The early years of life are vital in giving every child the best start, and speech, language and communication (SLC) skills are a primary indicator of child wellbeing. These skills shape a child’s ability to learn, build relationships and long term life chances.
Research and national programmes highlight that:
- Language gaps emerge early (within the 2nd year of life), are socially driven, and widen without intervention
- Health visitors are key to identifying children at risk of, or experiencing, SLC delay in the early years – well before school entry
- Effective early action can reduce long term educational and social inequalities
Growing numbers of children are starting school with poor communication skills, with stark and unacceptable regional differences. Health visitors play a central role in supporting children’s early speech, language and communication development through prevention, early identification, and tailored support for families, by:
Promoting early language development: Sharing guidance with all families on creating language rich environments - including the benefits of starting before birth - ‘talk to your bump', 'babies are born ready to communicate’. Simple activities can make a big difference - encourage parents to discover the joy of book sharing in the earliest years which benefits both child development and parent-infant relationships (see BookTrust for details)
Modelling responsive, contingent adult–child interactions during contacts (and sharing resources to support this)
Providing anticipatory guidance and information on typical development, including variability
Identifying children with speech, language and communication needs (including ‘red flags’ for atypical development which requires specialist support) – through their universal and targeted assessments. In particular, NICE states that all children should have their speech, language and communication assessed at the 2-2.5-year health visitor review to enable early identification and action before school entry (please follow your local policies on assessment approaches and tools):
- Early Language Identification Measure (ELIM): Because traditional child development tools (like the ASQ) are not sensitive enough to identify all SLC needs (see research), the Early Language Identification Measure (ELIM) has been developed and rolled out nationally in England.
Providing early support, tailored advice and coordinating intervention once a need is identified – including signposting to community and specialist support where this is indicated. Please follow your local SLC pathways and policies on assessment tools.
External Resources
Speech and Language UK: Provide a range of tools, resources and training for families and professionals on speech, language and communication, including information on typical development, how to identify problems early, with helpful advice and signposting.
EIF: Language as a Child Wellbeing Indicator
This seminal review commissioned by the government, outlines how early language is a primary indicator of child wellbeing and has driven a UK-wide policy focus on speech, language and communication in the early years. To ensure children with language development problems do not fall through the cracks, EIF called for early language development to be prioritised as a child wellbeing indicator, so that it must be treated as a public health issue, like vaccination, obesity and mental health.
