Communication and Language

How do we develop children's speech, language and communication?

Children begin to learn to communicate from the day they are born. Within their first few years they will begin to talk. Many do so without much effort at all. However, some children will take much longer and appear to be slow to start speaking compared to others around them. Some of these children will catch up, but some appear to have more difficulty. Some children may have short-term difficulties that can be addressed through effective early intervention; others may have more persistent difficulties that require more ongoing support.  

We know that communication provides a foundation for children’s development. Early language development is an important factor in the development of children’s literacy and, as such, a key part of their educational success.

Skilled Staff

Our staff are experienced in identifying difficulties and providing targeted communication and language support to help children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) develop their skills and confidence. All staff have expertise in engaging children through high-quality interactions to support their language development, vocabulary and learning. Visual support such as visual timetables, Makaton signing and symbols are used routinely throughout our nursery to support understanding and expression of the spoken word.

In particular, we specialise in helping children with the following difficulties:

•  Understanding language & following specific instructions
•  Expressing themselves using spoken language
•  Unclear speech making them difficult to understand
•  Attention and listening difficulties
•  Social interaction 

Support for Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN)

We offer a range of interventions to support SLCN including:

• BLAST (Boosting Language, Auditory Skills and Talking)
• ELKLAN's EYBIC (structured framework for promoting understanding of vocabulary, following instructions, auditory sequential memory, social skills and expressive language) 
• Attention Autism sessions (to develop shared attention and social communication skills, known in our school as 'Attention Builders')
• TACPAC and Handi Pac (sensory-based communication)
• Speech Sound Box (to support children to 'tune into' speech sounds and recognise similarities and differences between sounds)
• Makaton signing, symbols and communication boards - to support understanding and communication
• Cued Articulation (gestures representing each speech sound to help children remember them and produce them)