Literacy news
Hello, the 2011 national year of communication, officially launches
8 Feb 2011
Hello, the National Year of Speech, Language and Communication has officially launched. The Hello campaign aims to make children and young people’s communication development a priority in homes, nurseries and schools across the country. It is run by The Communication Trust, a coalition of 40 organisations with expertise in speech, language and communication, in partnership with Jean Gross, Communication Champion.
The National Literacy Trust is one of the consortium members, and will be taking a leading role in the campaign during the year.
Research commissioned to highlight the launch explored perceptions about children’s speech and language development. The research discovered that one in six parents in Britain believe that the most common cause of speech, language and communication difficulties among children is the time they spend on computers and watching television.
Following the research results Jonathan Douglas, said:
“We hope the National Year of Communication will be an opportunity to not only recognise the difficulties faced by children with specific communication needs and their parents, but also an opportunity to highlight the compelling need for all parents to talk more with their children from birth.
“The extent to which parents talk, listen, sing and read to their children from birth has been shown to have a far greater impact on child development than factors such as socio-economic status (The Effective Provision of Preschool Education Project, 2004).
“For the national year’s March focus on early years, our Talk To Your Baby campaign will be giving parents ideas, encouragement and tips on how to give their children the best possible start in life through talking, listening and communicating with them. We will be encouraging parents to hold Talk To Your Baby parties and providing downloadable packs to get them started.”
To find out more information about Hello, please go to www.hello.org.uk.
