1. Communication, Language & Literacy
What does this mean for the preschool child?

2. Purpose of the Workshop
To explore how the preschool child develops communication, language and literacy skills
To give parents/carers information about why language delay happens
To give parents/carers information about the activities provided at preschool
To help parents/carers support their child’s language development at home
2011 is the year of communication
So we are helping to spread the message and get as many people as possible involved to raise awareness

3. The Importance of Communication
50% of children are starting school with weak language skills
Language delay at this age can lead to problems later on in a child’s education
Early intervention can overcome any difficulties
The home environment is a key factor for success in developing language skills
Focus on communication due to weak skills being identified
Delay can lead to problems later but in a recent study the delays were thought to be transient and with appropriate early support any difficulties can be overcome.
Especially with support from home. EPPE study showed that what parents do is far more important than who they are. Parents really do make a difference, this does not mean that language delay is parents fault it just means the child may need support in specific areas.
As a parent would you know where your child is in their language development

4. Typical Developmental Milestones
Children all develop at different rates, but …
12-15 months – babbling with a wide range of sounds (b, p, m, d, n), one or more words
18-24 months – 20 words by 18 months, 50 or more words by 24 months
2-3 years – too many words to count, can combine three or more words in sentences, produces words/phrases spontaneously, rather than imitating or using gestures
Babies learn language even before they are born
Poster _ Ican

5. Why does Language Delay Happen?
Increase in young children’s exposure to TV and technology
Less time for adult/child talk
Special educational needs (SEN):
Developmental delay
Learning needs
Physical (motor) delay
Social, emotional, behavioural needs
Busy lifestyles change in family routines

6. Language and SEN
SEN does not mean your child has something ‘wrong’ with them – it just means they would benefit from additional support in education
Young children’s brains develop quickly – early intervention is crucial for later success
Language delay can be caused by a variety of special educational needs – hearing issues, motor difficulties, social or emotional needs

7. Preschool Activities to Support Language
Songs, rhymes, exploring sounds together
Listening – stories, Show and Tell, CDs
Speaking in different contexts – role plays, shared sustained thinking
Mark making in different contexts
Chatting/socialising with adults and peers
Fine and gross motor development

8. Beginning to Write
Children need to develop their motor skills, before they can learn to write ‘properly’
Gross motor – climbing, balancing, throwing – large whole body movements – lines, curves
Fine motor – picking up, threading, holding a brush – small, finger and wrist movements
Boys typically begin to write later than girls, but develop more quickly in other areas

9. Learning to Read - Phonics
Children need to learn to hear the individual sounds within words
Phonemes = sounds (letter/group of letters)
Blending sounds together to make words – CVC words ‘cat’ (consonant/vowel/consonant)
Talk about the sound of letters, rather than the name
So, not ‘See’ for ‘C’ but ‘Kuh’ for the sound it makes when it’s in a word
At preschool we work through the letters and sounds programme which is all about games to encourage pre-reading skills

10. Supporting Your Child at Home
Read stories and talk together as much as possible
Support them in making sounds correctly
Use facial expression and vocal tone, e.g. put a pleased tone in your voice, widen your eyes
‘Model’ talk for your child, for instance talking through an activity as you do it together
Use a rich and varied vocabulary – talk with your child about what words mean
Talk together booklet
Ready steady talk

11. A Final Thought – Tricky Words!
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, plough and through?
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird,
And dead: it's said like bed, not bead –
For goodness sake don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there's dose and rose and lose
Just look them up - and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart –
Come, come, I've hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive!
I'd mastered it when I was five!