C&L gives children opportunities to experience a rich language environment, develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves, and speak and listen in a range of situations. At this age, children’s vocabulary and their understanding of what you’re talking about is growing all the time, and they’re starting to have fun with language. There are many forms of communication not just verbal and these include facial expression, gesture and signs. Studies have shown that speech makes up just 20%-30% of all communication, with non-verbal cues far more effective in making your point and being understood. It is also important for the communicator to make eye contact and look out for non-verbal cues, so that they know that what they have said has been taken in, and it is ok to continue with the conversation. Making time to talk to your child without your mobile phone is a simple tip to boost communication.

Small Talk- Visit the communication trust website for a range of tips and ideas https://www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/media/3508/small_talk_final.pdf

Our Facebook page - to see our staff videos of songs and nursery rhymes please visit https://www.facebook.com/StrongCloseNS/videos/?ref=page_internal

See Words for Life for the relevant age of your child at https://literacytrust.org.uk/parents-and-families/

Your Words Build Your Child’s World so for fun activities to help with your child’s communication skills visit the BBC’s Tiny Happy People at https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/activities/zjh8hbk

Nursery Rhymes are fantastic vocabulary boosters. They often feature a pleasing rhythmic pattern and simple repetitive phrases that young children find easy to remember and repeat. In order to develop their phonological awareness, children need to be repeatedly exposed to spoken language and nursery rhymes provide the perfect way to do this. For a large range of animated nursery rhymes in alphabetical order visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-a-to-z-index/z4ddgwx

Dummies and speech development -Many parents use a dummy to help soothe their child. This is understandable as most babies have a strong sucking reflex and often a dummy can help settle a child. Dummies can be an invaluable support to parents and babies in the early months of development. However, did you know that prolonged use of both a dummy and bottle with a teat, can cause potential risks to the development of speech and language? To find out more visit https://www.nhsggc.org.uk/media/255594/dummies-and-speech-development-leaflet.pdf

Singing Hands - For Makaton signed songs and nursery rhymes visit https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjT4XhijakZiqAV_QjFd-8nV5CuO5Rpnz

Develop listening skills with BBC radio-This collection of audio promotes listening skills for pre-school children with fun sound discrimination games. Children are encouraged to listen carefully to identify sounds and to respond in a variety of ways, including both speech and movement.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/eyfs-listening-skills/zbc4y9q