63 Early Years practitioners embarked on Speech and Language Support for Under 5s led by Elaine Cragg, a highly experienced Elklan tutor and highly specialist Speech and Language Therapist (SaLT). This blog tells the story of their success and the evidence they have produced to support their findings. 

The tutors were keen to discover the impact on actual children and so each participant was asked to provide a case study, here are a few snapshots reflecting the voice of the child:

'Elklan Training has had a big impact on all of the children in the setting. One child is beginning to use his speech. He is now starting to repeat sounds. I used some activities from the Language Builders book he now gives eye contact when he approaches you'.

'When working with a child who has English as an additional language (EAL) I have learnt stratagems to help him understand and use words like holding the object you want him to say near your mouth and repeating the word, but most importantly giving him time to listen to what you said.'

Children are better understood and managed by practitioners:

'In a group situation one child did not answer and was very quiet. I thought she lacked understanding but actually it was how I set  my level of questioning, it was too high. Over a period of weeks her confidence has grown and takes part in group work more now. Her vocabulary and attention have extended.'

Practitioners have been given confidence to support other colleagues and parents within their setting thus reducing the pressure on the high demand and expensive SaLT service:

'I was able to support a practitioner who had some concerns about a child's speech which was unclear but we determined that only two sounds fall outside the developmental stage. Having used stratagems which she shared with the parents my colleague feels more confident and understands the child better. he appears less frustrated and is speaking in group activities.'

'Since starting the Elklan course I had the confidence to tell the parents who had concerns about their child's speech that there was nothing to worry about and more importantly I now know  why there should be no concerns'. 

Parents have noticed changes too...

'It has made me adapt how I communicate with C. His parents are delighted by how much more articulate he has become. His concentration has increased which has made play and learning more fun for him.'

'Her mum identified her daughter was still using a dummy and still drinking from a bottle. She was shocked that this could be impacting on her daughter's speech. She was shocked that this could be impacting on her daughter's speech. There have now been changes and there has been a positive change in the pronunciation of sounds.'