Language and level speech. Plan: Introduction

Language and level speech.
Plan:
Introduction: Best start in speech, language and communication:

1. 
   Definition of speech, language and communication;
   
2. 
   Why does early speech, language and communication matter?
   
3. 
   Levels of speech
   

Foreword

This model pathway provides guidance to local areas to help them meet the speech, language and communication needs of children in the early years. The first years of life are vital in giving every child the best start, with speech, language and communication skills an important indicator of child well-being. These skills shape a child’s ability to learn, develop friendships and their future life chances.

Every child, regardless of circumstance should be able to develop and thrive. There is increasing concern about the numbers of children starting school with poor speech, language and communication skills, with unacceptable differences in outcomes in different areas of the country. Inequalities in early language development are recognisable in the second year of life and have an impact by the time children enter school.
This guidance is part of a wider programme of work to support early child development including the Department for Education’s work to encourage parents to engage in activities that support their child’s early learning – and the modernization of the Healthy Child Programme announced in the Green Paper, Advancing Our Health: prevention in the 2020s.
We welcome the joint publication of this integrated pathway guidance as we continue to work together to support local areas to drive system change; integrate local services across education, health and social care; and empower parents to improve early language outcomes and child well-being.
The ability to communicate is fundamental to all of us. It is a set of skills that starts early in life and continues across the life course. Whilst we each develop at a different pace, there are key milestones in speech, language and communication (SLC) development.
When these are not reached, they indicate that additional support may need to be offered to a young child and their carers. Too many of our children do not get this
support early enough, leading them to start school with speech, language and
communication levels behind that of other children. Approximately 10% of all children have long-term speech, language and communication needs (SLCN)(2). In some areas of deprivation, more than 50% of children start school with SLCN(3). Meeting the needs of children, and reducing inequality, requires a system-wide approach as currently needs are frequently unidentified(4).
The increased awareness of the importance of early language has led to national and local initiatives to ensure that every child is supported to achieve their potential.
The Department for Education (DfE) early years social mobility programme works through 3 domains (the home, local services and early years settings) to improve child outcomes, with a particular focus on early language. The DfE ambition is to provide equality of opportunity for every child, regardless of background or where they live. Good early years education is the cornerstone of social mobility(5), in addition, evidence tells us that what happens at home in children’s earliest years, before they start school, has an important influence on later outcomes.
DfE and PHE in partnership, developed a programme of work to reduce inequalities in early speech, language and communication. Alongside the development of this pathway guidance the programme also included:
• training for over 1,000 health visitors to identify speech, language and
communication needs ;
• the development of an early language identification measure;

DfE, working with partners across Government and locally, is funding over 400 projects in 138 local authorities as part of this programme including 51 local authorities who are receiving the professional development programme for early years practitioners.

Further details of the overall programme, individual initiatives and where they are located can be found here.The logic model in Figure 1 provides an overview of the resources, inputs and activities required to achieve the ambition to improve early language outcomes. It can be adapted by local areas to fit their context and inform their strategic planning and delivery (refer to Appendix B for a blank logic model template). This guidance document includes a: