The training, ‘Strategies to support children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) at nursery’, has been developed by community interest company Twinkleboost and will be delivered by Caspian Jamie, a speech and language therapist.
The one-off hour-long session will take place on 24 April at Manchester Metropolitan University, and is open to 150 nursery staff.
It is in response to findings from a Communication Trust workforce survey last month that found a lack of initial training in supporting SLCN.
The training session will cover ‘simple’ strategies and games nursery staff can use to support the children they care for.
All nurseries in the Greater Manchester area are invited, with up to four staff from each nursery welcome. Places will be awarded on a first come, first served basis.
Created in 2015, Twinkleboost is a not-for-profit organisation that provides speech and language support to families, schools and nurseries through multi-sensory classes led by speech and language therapy assistants. Since it was founded, Twinkleboost has supported more than 1,000 children and their families each year.
Hannah Broughton, founder of Twinkleboost (pictured), said speech, language and communication needs are not unusual in young children, but often the staff working with them have received a limited amount of specialist training to help to support problems when they arise. Many nurseries cite a lack of funding as a reason behind this.
‘By offering free training to nursery staff from the Manchester area, we hope to overcome this hurdle, giving staff new skills and improving the children’s support, too.’
- To book a place on the training e-mail victoria@twinkleboost.com
