Closing the inequalities gap in speech, language and communication
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Closing the inequalities gap in speech, language and communication
Why does SLC matter in the early years?
Early language development and communication skills are recognised as a primary
indicator of child wellbeing due to the link between language and other social, emotional
and learning outcomes
Educational
Attainment
Social, Emotional and Mental Health
1 in 4 children who struggled
with language at the age of 5 Children with vocabulary difficulties at age 5
did not reach the expected are 3 times more likely to have mental health
standard in English at the end problems in adulthood and twice as likely to
of primary school, compared be unemployed when they reach adulthood
with 1 in 25 children who had
good language skills aged 5. 81% of children with emotional and
behavioural disorders have unidentified
SLCN
Lifelong Impact
60% of young offenders have
low language skills
2 NCB Learn-Explore-Debate January 2020
Scale of the problem
71.90% 82.40%
Approximately 10% of children Children from socially disadvantaged In 2017/18, 82.4% of all children
and young people have long- families are more than twice as likely reached a ‘good level of development
term SLCN which cause them to be diagnosed with a SLCN. Due to in communication and language skills’
significant difficulties with social clustering, more than 50%of at age five, compared to only 71.9% of
communication or learning in children living in areas of high social children who were eligible for free
everyday life deprivation may start school with school meals.
SLCN.
3 NCB Learn-Explore-Debate January 2020Giving every child the best start in life
December 2017
The Department for Education published ‘Unlocking
Talent, Fulfilling Potential: a plan for improving social
mobility through education’ on 14 December 2017,
Ambition: Close the word gap in the early years
which sets out the Government’s ambitions for the
wider education system, making sure that great
education translates into great opportunities and jobs
for everyone.
July 2018
“28% - of children finish their reception year still
without the early communication and reading skills
they need to thrive. It’s not acceptable and tackling it
must be our shared priority. My ambition is to cut that
number in half over the next ten years.”
– Damian Hinds Former Secretary of State for
Education
4 NCB Learn-Explore-Debate January 2020PHE/DfE Programme of Work Delivery of evidenced-based HV Training Training for health visitors on speech, language and communication needs To equip health visitors with additional skills and knowledge to support families in promoting early language acquisition in the home learning environment, to support improved health and wellbeing outcomes including school readiness. Development of an early language identification measure to support clinical decision-making Development and piloting of measure in 5 areas: Wakefield, Middlesbrough; Derbyshire, Wiltshire and Newham Development of a model SLCN Pathway For services for children 0-5 years built on the best evidence and experience of implementation in practice. 5 NCB Learn-Explore-Debate January 2020
Delivery of evidenced-based HV Training
Objectives
To increase health visitors knowledge of:
Typical /non-typical speech, language and communication
development in all children
The impact of speech, language and communication needs
on long-term health and wellbeing outcomes for children
Application of evidence-based strategies to promote speech,
language and communication development with all children
and families
To be confident and able to:
Identify risk factors for speech, language and communication
needs (SLCN) through assessment
Use evidence-based strategies to support families when a
SLCN is identified and consider methods to demonstrate
impact of the interventions
Identify SLCN appropriate for referral to speech and
language therapy and /or evidenced-based support through
local pathways
6 NCB Learn-Explore-Debate January 2020Development of an early language identification
measure (ELIM) to support clinical decision-making
This project is being carried out by Newcastle University
This measure is being developed and piloted in 5 areas: Wakefield, Middlesbrough,
Derbyshire, Newham and Wiltshire
The following research questions have been identified:
1. Does the ASQ identify children with SLCN in the 24-30 age range measured against a gold
standard language assessment using standard productivity figures (sensitivity and specificity
etc.)?
2. To what extent is it possible to enhance the accuracy of this process by introducing a second
stage identification process for SLCN?
3. What is the acceptability of using the combined procedure from the practitioner and parental
perspective?
4. Can the findings be readily transferred into accessible intervention resources acceptable to
both parents and professionals?
7 7 NCB Learn-Explore-Debate January 2020Development of a model SLCN Pathway
The SLC pathway is comprised of 3 documents, these are:
1. Guidance to support the development of Local Pathways
2. Evidence and Interventions: a support document
3. Collection of peer reviewed case studies
An interactive version of the speech, language and communication pathway is
currently being developed to provide quick and easy access to pertinent
sections of the pathway.
A parent-facing version of the pathway is also being developed with the aim of
providing parents with information on SLC milestones, how to support
development and where to go for further guidance.
NCB Learn-Explore-Debate January 2020
All of the documents will be published in March 2020; this will align with the
refresh of the Healthy Child Programme.
8 NCB Learn-Explore-Debate January 2020DfE Professional Development Fund Early Years Professional Development Programme (PDP): High quality CPD focused on improving workforce skills in language development, early literacy and numeracy. • Appointed Education Development Trust (EDT) in partnership with Elklan as our national training delivery partner. • 51 local authorities participating in the programme. • More than 100 CPD partnerships established with settings and schools. • Over 400 Champions are receiving training directly from Elklan trainers. • c1,500 settings and 3,000 practitioners will receive Level 3 and Level 4 qualifications. • Over 60,000 children stand to benefit from the programme. 9 NCB Learn-Explore-Debate January 2020
DfE Professional Development Fund Progress to date: • Successful pilot run with trial in Rochdale LA in Autumn 2019. • Final CPD package agreed with input from Ofsted, English Hubs Council , ICAN, EEF and sector representatives. • Champions completed induction training in December and training continuing until summer 2020. • Cascade from Champions to settings runs September 2020 to July 2021. • More info at https://www.earlyyearspdp.com/ or Follow @EarlyYearsPDP 10 NCB Learn-Explore-Debate January 2020
Characteristics of an effective local system
Collaboration Placing the needs of Confident, well-
Leadership
children and their skilled workforce
Everyone coming into
contact with, and
families at the centre Local leadership is There is an ongoing
supporting 0-5 year The needs of parents essential in ensuring a workforce strategy that
olds actively promotes and those closest to the planned and co- can effectively promote
communication and child are central to ordinated approach to all children’s speech,
language development service design, with the joint commissioning of language and
aim of achieving “buy-in” services for children communication
In local areas, and supporting their key with SLCN development
commissioners and role in affecting the
providers have an context in which children Teams, early years Practitioners from all
agreed and shared set live and communicate settings and schools are agencies are able to
of key messages for encouraged to develop engage parents/carers,
families about how to Parents and carers their own language and support them in
promote understand what services leads/communication developing the skills
communication and are available, what to champions which link to they need to enhance
language development expect from them, and the broader local communication and
how to raise concerns. strategy language development,
11 NCB Learn-Explore-Debate January 2020Discussion What good practice are you currently implementing to improve SLC in the early years? How are you working with your HV and SLT service? What are some examples of this? What might be some barriers to the early years workforce working in an integrated way? What role would you have in contributing to the implementation of a system wide approach to support SLC in the early years in your area? What support might you need for this? 12 NCB Learn-Explore-Debate January 2020
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