Talking Families

Recent research shows that over 50% of children who start school have lower speaking and listening skills than age expectation.This can lead to poor behaviour, a reduction in their learning potential and difficulty in socialising. There are many reasons for this decline in oral and aural skills, but it is fundamentally important that we try to reverse this downward trend if we want our children to live happy and fulfilling lives.

“There are thousands of children and young people effectively disabled by speech, language and communication impairments. There’s a progression between this 'hidden disability', exclusion from school and young adults ending up in trouble, and it starts early. We need to spot and offer provision for these impairments as early as possible.” L. Lascalles Afasic

The Talking Families training programme has been developed by Education Works' Clare Reed for Parental Involvement Workers, Children Centre practitioners, Nursery Nurses and Child Minders. It provides these professionals with a range of practical skills, strategies and resources to deliver workshops or drop in sessions for parents. These sessions can be delivered flexibly over a period of time, but specifically to develop speaking and listening skills with targeted groups of parents and children, encouraging and supporting them to communicate more effectively as a family.

For more information about our Speaking and Listening programmes, contact our lead Speaking and Listening consultant Clare Reed on +44 (0)7973 324335; or email clare.reed@educationworks.org.uk.