The National Early Language and Communication (NELC) Team have developed a set of key messages based on the evidence around what works for supporting early language and communication from pre-birth to age 5. These 'Chatting Together' key messages, along with printable posters and some information on the evidence and research around these messages, can be found on their website.
CYPIC have been working in partnership with the NELC Team to test what it takes to implement the Chatting Together principles within eligible 2-year-old settings in East Ayrshire. NELC Speech and Language Therapists Louise Steel, Lou Illingworth and Gill Earl have been delighted to come alongside this exciting piece of quality improvement work. The testing process has involved a collaborative approach with local practitioners, focusing on identifying the learning together how to embed high-quality adult-child interactions. This has included testing practical tools, delivering targeted training, and testing the Chatting Together strategies in settings to understand what works in practice.
We have gathered feedback from staff , observed changes in interaction quality, and are beginning to explore how leadership support, time allocation, and resources influence implementation. These insights are helping us refine and develop scalable approaches that can be adopted across other local authorities....watch this space!!
Lou and Louise had the opportunity in September and October to deliver professional learning sessions with some of the leads and practitioners from the 11 ELC settings involved in the project and have created two recorded webinars for wider sharing with staff teams within the ELC settings in East Ayrshire.
Webinar 1: Chatting Together to support early language and communication development
(26 minutes plus time for discussion and reflection)
(12 minutes plus time for discussion and reflection)
Ideally these webinars would be viewed by a staff group as part of a CPL session, creating opportunities for discussion and reflection. If possible, it would be great to invite along a member of the local Speech and Language Therapy team to allow them to be a part of the quality improvement process and to share their own local advice and ideas. Staff will find it helpful to have sight of the Chatting Together self-rating scale while viewing webinar 1.
