Research and policy
Research: Promoting Speech and Language - a themed study in fifteen Sure Start Local Programmes
1 Jun 2007
The public health approach advocated by the RCSLT represents a radical shift in professional practice and it was important to ascertain firstly whether it is feasible and secondly the readiness of SaLTs to espouse this different approach to their work. The study also sought to identify examples of good practice and to analyse the ways in which the many different disciplines and staff groups in SSLPs approached issues of language and pre-literacy.
Findings
All programmes had employed a SaLT at some stage in their development. All SaLTs interviewed had been enthusiastic about implementing the newer concepts of prevention, by promoting language development directly with parents and through other staff. Most continued with some one-to-one clinical work, particularly with children who had previously proved difficult to engage in any form of assessment or therapy. However, the time commitment of SaLTs varied widely between programmes. In several SSLPs their input had ended or was being substantially reduced.
Four programmes, led by midwives, had a particular focus on the development of communication in the newborn and in early infancy. The midwives were enthusiastic about their new role and parents valued the insights they were given about their baby’s efforts to communicate.
Bookstart was widely used and was supported by many staff groups including early years librarians and health visitors, though in some cases the latter had insufficient time to model the optimal use of books with very young children. Some SSLPs were aware of the importance of developing awareness of rhyme but there was much less evidence of other pre-literacy work.
In some SSLPs there was close collaboration between early years library workers and SaLTs. Many parents were grateful for the advice and information offered by the early years librarians and those who had previously rarely used libraries found their support helpful and encouraging.
SaLT support to ‘Ready for Nursery’ groups had in some SSLPs focused on a speech, language and literacy link between schools and Sure Start programmes. There were variations in the ease with which different agencies could collaborate and focus on speech, language and literacy development or give priority to speech, language and literacy practice in their communications with parents.
SaLTs in most SSLPs worked closely with the SSLP staff and in many cases also with teachers, both within SSLPs and from local schools. Practitioners valued their joint learning with SaLTs and said that it had informed and improved their practice. Similarly parents endorsed the value of the
knowledge they had gained from SaLTs. However, there were also examples of difficulties in professional communication between SaLTs and teachers over issues such as the Foundation Stage curriculum and approaches to supporting language development in classroom settings.
The early identification of children with major difficulties in language or communication is one potential benefit of settings like Sure Start. Some SSLPs had collaborated with SaLTs to improve their awareness of how to recognise these children but there appeared to be considerable scope for developing this function further, particularly in the light of the reduced input into routine developmental screening by health visitors in the last few years.
Programme Managers' backgrounds were important – their attitudes and opinions about the balance between community development, parent support and pedagogy strongly influenced the direction and emphasis of programmes as did the previous history of the area, especially the varied development of nursery schools and childcare, and the strength of inter-disciplinary and interagency
relationships.
(Extracted from Executive Summary)
To download the full report visit the DCSF website.
