sure the National Year of Speech, Language and Communication will really make a difference.'

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

Sign up to the website at www.hello.org.uk. The Communication Trust will send out information on new resources, local activities and what's happening around the country.

Check out Talking Point at www.talkingpoint.org.uk, the website for professionals and parents on every aspect of communication development. This has been updated and enhanced especially for the national year and will include a 'progress checker'.

Order Hello resources for you, colleagues or parents and pass them on for others to use.

'Befriend' Hello on Facebook, Twitter, official blogs and LinkedIn. Check out the Hello eCommunications toolkit available at www.hello.org.uk.

Put information on your staff board, put up a poster in your staff room, give out leaflets to parents or add information about Hello to your newsletter.

Take part in I CAN's Chatterbox Challenge sing-along, this year culminating in a Guinness World Record attempt for the largest number of children (and their families) performing 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' in multiple venues across the UK on 1 March. Register at www.chatterboxchallenge.co.uk.

Complete the Speech, Language and Communication Framework at www.talkingpoint.org.uk/slcf. Practitioners who work with children can complete this online to evaluate their skills and knowledge of communication development. They can then identify areas where they need to develop their knowledge. Whole settings can access the online tool with a designated group number and collectively assess their training needs.

Find out who your local co-ordinator is by emailing the Communication Trust at hello@thecommunicationtrust.org.uk.

Distribute Hello materials to parents, local authorities and primary care trust representatives, speech and language therapists, teachers, SENCOs, GPs and anyone else who might like to get involved.

Find out more about the 40 leading voluntary organisations driving the Hello campaign at www.hello.org.uk/partners. They cover all aspects of communication, from typical development to speech and language impairment and from autism to alternative forms of communication.

Get in touch and tell the Communication Trust what your plans are for the campaign, or share what you do already to support communication.

MORE INFORMATION

• Campaign website: www.hello.org.uk.

• Resources website: www.talkingpoint.org.uk.