Upskilling an early education workforce and supporting communication development in pre-school children

A family with two early years children surrounded by playtime toys

Identifying children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN)

Early years practitioners face serious challenges in supporting speech, language and communication development. There are significant gaps in awareness of when and how to refer to specialist support.

Practitioners have indicated they lack confidence speaking to families about need for referral to speech and language therapy. Differences in skills, experience and practice within the early years workforce are real barriers. They have resulted in fewer children with Speech Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) being identified and supported than the known prevalence in the population.

Only a third of the population who have SLCN will have sought help or been referred to speech and language therapy. It demonstrates the need to increase awareness of speech, language and communication, and when to refer for specialist support.

Children from LEAP Lambeth wards are significantly less likely to achieve expected levels of communication and language development than those in the non-LEAP wards. This suggests an under-representation of children in this population who are likely to require support.

In 2018, LEAP commissioned the Evelina London Children’s Community Speech and Language Therapy service to deliver a programme of workforce development. The purpose was twofold:

to increase identification of SLCN; and
to improve speech, language and communication development for children in early years childcare and education settings in the LEAP area.

Discover the challenges, successes and learning in the full report.

Authors

Cathy Johnston, MRCSLT¹
Clinical Lead Speech & Language Therapist, Early Communication Development & LEAP
Evelina Community Children’s Speech & Language Therapy Service
Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Carla Stanke, LEAP

Background

Speech, language and communication (SLC) skills are fundamental to early childhood development. Children with strong communication skills are better able to interact with others, make friends and have healthy interpersonal relationships. Poor development of SLC in the early years has a profound impact on life outcomes, influencing academic achievement, behaviour, mental health and employability in later life.

Children who have poor vocabulary at age five, have been shown to be:

several times more likely to have delayed English and maths skills at the start of secondary school;
11 times more likely to have mental health needs; and
more at risk of interacting with the criminal justice system.

As many as 71% of sentenced children in the youth justice system between April 2019 and March 2020 had speech, language and communication needs.

Interactions between children and their caregivers has a major impact on a child’s communication development. The quality of these interactions in both early years education settings and the home-learning environment is integral to this. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are on average much more likely to experience a speech, language and communication need.

The Early Years Foundation Stage EYFS (0-5yrs) statutory framework highlights the crucial role of childcare or setting-based provision to promoting communication development.

Key findings

LEAP’s multi-year funding stream allowed the Evelina Award service to deliver more personalised, long-term and flexible support.
LEAP delivered an innovative workforce development service that was well-aligned with national policy and priorities. It reached the targeted populations of children.
LEAP’s Evelina programme supported the skills and confidence of early years practitioners to identify Speech Language and Communication Needs (SLCN).
Training is most effective if it is ongoing, targeting the needs of practitioners and linked to current practice.
Practitioners require a flexible approach to have an impact in the setting for the children they support.
Data collection should be streamlined, relevant and functional to alleviate the additional paperwork burden to practitioners.
Engagement of management along with a key practitioner supports the embedding of positive practice.
Linking training and progress through audit and award provided a tangible and engaging model.
Local authority quality-improvement teams allow early years settings to access resources and training to support early identification and targeted interventions.