Early Talk
What is I CAN Early Talk?
Early Talk is a learning programme to develop the skills of early years’ practitioners in the vital area of children’s speech, language and communication. Early Talk can be delivered to children’s services or to individual nurseries or childcare providers working with children under five.
Early Talk is flexible. It can be implemented as a full package or as individual elements where needed . It can be delivered directly or cascaded through designated trained staff.
Early Talk is available at 3 separate levels to suit the needs of users. The levels are Supportive, Enhanced and Specialist . All parts of Early Talk are available at these different levels; training, support and advice, mentoring and accreditation.
Purpose of the Early Talk Programme
Early Talk helps early years settings and practitioners to encourage positive communication development in all young children in their setting. It also allows practitioners to identify and support children who are struggling with speech, language and communication. It does this by:
Developing practitioners awareness and knowledge of:
- The importance of communication skills for all children
- Positive adult communication approaches
- Working with other professionals
- Working with parents
- How communication skills typically develop in young children
- How to identify children who are having difficulty developing speech, language and communication
- How to support children’s communication development and how to work effectively with speech, language and communication professionals
- How to make a difference to children’s communication development using their new knowledge and learning.
Developing better outcomes for children and practitioners through:
- Helping children be successful learners
- Creating communication supportive environments
- Increased awareness of children with different communication needs
- Developing the knowledge and skills of Early Years practitioners on the vital topic of speech, language and communication.