Innovative services

Anne Wiltsher
Wednesday, April 25, 2001

In Barrow in Furness, for example, Sure Start has set up a 'Chatterbox' scheme to help parents communicate with their children to prevent language delay. Health visitors and playgroups refer children identified as being at risk. 'It's a different way of working from the traditional speech and language therapy service,' says Lynda Hassall. 'The parents work in groups supported by extra therapists who are employed by Sure Start. The outcome is that the groups continue to meet and support each other. It's very important to facilitate this. It's what we're about.' The Barrow in Furness programme, which supports 1,000 children, has set up 50 projects run by local people - either on their own or in conjunction with the team - to meet the Sure Start objectives (see box below). It has also trained 20 local parents to act as community support workers.