Small Talkers are Smart Talkers
Smart Talkers pre-school Groups have been devised by Staffordshire Mum of two, Libby Hill, especially to stimulate children's spoken language development.
Using signing, games, stories and songs, they work on everything a child needs to be a confident, successful,
effective communicator including attention,listening, vocabulary,understanding andexpressive language skills.
They have several different classes available from Baby Talkers for parents of newborns to 18 months, Tiny Talkers
for 2 years approximately and Small Talkers for 3 and 4 year olds to get them ready for school. There are also signing
classes available. The aims of all the groups are consistent with the Department of Education Early Years Foundation Stage and some of the groups are free, thanks to Community and Learning partnership funding, at the Surestart Children's Centres at Boney Hay, Springhill, the Willows, Charnwood, Hixon,Uttoxeter and Barton under
Needwood.
Libby, an independent speech & language therapist, began the groups as a result of major concerns about the general level of children's language when they start school. The Government's Communication Tsar Jean Gross reported in January 2010 that 1 in 6 three year olds have a recognised problem but many, many more have delayed skills which will affect progress when they start school. A previous Government report in 2008 showed that this can be as high as 50% of children in some areas (Bercow, J.). A questionnaire to Primary Head Teachers by
Small Talk Speech & Language therapy last year showed that
100% were concerned about declining speech, language and communication skills.'We live in a very visual,fast-paced age and often the first time a child is required to do any formal listening is when they start school', reports Libby, 'Smart Talkers work on the prerequisite skills so the Teacher can begin to do her job immediately. Many, many children have to be taught to attend and listen before they can begin the demands of the national curriculum.
These problems are not class or area specific and affect all levels of society.' 'We live in a very visual, fast-paced age and often the first time a child is required to do any formal listening is when they start school' Libby says, 'We take the development of communication for granted but it is actually the best achievement of our lifetime. We spend time on learning to be better readers, writers or dancers but we can all be better communicators too.' It sounds very serious but in fact, the groups are designed to be enjoyable, Linda Peters takes her three year old to the Willows Small Talker session; 'Jack loves the sessions and really looks forwards to going. Nicky is great 1010The groups have been nominated as best local groups in the national 'What's on 4 Little ones' awards in June in Brighton.
So, if you're looking for a quality pre-school activity that will really help your child, have a look at
www.smarttalkers.org.uk or ring 0844 704 5888 for more information.
