A speech and language programme, devised under a Sure Start project, is gaining in popularity and has plans for expansion as concerns about language delay in young children continue to grow.
BLAST - Boosting Language, Auditory Skills and Talking - is a six-week course aimed at enhancing the language and communication skills of three- and four-year-olds by focusing on vocabulary and pre-linguistic skills such as attention, memory, listening and speech sound awareness.
It was designed by Middlesbrough speech and language therapist Nikki Joyce in response to the high level (50 per cent) of four-year-olds entering local schools with a measurable speech and language delay.
The programme is now used by all early years providers in Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton and has been taken up by large numbers of settings, principally in South Tyneside, Rochdale and Plymouth. In total, over 900 early years providers and toddler groups have used it with some 100,000 children.
The six-week programme takes place daily, with the same group of six to eight children involved in each session, typically lasting 15 minutes. Key features are structure, repetition and reinforcement, with each session having the same format, the same 'hello' and 'goodbye' songs, and a weekly story and listening activities.
Teacher and parent leaflets are provided, with parent information suggesting ways that parents can support their child and encouraging them to share the stories and songs with their children at home. Settings wanting to deliver the programme receive one day's training.
Sure Start involvement with the programme has now ended, but Nikki is making it commercially available and is planning to devise similar courses for both younger and older children.
Structure benefits
While aware of the controversy that surrounds using structured activities with pre-school children, Nikki feels that it is BLAST's structured approach that makes it effective.
'Research shows that young children with speech and language difficulties respond well to structure within a small group,' she says. 'Because the programme is structured, the children don't have to concentrate on what to do next; they can concentrate instead on the content. We've seen some remarkable improvements in children's language.'
Another strength, she believes, is that it is suitable for all children. 'More and more children are arriving at nursery with severe language delay, but BLAST works on whatever level the child is at. Every child succeeds with every activity, it is very positive and every child is motivated by it.'
It has also proved to be particularly effective, she says, with children who have English as an additional language and has been adapted for use with children with special educational needs.
Elspeth Moir, nursery teacher at Captain Cook Primary School in Middlesbrough, says, 'We find BLAST very supportive for children with a range of difficulties, who perhaps have listening or communication difficulties or problems with turn-taking.'
She feels that the individual attention, quiet environment and predictable format all contribute to the effectiveness of the programme. 'The children feel relaxed and very familiar with it and they enjoy doing it.'
A boost for all
BLAST now forms part of the preventative arm for Plymouth's communications strategy for early years. First offered in non-maintained early years settings, it is now rolling out into the maintained sector.
'We were overwhelmed with referrals,' says Dr Gaye Powell, head of speech and language therapy, NHS Plymouth. 'Many children had problems with attention and listening, rather than pure communication difficulties, so we decided to buy in BLAST as part of a joint project with our early years team.'
Dr Powell feels the programme provides a 'boost' for all children with limited language and helps tackle the underlying attention and listening problems of those who may still need to be referred to her team.
NHS Plymouth is funding a more formal evaluation of the programme next year, as part of an MSc at Sheffield University. 'We are delighted with the results,' says Dr Powell. 'Foundation Stage teachers report that they are able to tell which children have come from settings that have used BLAST because the children's attention and listening skills are better than those from settings that haven't used it. It's also reducing the need for specialist time to work on listening and attention skills as a prerequisite to therapy.'
Early years consulant and child psychologist Jennie Lindon welcomes the Plymouth finding that staff, too, are benefiting from the programme. However, she cautions against any over-reliance on 'language sessions'.
'Where children are arriving in large numbers at nursery with limited vocabulary and conversational ability, this type of programme may be essential to establish basic language skills. But it important that practitioners understand that, in the normal pattern of development, young children learn through spontaneous conversation with familiar adults - talking and listening throughout a day. There is a danger if adults see communication as yet another structured activity and don't do anything to chat generally with the children.'
MORE INFORMATION
BLAST programme, e-mail: info@blastprogramme.co.uk, or visit www.blastprogramme.co.uk.
