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Children: Communication Skills

Answer

The Government recognise that speech and language skills are vital to all areas of a child's development. Together with the Department of Health we are taking a number of steps to ensure all children get the right support to develop these skills, including targeted or specialist support for children and young people with speech, language and communication difficulties.On 8 July we welcomed the final report of the Bercow Review of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). We support fully the report's call for action to raise the profile of speech, language and communications across Government, local agencies and wider society and to improve services for children and young people with SLCN. We will publish a plan for implementation of the hon. Member for Buckingham's (John Bercow) recommendations in the autumn. We have already asked Sir Jim Rose to examine how schools can better focus on speech, language and communication as part of his review of the primary curriculum.Alongside our response to the recommendations in the Bercow Report, on 8 July the Government announced a new £40 million early language programme, Every Child a Talker, which aims to improve the understanding of early language development among the early years workforce. It will provide practitioners with training and materials to enable them to support children's speaking and listening skills more effectively and free up time for practitioners to spend working with parents to enrich the home environment and networking with each other to share good practice. This will complement the materials delivered through the Inclusion Development Programme, which is focusing in its first year on SLCN, along with dyslexia.Sure Start Children's Centres (SSCC) play a key role in the positive promotion of children's speech and language development. In our Children's Centre Practice Guidance (December 2006) we said that speech, language and communication should be a priority for SSCCs in developing their services and that all staff should have the skills and understanding required for high-quality, responsive interaction with children.In addition, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), being introduced from September this year, recognises the importance of supporting and extending children's learning and competence in communicating, speaking and listening and providing opportunities for children to use these skills in a range of situations and for different purposes. One of the key roles for practitioners within the EYFS is to identify and respond to any particular difficulties in children's language development at an early stage.Early identification of SLCN is further promoted through the Child Health Promotion Programme (CHPP), led by the Department of Health. CHHP is the early intervention and prevention public health programme that lies at the heart of all universal services for children and families. It highlights a child's speech and language development as one of eight priority topics for health and development reviews of children.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

479 c21-2W;479 c20-1W; 218459

Session

2007-08

Subjects

Children Communication skills

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk