Our monthly updates provide information and resources for early years practitioners to support communication, language and literacy developments.

July 2025

This month our Come Talk with Me Top Tip is:

Try not to ask your child questions that start with ‘why’. They can be hard for young children to answer, so start with ‘who’, ‘what’ or ‘where’ instead.

Remember to use questions carefully though and spend more time commenting on what children are doing. Remember the ‘Hand Rule!’ Say at least 4 comments related to what a child is engaged in to one question asked.

Check Come Talk with Me - activities to do with your toddler for more ideas on how to support children’s speech, language and communication.

June 2025

This month our Come Talk with Me Top Tip is:

Use positive comments when your child says a new word. This will help your child know they are being listened to.

May 2025

This month our Come Talk with Me Top Tip is:

If asking your child questions, wait by counting to ten in your head before expecting an answer. This will give your child more time to think about what they want to say.

Communication is a complicated business with lots of processes involved, as these mature, we can communicate with hardly needing to think. Young children are just developing these abilities, children need time to decide what to say and plan the answer and if a question is challenging, children need to think and find the right words. Giving them at least ten seconds to respond to you helps them to do this.

The National Literacy Trust

Take a look at the latest newsletter from the National Literacy Trust. This is full of great ideas to share with parents, including Internation Language Mother’s Day activities and downloadable free resources translated into 19 languages.