Every Child A Talker (ECAT)
Sticky Fingers Pre-School was selected to be a part of the ECAT programme in June 2010. We have continued to use this approach to aid children with language and communication. The programme is a national initiative designed to promote speech, language and communication skills in children. ECAT is designed to improve the skills and expertise of early year’s practitioners in the setting and aims to increase practitioner’s knowledge and understanding of the development of early language. This, along with a communication and language rich environment, leads to an enjoyable learning experience for the children and learning language through a variety of activities. Language and communication is a major part of the curriculum and infringes upon all else. Without communication (verbal or non verbal) we cannot tell how a child feels, what they need, communication is all about self esteem and giving the child the tools they need to express themselves and feel good about themselves. The project has a speech and language expert on board and an Early Years Advisor.
Since the programme started staff have increased their knowledge and attended speech and language courses. We have lots of language and literacy activities, have story sacks that can be borrowed by parents and carers, ensure children are spoken to at their level, at their developmental ability and ensure a language rich environment at all times.
A new website has just opened – you can find news etc. on www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/ask8/ask8_early_years_ecat_home.cfm.
Another very useful website for speech and language queries is www.ican.org.uk – the website contains advice, activity ideas etc. on every kind of speech and language concern.
Sticky Fingers Pre-School was selected to be a part of the ECAT programme in June 2010. We have continued to use this approach to aid children with language and communication. The programme is a national initiative designed to promote speech, language and communication skills in children. ECAT is designed to improve the skills and expertise of early year’s practitioners in the setting and aims to increase practitioner’s knowledge and understanding of the development of early language. This, along with a communication and language rich environment, leads to an enjoyable learning experience for the children and learning language through a variety of activities. Language and communication is a major part of the curriculum and infringes upon all else. Without communication (verbal or non verbal) we cannot tell how a child feels, what they need, communication is all about self esteem and giving the child the tools they need to express themselves and feel good about themselves. The project has a speech and language expert on board and an Early Years Advisor.
Since the programme started staff have increased their knowledge and attended speech and language courses. We have lots of language and literacy activities, have story sacks that can be borrowed by parents and carers, ensure children are spoken to at their level, at their developmental ability and ensure a language rich environment at all times.
A new website has just opened – you can find news etc. on www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/ask8/ask8_early_years_ecat_home.cfm.
Another very useful website for speech and language queries is www.ican.org.uk – the website contains advice, activity ideas etc. on every kind of speech and language concern.