This document provides an overview of an online training on supporting communication and language development. It includes: - An outline of the course units which will cover what communication and language are, how to develop them, creating an enabling environment, and communication difficulties. - A section defining communication, speech, and language, explaining that communication involves sending and receiving messages through spoken, written, or signed language and non-verbal means. - An explanation of typical language development from birth to age 5, including the stages of comprehending language, producing first words, combining words, and understanding social rules of communication. - The importance of early language skills which predict later literacy and academic achievement.

1. I CAN Early Talk Training- online
Supporting Communication
and Language 2020
Jessica Page
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2. Welcome and Introductions
Quick review of the GOAL
activity
• Give: What are you bringing to
the training (experience,
desire to learn more, etc)?
• Outcomes: What do you want
to achieve at the end of this
programme of learning?
• Anxieties: What are you
concerned about?
• Looking forward: What are
you looking forward to taking
away from the training?

3. • Unit 1. What is communication and language?
• Unit 2. What you can do to develop communication
and language
• Unit 3. Creating a communication-enabling
environment
• Unit 4. What are communication difficulties: Who can
help?
Course outline
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4. What is communication and
language?
In this unit, we will:
• Explore what we mean by
communication and language
• Consider why communication and
language are so important
• Look at how communication and
language develop from birth to 5
years
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5. What is Communication?
Let’s get started………
You have all had a think about ways or examples of
communication in preparation for this first unit. What
ideas did you note down?
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6. How do we communicate ?
Communication is:
• talking, waiting, eye contact, body language/non verbal,
turn taking, grammar, speech sounds, listening,… etc
etc…
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7. Speech, language and
communication

8. What is speech, language and
communication?
We can sum up all of this with three key terms:
• Speech: the sounds made in the mouth to form spoken words
• Language: the system of using abstract symbols (such as sounds
and words) to convey and receive meaning
Language might include:
o understanding (receptive language)
o talking, writing or signing (expressive language)
Our language knowledge includes words, the parts of words that
change things like ‘book’ into ‘books’ or ‘walk’ into ‘walked’ and the
rules for how these are put together to make sentences.
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9. What is speech, language
and communication?
Communication: sending or receiving messages with others.
It could include spoken, written or signed language, non-verbal
sounds, gestures or alternative systems such as pictures and
symbols
Communication also includes things like intonation, turn
taking and eye contact.
Using these different types and styles of communication
appropriately is often called social communication or
pragmatics.
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10. Communication chain
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11. Why it matters!
• a means of sharing our feelings and emotions with others
• a tool for giving and receiving information
• a tool that helps us with thinking and reasoning.
Communication plays a central role in all our lives.
It provides us with:
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12. • Communication is the fundamental life skill for all children. It is
essential to helping them learn, achieve, make friends and enjoy
life
• In the Early Years, language at age 2 predicts reading, maths and
writing when children start school
• Language skills at age 5 are the most important factor in reaching
expected levels in English and maths at age 7
• Early language is the single most important factor influencing
literacy at age 11
• Language ability at ages 3 and 4 predicts reading comprehension
through secondary school
• Vocabulary at age 5 is a strong predictor of qualifications achieved
at school leaving age and beyond.
Language in the Early Years
matters: research
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13. Typical language
development
Babies start to learn language before they are born.
During the first year before saying their first words a baby
needs to:
• have a need to communicate with others
• hear language being used around them
• learn that the language they hear means something
• be able to make the sounds that eventually they will use
to form words
• pick out the differences between sounds they hear
in the language around them.
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14. The next step
The next step in language development requires building up
words by:
• understanding words have meaning
• saying the first word
• linking two or more words together
• putting words together in the right order
• understanding and using the social rules of
communication.
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15. Building on Practice 1:
Ages & Stages of development
• Arrange the case studies in developmental order,
using the ‘Ages & Stages’ chart to work out each
child’s age.Give reasons for your answers.
• Bring your answers to Unit 2 for discussion.
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16. Questions?
See you tomorrow for Unit 2!
Add tutor contact details
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