Nursery World - Parents urged to talk to their babies

Talk To Your Baby, a National Literacy Trust (NLT) campaign to encourage parents and carers to communicate with children from birth, held its first conference in London last week. Representatives of leading early years organisations, including the NSPCC, Sure Start, I CAN, the Early Years Library Network and Coram Family, gathered to discuss the campaign.

Representatives of leading early years organisations, including the NSPCC, Sure Start, I CAN, the Early Years Library Network and Coram Family, gathered to discuss the campaign.

Speaking at the conference Kamini Gadhok, professional director of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, commented on many parents'

reluctance to talk to their babies. 'There must be a societal and cultural shift to ensure that children become more valued and communication between parents and children is encouraged,' she said.

NLT director Neil McClelland also pointed to the need for a change in society to ensure that children receive a language-rich start in life. He said, 'I'm incredibly excited about Talk To Your Baby. What we can achieve through the campaign is phenomenal, but we need to work with other early years organisations to get the message across.'

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included