Maybe you have no concerns about your child’s communication skills development but you would like them to benefit from some groups to optimise the skills they already have and to prepare them for when they start school or nursery. A range of pre-school groups are available covering the 0-5 year age range and focus on developing:

• confidence
• expression and understanding skills

• turntaking, listening and attention skills

Current groups that are available:

Baby Babble 0-12 months,
Baby & Toddler signing 7-30 months,
First Words 1-2 years
Talking Toddlers 2-3 years
Chatterbox 3-4 years
Sounds Fun 3½-5 years

Who are these programmes for?

These pre-school communication groups are suitable for all pre-school children aged 0-5 years. They have not been developed for children with delayed development and are aimed at supporting young children to become confident communicators and maximising their learning potentials.

The groups are fun and interactive, focussing on the promotion of skills such as listening, attention, concentration, turn-taking, vocabulary development, as well as expression and understanding of language. They are also very effective in building children’s social skills and confidence. Each group is developmentally structured and includes singing, listening and lots of fun activities and games that involve turn-taking. Sign language is used and encouraged throughout to complement spoken language.

The more advanced group ‘Sounds Fun’ focuses on developing children’s pre-reading skills such as phonological awareness e.g. rhyme, rhythm, auditory discrimination, memory, sequencing, phonic knowledge etc, and is designed to give children a head-start in learning and literacy development for when they commence school.

If you have concerns about your child’s skills but you would like them to attend one of these groups, please feel free to contact Jessica to discuss their suitability. Alternatively if you feel your child would benefit more from individual support, have a look at the section ‘Individual Speech & Language Therapy’.

All of these groups are run by Jessica Guerin, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist. In order to be effective no more than 8 children and their parents are accepted onto the majority of the programmes at any one time. A waiting list is in operation for these groups and if you register your interest you will be notified of forthcoming groups. If you are unsure about which group to register your child on please feel free to contact the Therapist.

When and where are these groups held?

Little Learners programmes are being run in a number of Children’s Centres in South Staffordshire. Sessions run for 40 minutes and run on a termly basis, following the academic year. To find your nearest centre where these programmes are being delivered, please contact Jessica using this online enquiry form.