Early Communication Service

A service to help parents develop speech, language and communication skills in their children.

Building your child’s language and communication
Talking and listening to children from the moment they’re born helps them develop good language and communication skills. Talking and listening to your child will benefit you both. Your child will feel valued and loved, and the two of you will form a close bond with each other. As your child grows older, knowing how to communicate will help ease frustration. The more words children hear, the more they will use when they are older. You don’t need to be an expert to help your child develop good communication skills. All you need is a listening ear and the willingness to chat to your child whenever you can.

Talking to your child matters because:

• It will help them build their language and communication skills;
• It will help them to learn social skills and build relationships with others;
• It will help them to learn to read and write later as language forms the base for literacy.

Did you know 50% of children enter school with some form of speech, language and communication difficulty which was preventable?

The Early Communication Team

We provide an Island wide service through the Children’s Centres.

• Informal advice for parents on their child’s speech and language development

Feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions about your child’s speech and language or if you would like to know more about language development and what you can do to help.

• 2 year language check -  a simple questionnaire completed over the phone or in person to check how your child’s speech and language is developing at 2 years

• Courses for parents to learn all about speech, language and communication  development and how you can help your child develop  these essential skills

• A Talk about talking – Focuses on how children learn speech sounds from babbling onwards, how the mouth works and ways to help your child learn speech sounds

• Chatter Matters! - ‘Building Words and Sentences’ – Focuses on how to create opportunities for your child to talk, how children learn words and how to build a good vocabulary and string words together.

• Regular drop ins at Parent &Toddler groups and Children’s Centres providing someone to talk to about speech, language and communication  development or any concerns you may have

• Leaflets at 9 month and 2 year check with your health visitor as well as a variety of other leaflets which are available to download from this website:

• Speech and Language communication development
• Learning to talk from 9 months
• Talking to your baby
• Speech Sound development
• Talking together
• Stammering  - children under 5
• Getting ready for schools

• Advice and support for pre-schools/reception classes
  
  
  • Communicating matters
  • Language enrichment group training
  • Drop ins for parents
  • Advice for staff

You can contact us by telephone or by dropping in to one of the Children’s Centres across the Island or through your health visitor.

Useful websites to find out more about speech, language and communication development and difficulties.

www.ican.org.uk – free DVD for parents called Chatter Matters available to     order
www.talkingpoint.org.uk  which is part of the ICAN website.
www.talktoyourbaby.org.uk