Early Years Communication and Language Support Team - Plymouth

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“Hello, I’m Charlotte and I have been working in early years for over 18 years and I am a qualified Early Years Teacher. I am a home learning and communication co-ordinator at Barnardo’s family hubs in Plymouth. I facilitate Chatterbox and Peep groups across the city, and all have a focus on communication skill and supporting children’s learning at home.

Play provides such a wonderful opportunity for speech and language development and by supporting parents to provide positive interactions, together we can encourage speech and language development to flourish. We offer play ideas in the groups that the children’s centre run and home learning activities in Peep groups to extend into your home.

I am very passionate about the importance of supporting play and how this supports children’s development. I provide a range of play through the groups I deliver including physical, role play, literacy, maths and Personal Social and Emotional development. I especially enjoy the learning opportunities that messy play provides.

If you would like more information on play ideas to support speech and language development, please feel free to come along to your local Peep group. These can be found on the Family Hub timetables.’

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Between the ages of 3 and 4 your child’s understanding and use of words will grow; learning from things that happen in their daily life. They may understand some different describing words. E.g. up, big, under. They may understand you when you ask for them to give you a ‘red car’ or ‘three blocks’. If they don’t quite understand these yet, you can help them by using these kinds of words during play and daily life.
Using descriptive words to talk about what you’re doing together helps your child understand what they mean.
Try not to turn it into a test of what they know, keep it playful!

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By 2 years of age children have heard many words and are used to what happens in their daily life. These repeated experiences help them to understand simple questions and instructions like “where’s your drink?”, “get your coat” and “daddy's turn”.

Did you know BBC Tiny Happy People is a fantastic resource for getting ideas on how you can help your child chat more. https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people

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It’s amazing that before a baby is even 1 year old they recognise and can get excited when they hear voices coming of the special people in their life. They may show their excitement by kicking or waving their arms or making noises. You can respond with your facial expression and voice to show you are excited to see them too!

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As you start the 2nd half of your pregnancy, your baby is getting ready for life outside the womb and can hear noises and voices. When you chat with them, sing to them and respond to their movements you are connecting with them and showing them that you want to communicate with them!

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‘Hi, I’m Becky, an Ofsted registered childminder in Plymouth. Early Years is my passion, I absolutely adore working with little people and watching them grow and flourish. It is such a privilege to be able to work in a close partnership with parents and be a part of a child’s journey, especially those magical formative years, which shape the future of our children.

They say it takes a village to raise a child, and I believe this wholeheartedly. When a parent chooses me to care for their child, I become a part of their village. I am able to support parents with all aspects of their child’s development, not only using my own skills and knowledge as an Early Years professional, but with access to a whole wealth of professionals that can support me, or that I can signpost parents to for extra support at home.

In particular I am passionate about speech and language, there is no greater joy than being able to chat with a toddler; they have the best sense of humour and so much to share.

I love being able to help children learn to understand and use speech, and I recently completed an Elklan Level 1 Speech and Language Accreditation (Let’s Talk With Under 5’s), so that I am better able to support children in my setting.’

If your child attends childcare, you can ask your childminder or key person how they can support your child’s communication development.

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“Together Time” with your child each day can be time set aside to do what interests your child and you can chat with them as you play. This could be looking through a book, playing with toys they like, or chatting about what you both see out of a window in your home. You can ask questions that start with 'I wonder...?' to start an interesting conversation.
Asking questions with no right or wrong answers can lead to great conversations with your child about how you both see the world.

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Chatting about everyday things with your 2 and 3 year old will help them learn new words. When you are playing together use words like ‘bang’ or ‘crash’ and describe what you see them do. It’s also really great when you use words for their feelings to help them learn how to describe their own feelings when they are sad, upset or worried.
Chat about memories and things that are going to happen in the future.
Using a variety of words will introduce them to lots of vocabulary related to their daily life.

Did you know the National Literacy Trust have amazing resources for ideas on talking to your child. Find The Words for Life information here:
Activities | Words for Life

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Babies in their first two years of life will become more and more aware of what happens in their daily life. When you
chat about what you are looking at together, use simple words to explain what you are doing, and chat during daily routines it helps your baby hear the same simple words every day. This sets them up to be able to learn to use those words themselves as they learn to talk.

Did you know we offer PEEP groups where you can learn more about how to support your child’s development at home. If your interested in booking onto a local PEEP course please contact your local family hub. Also have a look at some PEEP ideas here:
helping babies feel good about themselves | www.peeple.org.uk
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Your baby will soon be joining your daily life and will be hearing your voice many weeks before they are due to meet you in person. Chat about what you are doing during the day to include them even before they are born and to get them tuned into the sound of your voice.

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