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Regional consultation meetings - summary

Regional consultation meetings for Talk To Your Baby took place in June and July 2003. Nearly 250 early years professionals attended, to be informed about the thinking behind the campaign, and to contribute to discussions about how best the campaign should develop and fulfil its aims. The meetings were organised with the help of the Government Offices, and in conjunction with the National Literacy Trust's Literacy and Social Inclusion project, which ran meetings in the mornings. Many of those delegates elected to stay for the Talk To Your Baby meetings, too.

Sure Start projects were well represented at each of the nine venues, and speech and language therapists, nursery staff, family learning co-ordinators, librarians, and early years coordinators made up the bulk of the attendees. There were not as many health visitors as we might have hoped, and more work needs to be done to find ways to involve health visitors and midwives.

Each meeting started with an outline of the rationale for the Talk To Your Baby campaign, and the enthusiasm for the project was overwhelming. Delegates were interested to hear from colleagues in their region about their current activities in the field of early language and play, and many new contacts were made. The discussions around the specific questions raised at the meetings provided valuable insights into ways forward for the campaign.

Successful projects have benefited from shared buildings, where all professionals talk together and share resources. Crèche facilities and refreshments are essential for successful groups, and groups need to be where parents are. Sessions specifically inviting older siblings have been valued, and having no chairs in the rooms encourages adults on to the floor. A nursery school on a secondary school site in Cornwall has been successful in breaking down barriers with both boys and girls on the value and enjoyment of playing and talking with young children.

The barriers to language-rich early years in the home were discussed, with emphasis on the fact that most parents want to do their best, but don't know how or are overwhelmed with other problems. Isolated parents (urban and rural) need long-term peer and family support, and some parents (particularly younger ones) need to be shown active playing. The reality of a baby in the home is a shock, and parents need to be made aware that they are their child's first teachers and that quiet time in the home devoted to interacting with their child will have long term dividends, as well as short term pleasure for parent and child.

Talk To Your Baby can help by raising awareness of the value of talking, and find ways for modelling language in the home, showing that children who have language need not express themselves through tantrums. The campaign can help by encouraging all professionals to highlight common, consistent messages, and by getting agreement on a range of key messages - dummies, quiet, television use, singing and rhyming. The campaign should aim to make it okay for children's voices to be heard in public places, and to work with training providers to ensure language and communication is high on their agendas. Talk To Your Baby could explore what works in other countries, and particularly highlight the pleasures of talking for parents, adding that it is not an additional chore but can be done throughout the day.

Other partners to be involved are part of a very long list, but key amongst them are health visitors and midwives and all manufacturers in the childcare field. Others range from schools and colleges, to catch potential parents in good time, to old people's organisations to encourage the elderly to have a role.

Practical resources suggested include a downloadable logo, TV advertising from a child's point of view, a video showing good practice (if it can find a way to incorporate all regional accents), and an advocacy pack with good research and pertinent statistics, adaptable to use for local strategic plans. Nationally available posters and/or calendars with strong messages were also suggested.

A conference on TV and early years language was agreed to be a good idea, and work has already begun on plans for this for early 2004. (For further information as it becomes available, please sign up for the email newsletter).

Campaign priorities suggested were many and various, but especially highlighted the need for Talk To Your Baby to be long term. The suggestion to focus on different themes over the years was welcomed, and it was agreed that parents and carers need consulting early on. Stressing the pleasures and not engaging in parent-bashing were also high on people's lists, alongside emphasising that listening and talking are like walking - they need learning. The campaign must find the right tone for clear, simple messages, and must not be judgemental.

It was invaluable to hear first hand experiences, and get a picture of how Talk To Your Baby could support the professionals in their work. All delegates at the meetings are aware of great concerns locally at the low level of speech and language in many young children, and support the aims and principles of the campaign.