Early years

A high proportion of children (41–75 per cent) with identified speech and language difficulties in their preschool years go on to have difficulties with reading skills during their school years.

Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy (1999) Early Communication Audit Manual, London: Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy.

This is why the National Literacy Trust supports early years literacy and language development by working with a range of audiences. We work with:

• Early years practitioners through the Talk To Your Baby campaign to encourage parents and carers to talk more to children from birth to three.
• Early years settings through the Early Reading Connects project to encourage children to love language, stories and reading.
• Local authorities through Partners in Literacy to establish if a strategic and coordinated approach to literacy, at a local authority level, positively impacts on the number of disadvantaged families supporting literacy in the home.

Our successes

• Over 2,500 early years organisations, including children’s centres, preschools and childminders, signed up to Early Reading Connects in the first year since its launch.
• Talk To Your Baby has 32 resources for parents and practitioners on the website which are downloaded, on average, over 7,000 times each week.