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Why do we need a campaign to encourage parents to talk to
their children?
Children need to be confident communicators in order to lead
happy, fulfilled and successful lives. There is evidence of
high levels of speech, language and communication difficulties
among young children and the negative effects this has on
children's social-emotional and educational development.
The majority of pre-schoolers' time is spent with their parents
and it is parents who are in the best position to effect change
and promote the development of their children's communication
skills. Parents are their child's first teachers and the years
from birth to three are crucial in developing all aspects
of a young child's growing need to communicate.
10 key reasons for our campaign
Why is early years communication
a problem now?
Recent research has found increasingly high levels of speech,
language and communication impairment among young children.
There are a number of possible reasons why:
- Parents' working patterns mean less time to talk
- Loss of extended family surrounding baby and smaller family
unit
- Family gatherings are rare (e.g. no family mealtimes)
- Background noise from TV and radio may distract parents
from talking to their children
- Children and childhood are not valued in the UK and children
have a low status
- The adage that children should be seen and not heard -
hence dummies to keep children quiet
- Pushchairs face away from the pusher
- Pace of living - lack of time even for sustained eye contact
- Parents may have lost the ability to engage in imaginative,
active play
- An expectation that children will just pick up speaking
skills from general chatter around them, or learn language
once they begin at nursery school
- General lack of awareness of the importance of pretend
play, music, rhythm and rhyme on language development
- Parents may feel they should strive to provide expensive
toys/equipment, when time playing with their child would
bring as much pleasure and more benefits
- Solitary activities that don't foster dialogue dominate
the home
- Lack of parental awareness of the importance and pleasure
of talking and listening, and of how communicative behaviours
start from birth onwards
- Central heating means that families do not need to congregate
in one warm room
It is unlikely that parents and carers are wilfully not talking
to young children - perhaps they don't know that they should,
or they need reminding. We need to stop praising children
who are quiet as 'good'. Communication is the building block
to everything in our lives, therefore we need to shift cultural
expectations so that children are seen and heard. We
need to understand what the barriers might be to language-rich
early years in the home, then we can plan to make things change.
Communicating is a pleasure for both adult and child.
For more information read our
discussion paper, Why do many young children lack basic
language skills?
What does Talk To Your Baby do?
Talk To Your Baby is a campaign promoting the message to parents
and carers that communicating with babies is vital to their
development. We promote this message to parents through our
partnerships with early years professionals such as speech
and language therapists and health workers, and to the wider
public through the media. We have a website and quarterly
newsletter that pull together the latest research, resources
and initiatives in early language development. We produce
free downloadable resources for early years practitioners,
such as an advocacy pack for those wishing to make a case
for more attention or staffing to support work in the early
language field. Over a 10 year period the campaign aims to
focus on different themes affecting children's language development,
including television and the role
of grandparents and fathers.
What does the campaign hope to achieve?
Within 10 years we want all children in the UK to receive
from their parents a stimulating, language-rich start to life.
Talk To Your Baby will get talking with babies on all the
key agendas - through the general media, the specialist parenting
press and through the work of early years professionals -
by pushing a strong and consistent message that talking and
communicating with babies matters. Parents will recognise
the importance of talking with babies and communicate with
them more. Teachers will begin to see that children entering
school are more competent communicators. Professionals working
with parents and young children will have communication skills
as one of their key training components. Ultimately we would
expect hundreds of thousands of homes to have a more supportive
language environment as a result of the campaign.
As a parent, what can I do to help
my child's early language development?
All parents wish to do their best for their children but often
lack the confidence or knowledge to implement powerful parenting
practices, such as attentive listening, singing songs, playing
rhyming games and sharing books. We want parents to recognise
their vital role in helping their child make sense of the
world, through encouraging communication at every opportunity.
They may not know how important, easy and pleasurable this
is. Young children are active learners and the pleasure to
be gained by both child and adult in simply talking together
is undervalued as a vital first step.
More information for parents
Is TV the major culprit?
Television is just one of many social and cultural factors
that impact on young children's language development. Our
research found that in the
right circumstances, television can help young children's
communication skills. To make the most of TV parents and carers
should consider the following:-
- Although watching the same video over and over may eventually
impinge on a parent's sanity, the repetition and familiarity
of words and phrases makes it easier for children to learn
from them.
- For a child to learn from a TV programme or video they
need the opportunity to talk about what they have watched
with an adult - this is easier to do when an adult and child
watch together.
- It is especially important that younger children watch
programming designed for their age group. This is difficult
when watching with an older brother or sister who may dominate
the remote control. Set aside TV time for all siblings.
- When the programme or video has finished, turn it off.
There is no substitute for talking with children.
A significant problem with speech, language or communication
is one of the most common developmental difficulties in children.
In some cases, the language problems arise as a result of
conditions such as a learning disability or a hearing impairment.
In other cases, however, there is no obvious reason for the
child's difficulties. Such children are usually described
as having a 'specific language (or speech) impairment' (SLI
for short). It is to help these children that Afasic was founded
in 1968.
Speech and language are extremely complex, and
a lot of different things can go wrong with their development.
Some children are described as having a 'language delay',
which strictly speaking means that their language is developing
in the usual way but at a slower rate than in most children
their age. However, many professionals use the term 'language
delay' to mean any type of speech or language impairment.
Some children, though, have a speech, language or communication
disorder which means that one or more aspects of their language
is developing atypically. Speech, language and communication
comprise a number of different skills, any of which might
fail to develop properly.
Some children have difficulty articulating some
or all of the sounds that go to make up speech ('d', 'g',
's', 'w', etc) or putting them together to make words. Their
speech may sound very unclear, and, in the worst cases, it
may be impossible for other people to understand what they
are saying.
Children with language problems may have difficulty
understanding language (this is known as 'receptive' language)
and/or with producing words and putting them together to make
coherent sentences ('expressive' language).
Communication problems involve a difficulty
with responding to and using language appropriately in different
contexts. Children with communication disorders often have
difficulties with social interaction generally and some of
them may be described as having an autistic spectrum disorder.
Extracted from an article
written by Alison Huneke of Afasic (the Association For All
Speech Impaired Children). Read
the full article
What else is happening to help
young children's language development?
Alongside Talk To Your Baby there are a number of national
initiatives.
Birth to Three Matters is a framework of effective
practice to support staff working with children under three.
One of the four aspects, A Skilful Communicator, covers Being
Together as a sociable and effective communicator; Finding
a Voice to become a confident and competent language user;
Listening and Responding appropriately to the language of
others; and Making Meaning to understand others and be understood.
Order from DfES Publications on 0845 60 222 60.
Sure Start local programmes are participating in a
speech and language measure, and many local programmes have
a variety of initiatives underway to address communication
issues. See www.surestart.gov.uk
Speaking, listening, learning, produced in partnership
by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the Department
for Education and Skills, provides cross-curricular objectives
for speaking and listening in Years 1 to 6. Order from DfES
Publications on 0845 60 222 60.
Bookstart, the world's first national baby book-gifting
programme, works through health visitors to provide every
baby in the UK with a free Bookstart pack of books and guidance
materials that encourage use of the local library. See www.bookstart.org.uk
Specific programmes include:
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