Every child a talker

Why is talk important? It forms the foundations of integrating with other people - for communicating our needs, thoughts and experiences.

Michael Rosen Interesting enjoyable conversations Think carefully about how we speak Speech is crucial in developing power of thinking and understanding

Anguage developmet to 5 years

Does excessive screen time effect language? For the first time researchers from the University of Toronto and The Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto have shown it can impact language skills.

Putting babies in front of iPads before the age of two stunts speech development.

Every 30 minutes of screen time increased the risk of delayed speech by 49 per cent.

In Britain children under the age of three spend an average of 44 minutes a day using smartphones and tablets.

By the age of two to three, infants should be able to communicate in sentences of between three and four words. But those who spent the most time on handheld devices were found to struggle with communication skills.

Questioning Think carefully before asking children questions What are questions for?

Questions can be used to extend the child’s thinking and learning, or simply to test. Testing young children by asking questions to which the practitioner already knows the answer does not help support language development. Questions that are merely testing, e.g. ‘What colour is it?’ or that invite simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers can interrupt the flow of communication and stilt natural conversation. Children respond better to comments on their activity, e.g. ‘You have made a very tall tower’. The commenting approach encourages the child to talk and keeps the child’s attention on the task. Ask open questions.

Enabling Environments The environment that your setting creates must support the speech, language and communication development of the children EYFS Principle: The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.

Learning and Development Activities and set-up of your Early Years setting must support the speech, language and communication of children throughout the day. EYFS Principle: Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of learning and development are equally important and interconnected.

Progress so far…. Children who you are supporting well (A Unique Child). Experiences of good quality interactions between adults and children (Positive Relationships). A list of areas of the Early Years setting where talking is encouraged (Enabling Environments). A list of times of the day or activities during which speech, language and communication are currently being developed (Learning and Development).