The free resource, launched in January 2020 by I CAN, The Communication Trust and Creative Futures, aims to highlight some of the commonalities between music practice and speech, language and communication practice. It contains practical tips, strategies and real-life examples based on an action research project and CPD course run by Creative Futures in schools since 2015.
Included is information on the typical development of speech, language and communication skills in children, suggestions for supporting children’s musical identity, and video examples of practitioners supporting and nurturing children’s music making and development.
Following feedback from early years practitioners, four new videos have been added to the website, demonstrating new ways of encouraging musical exploration in early years settings, and how children’s communication and interaction can be encouraged through the medium of music.
Another update to the website is the downloadable PDF on Sound Stone Stories for using music within the context of a story, which contains an example of a sound stone story created by Kate Comberti, Creative Producer at Creative Futures, as well as some tips for how practitioners can create their own Sound Stone stories.
Also included in the July launch is a webpage on supporting children learning English as an additional language.
Amy Loxley, speech and language advisor, I CAN, said, ‘This online resource has allowed us to reach a much larger number of early years professionals around the UK and equip them with tools and approaches to support all children, including those with speech, language and communication needs.
'We hope that the new additions to the site will enable even more early years practitioners to try out new approaches to support children’s musical abilities and their communication skills at the same time.’
Julian Knight, creative director of Creative Futures, said, ‘Sound Communities is delivered by working with groups of early educators in numerous locations, forming networks which reflect and explore together on aspects of music and early childhood development. The project grew from an earlier Creative Futures initiative called "Music for Change", which included a two-year collaboration between our experienced early years music specialists and NHS speech and language therapists.
'Learning from that project has supported the structure and content of Sound Communities which has now involved more than 65 early educators and over 1,000 children. We hope that this resource will encourage early educators across the country to embed more music and musical play, into their practices in order to support their children’s development.’
- To access the Sound Communities resource, visit https://soundcommunities.org.uk/
