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In Blackburn the LEA and the Speech & Language
Therapy Department have established a collaborative venture
called Soundstart. They support children with speech, language
and communication needs by training staff, making resources
and promoting good practice in the development of speaking
and listening for all children.
Bradford EYDCP is devising a language programme that
will provide assessment materials but also showcase good practice
materials and sign post to resources and information.
Bradford's Speech and Language
Therapy Service has created a booklet for all new parents
titled "Welcome to your new baby," which is available
in English and Urdu. Distributed through local Health Visitors,
"Welcome to your new baby" outlines how to talk
to babies, the advantages of doing so from day one and how
play helps to develop children's speaking skills.
Brighton Library's Baby Boogie
sessions were used to launch a joint Baby's First Word initiative
with the local speech and language therapy clinic. The event
included displays of baby's first words and received coverage
in the local press and on local radio.
Cambridge's Parent's First works with parents and
0-2s living in disadvantaged areas.. They have a range of
varied fun parent/child activities to promote parent/child
relationships, especially interaction and communicative exchanges.
They cover a wide range of communication skills; observation,
listening, communicative exchanges, touch and body language.
Cambridgeshire Care and Education Partnership gives
new parents leaflets called Learning from Birth, Learning
Together, to give ideas to help children to learn about themselves,
and Putting Children and Families First, outlining the quality
services for children and their families.
East London's Ragged School Museum has developed Polly's
Story, a project to develop the language skills of children
in reception and key stage one, through storytelling and rhymes.
The story sessions take place in the East End Kitchen, a reconstruction
of a kitchen typical of the local area around 100 years ago.
The children learn about the kitchen through the story of
Polly, a girl who might have lived in the house it was part
of. More
Herefordshire Education Action Zone is addressing
fundamental issues of early language through an awareness
raising campaign that will include posters showing babies
in various 'talking' situations. These will be promoted through
the Hereford Times.
Lancashire librarians have created Book Chat, a
leaflet aiming to encourage speech and language development.
There are 12 tips for parents and carers to encourage them
to share stories, rhymes and songs with very young children.
There is also advice from a speech therapist linked to suggested
books, and there are links with the local Bookstart projects.
Manchester's Longsight Library, together with Yorkshire
Bank, has created a new book club for under-fours. Maths in
a Bag aims to develop numeracy and literacy skills in a fun
way, with a bag containing a book, simple number games and
rhymes. Children must listen to the story to work out how
to complete the activities. Early years librarians train parents
and carers to make the most of the bags, which are also on
loan to nursery classes, parent and toddler groups and children's
centres. CILIP Update, 3 April 2004
Nottingham City Council is funding a community project
that produces videos for parents exploring ways to support
their children's early language development. The project is
run by two Speech and Language Therapists and involves parents
from start to finish - through consultation, making the videos,
editing and evaluating their effectiveness. The first video,
about parents and their babies, is distributed free by midwives
to every new mother within three adjacent Sure Sure areas.
The second video, about parents' contributions to their toddlers'
talking and learning, is distributed free by health visitors
at the development check around eighteen months. 1,200 copies
of each video have been produced. There are no current plans
to make them available commercially.
The Sunderland Infant Programme
is designed to help parents learn about their babies' style
in playing and talking. It is funded by Sure Start and the
Tyne and Wear Health Action Zone and has been developed by
a team of health professionals that specialise in infants
and small children. Health visitors visit the home and make
a brief video-clip of parent and baby playing together in
order to view and learn from the clip. It is a voluntary programme
and health visitors hope to keep in touch with participating
parents and babies at least over the first year of the baby's
life to follow up on his or her progress. More information
is available from Sunderland health visitors.
Telford Library held a special
event in October 2005 that combined Bounce & Rhyme activities
with TTYB's Baby's First Word initiative. A prize draw was
held for returned Baby's First Word forms and the team gave
out goody bags on the day as well as new Bookstart Plus packs
and the downloadable tips from the Talk To Your Baby website.
There was a good turnout, including new faces, and the event
received coverage on the front page of the Telford Journal.
'Dada' was the most popular first word and the babies' first
words form the basis of the library's early years display.
Torbay Library Services hosts
special workshops in conjunction with Family Learning to help
parents extend talking opportunities with their children.
It also runs a six-week course called Time to Talk, which
includes a crèche and looks at ways of helping children with
language development. Other activities to encourage families
to engage in good practice that will help children with speaking
and listening skills include music rhythm and rhyme sessions
and a specially designed CD to help with language development.
West Sussex Libraries has launched a new category
of membership for children under six. A membership card has
been specially designed for children, with a colour picture
of the popular character Kipper the Dog. CILIP Update,
3 April 2004
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In the south Wales Valleys of Rhondda Cynon Taff,
midwives have taken part in a pilot study using cartoon picture
cards with parents in the antenatal and postnatal period to
enhance parent-baby bonding and establish good patterns of
parent-baby communication. Created by speech and language
therapist Sasha Bemrose and consultant midwife Lynn Lynch,
'Your Bump and Beyond' contains 12 double-sided cartoon picture
cards to show to mothers and their families, a handbook for
the professional to use that explains each picture card, and
activities for parents to practice. The first seven cards
show parents that babies can develop skills before they are
born, and suggest ways of stimulating a baby in the womb,
through music and rubbing the bump, for example. The second
part of the pack focuses on ways parents and carers can communicate
with their baby through touch and sound in the very early
days. The cartoon picture packs have been very well received;
one expectant mother said "I talk all the time to my
baby since [I learned] it can hear me. I really feel as though
I know her or him already, it knows me." The pack has
been printed and is available to buy. For more information
contact Lynn Lynch at the Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr
Tydfil or email lynn.lynch@nglam-tr.wales.nhs.uk
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Mellow Babies is a programme run in Coatbridge for new mothers identified by their health visitors as suffering
from post-natal depression. The programme runs once a week
over 14 weeks and gives mothers space to explore their feelings
while their child is cared for in a crèche. Videotapes of
mother and child interaction and group activities are analysed
in order to help mothers interact with their babies more positively.
Children in Scotland in Edinburgh
has launched the Opening Doors to Learning project, which
brings together parents, carers and professionals to identify
where early years policies, services and initiatives meet
the additional support needs of young children in Scotland.
The project is looking at the experiences of families with
young children who have additional support needs and their
access to early years services and education. For more information
contact Catriona Thomson, early years development officer
on 0131 222 2445 or visit www.childreninscotland.org.uk/odl
Let's Talk About Listening to Children:
towards a shared understanding for early years education in
Scotland. This is a publication from Learning and Teaching
Scotland that aims to stimulate discussion about the theory,
method and everyday realities of listening to children in
early education in Scotland. It includes contributions from
Professor Kathleen Marshall, the Children's Commissioner for
Scotland; Linda Kinney, Head of Early Childhood, Play and
Out of School Care, Stirling Council; and Peter Moss, Professor
of Early Childhood Provision, University of London. There
is an overview by Dr John Davis, Lecturer, Moray House School
of Education, University of Edinburgh. For more information
and to download the publication visit www.ltscotland.org.uk/earlyyears/resources/publications/ltscotland/talklistening.asp
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