Early Talk 0-3

Piloted nationally across four local authorities, I CAN is pleased to announce the rollout of its evidenced-based support programme for the communication development of children under the age of three.

Early Talk 0-3 builds on our successful flagship Early Talk programme, adding value by drawing attention to the need for early intervention from birth – something other Speech, Language and Communication (SLC) Development programmes haven’t aimed to specifically address.

The programme can be used at a range of levels – from a whole local authority to an individual practitioner or parent.  It asks the key question at every level: “How can we better support the speech, language and communication development of children under three?”

 The Early Talk 0 - 3 programme has four main elements:

I CAN Local Authority Good Practice Review Tool and Development Plan

This cross service audit provides a mechanism to look at how services across a local authority, or in a smaller organisation, such as a children’s centre works to support speech, language and communication in under-threes. 

The Good Practice Review Tool enables local authorities to carry out a review of all services to identify good practice in supporting children’s communication development. It looks at the planning of services as well as the way that they are delivered.

Findings can be summarised and developed into an action plan. The action plan, combined with local and I CAN resources, will help reach targets and enable the local authority to have an integrated approach to supporting communication development for all children aged 0 – 3.

Four local authorities have trialled this review tool and we anticipate the programme having a significant impact in those areas. The tool is currently being reviewed following the evaluation of the pilot and will be available shortly.

Early Talk 0-3 Workforce development

The Early Talk 0-3 programme has a number of training packages for practitioner. The learning outcomes of these contribute to a range of competencies at the Universal Stage of the Speech Language and Communication Framework (SLCF).

“Reinforced my views on how amazing babies are and how crucial it is to respond to them to develop communication.” (Participant in Universal level course).

Resources for parents and practitioners

Many resources have been developed that link specifically to this age range. There are Toolkits packed with resources for Working with Parents and for Working with the Under-5s.  We have also two activity packs for use by practitioners and parents with children aged 0-3 years old. These packs, Babbling Babies and Toddler Talk, build a strong foundation for speech, language and communication development. The designs are playful, the packaging very portable and the activities are great fun!

Early Talk 0-3 support, mentoring and quality assurance

I CAN will support local authorities, services and settings by working in partnership to improve the provision for children aged 0 – 3. We have mentored and trained thousands of early years staff over the years. This has enabled them to develop their practice and make a significant difference to the communication development of children. Settings will be able to achieve accreditation or have their good practice validated.

There are a number of different ways that groups and settings can have their quality assured.  The Making a Difference framework enables individual practitioners or managers to look at how what they offer supports SLC development and what they can do to improve this.  There are opportunities to receive support from I CAN in working through this framework and then to have practice validated.
The accreditation framework that has been developed in conjunction with the Early Talk programme is another way of developing and accrediting good practice in early years’ settings.