Toddlers to get talking lessons
| Published: 11th May 2007 15:12 |
In a bid to improve language skills among pre-schoolers, a charity is launching an initiative aimed at teaching toddlers how to talk, according to reports.
Charity Ican is launching the Early Talk programme to bring down the number of children starting primary school without adequate linguistic skills.
Nearly half of all children start school without having reached the expected language skills.
The scheme will be trialled first in around 200 Sure Start children's centres.
Clare Geldard, head of Early Years for the charity, said she was sure there was a "myriad of reasons" for the number of children with language problems.
She told the BBC: "We know that television can be used in a really productive way in terms of watching a piece of television and then having a conversation about it afterwards, but we also know that television doesn't respond well to children.
"It does not give them the interactivity that children and adults instinctively seek from adults."
The Early Talk programme hopes to encourage communication through the use of gestures, symbols and the introduction of a wide range of vocabulary.
