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

November 2024

This month our Come Talk with Me top tip is that it’s hard to talk with something in your mouth. If your child uses a dummy, try to keep it for bedtime. This will help your child develop speech sounds more clearly.

The Literacy Trust have a fact sheet available for more information and advice on the use of dummies and learning to talk.

Communication Champion Workshops

The Children and Young People’s Speech and Language Therapy Service have delivered this terms Communication Champion Workshop in Poole and for the first time in Bournemouth. The workshop focused on shared book reading to develop children’s language. The session was really interactive, and practitioners went away with some great ideas and new learning.

In the session the following strategies were explored:

• use eye contact, pauses, silly noises, make faces or act things out
• make comments and avoid lots of questions
• point to words/pictures as you say them
• label a range of things in a book using, nouns, verbs, adjectives
• leave a gap for the child to finish your sentence
• relate what they see to personal events
• acknowledge all attempts at language, even if not clear

These workshops are so valuable and a great opportunity to link up with local speech and language therapists. We had some brilliant feedback from the practitioners attending and we really do encourage you to come along next time! To find out more about becoming a Communication Champion for your setting/childminder please visit the Dorset HealthCare website.

Look out for an invitation to book next term’s Communication Champion Workshops, which will be emailed directly to you nearer the time.

The National Literacy Trust

Despite the chilly weather, autumn is a brilliant time to get outdoors because there’s so much to notice and chat about. The National Literacy Trust newsletter has some great ideas to share with parents and practitioners to help them to discover ways to chat, play and read this Autumn.

Celebrating Black History Month with your children

October was Black History Month, but it’s not too late for you to celebrate this with your children. You can find lots of info, resources, and Early Years book lists on the Words for Life website. You can also sign up for a chance to win a collection of books featuring amazing black literary characters.

October 2024

This month our Come Talk with Me top tip is to give your child choices – for example ‘water’ or ‘milk’. This will help them to expand their vocabulary.

For more information about how to use this strategy, including some common pitfalls, you can watch this clip from speech and language therapist Bryony Rust.

Words for life activity

The Rustle of Leaves Read and Explore

This engaging story can help children to understand anxiety so they can become better equipped to challenge and manage their own fears. Pippa the Rabbit accidentally causes her children to become afraid of the “Rustle of Leaves” which means that when Fox offers to keep them safe from the “dangerous” rustling, they find themselves in a truly tricky situation.

September 2024

This month our Come Talk with Me top tip is to point to and name things you are talking about and that your child is interested in. This will help them to learn more words.

Pointing by care givers, also encourages babies to start to understand what pointing is about and therefore start to point themselves. Research has found that the more children under the age of 2 point, the better language abilities are later on.

Words for life activity

Countdown to School or nursery The week before starting school or nursery can be an exciting and possibly an anxious time for children. Share these ideas with parents to help them get ready for this transition.