Latest News

 

The Communication Trust's school's conference - Cracking communication

Save the date! On Wednesday 28th March 2012 The Communication Trust's 'Cracking communication' conference will be an informative and innovative event offering support to schools to prepare for changes to the Ofsted and National Curriculum frameworks with regard to speech, language and communication.

Please click on the School's Conference tab on the left hand side for more information.

 

Voice for Life events

Following on from the National Year of Communication, 2012 proves to be just as exciting with new events and new information guides for parents.

Afasic England, in association The Communication Trust, is running three free events, bringing together parents, professionals and children with speech, language and communication needs. These will include seminars, workshops, exhibitions and fun activities for pupils with SLCN.

Many of the workshops are being run by members of the Trust's Communication Consortium. With over thirty workshops per event to choose from, including one-to-one advice sessions available throughout the day, these events will provide information as well as a chance to talk to local providers, professionals and other parents.

The events will take place in...
The Rose Bowl, Southampton on Thursday 8th March 2012
Leicester University on Thursday 15th March 2012
Durham University at Stockton on Tees on 22nd March 2012

For further details and to book please click here.

 

 

Changes are coming...

Now the National Year of Communication is over we're busy evaluating the campaign and will publish a report at the end of March 2012. At the same time we'll be looking at ways to carry forward the great work that happened last year.

In the meantime we'll be updating the Hello website. All the information you regularly use - the resources, the latest news and the Your Stories section will all stay on the site. However, you'll be able to find out even more about the work of The Communication Trust and the latest resources we have developed.

So please watch this space for new updates and don't worry if the website starts to look a little different.

Two Years On

The final report of the Communication Champion for children, Jean Gross CBE is now available.

The reflections in Two Years On: final report of the Communication Champion for children are based on findings from an extensive programme of meetings with local commissioners and service providers across England, undertaken between January 2010 and December 2011. Jean Gross has met with 105 out of the 152 local authority / NHS Primary Care Trust pairings in England.

To download the report, please click here.

Jean Gross has made 30 recommendations to Government, local authorities, the voluntary sector and schools on the future of speech, language and communication services for children. The press release can be downloaded here.

The Communication Trust's response to Two Years On is available here.

If you have any queries on this, please email Laura Smith on lsmith@thecommunicationtrust.org.uk

 

 

Talk of the Town update

Talk of the Town (TOTT) is a project designed to support children's speech, language and communication development from 0-19 within a Federation of Schools in Wythenshawe, South Manchester. TOTT is a community wide approach to the early identification of speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) which began in May 2011. It is funded by the Department of Education until March 2012 but plans are already afoot to embed the project into school plans for at least 15 years. TOTT aims to embed a continuum of effective support for children and young people with SLCN so that every child and young person has the opportunity to fulfil their full potential.

The project involves a multitude of agencies and organisations. Fundamental to the success of the project are the staff and leadership team of the three Federation schools, The Communication Trust and the consortium. But the project also works collaboratively with the local speech and language therapy (SLT) department, specialist consultants, independent SLTs, the police, charities, early years services and most importantly children, young people and their families.

Please click here to read a newsletter to find out about the work delivered so far and find out what we have in store for the rest of the academic year.

 

 

Communication Champion receives New Year Honour

Jean Gross, the Government's Communication Champion for children, has received a CBE for services to education in the New Year Honours List. Jean has worked with The Communication Trust on the Hello campaign, the 2011 national year of communication, and we are delighted by the news of her honour. Read our full response here.

 

Holding out for our Hello Heroes

A group of 90 Hello Heroes were invited to a special event at BT Tower to celebrate the end of the national year of communication, run in partnership with Jean Gross, the Government's Communication Champion. To find out more about their special day, hosted by campaign sponsors BT, click here.

 

Speech, language and communication primed to become key part of National Curriculum from 2014

The Communication Trust has today (20th December 2011) welcomed the focus on speech, language and communication in The Framework for the National Curriculum report. Compiled by the Expert Panel for the National Curriculum review, the report has officially called for speech, language and communication to form part of the curriculum for all subjects from September 2014 right through compulsory schooling, rather than being focused in the National Curriculum for English.

The report specifically refers to a resource developed by The Communication Trust and Pearson Assessment - Universally Speaking - a set of three booklets that outline the ages and stages of children's communication from birth to 18-years-old.

To view the release, click here.

 

We've come a long way....

It's only been a year since The Communication Trust launched its Hello campaign to coincide with the 2011 national year of communication, but what a lot of things have happened.

Each month has had a different theme, looking at all the aspects of speech, language and communication, from recruiting 102 community leaders in January, to the record-breaking Chatterbox Challenge in February and Talk to your Baby in March.

Now, for the first time, the whole Hello journey has been collected into one document, to allow us to showcase the great work people have done across the country. You can view the document by clicking here. It features a month-by-month account of the Hello themes and includes information about the Shine a Light Awards and resources available.

We may have come a long way, but we still feel there is more we - and you - can do. Please continue to send us your stories about events you've hosted, how you've used resources and the coverage on Hello in your local media. Tell us what your experiences have been of the Hello campaign and how you feel it has improved life for the children around you.

Over the next couple of months, we will be looking at ways to go forward from Hello and what its legacy is going to be in the coming months and years. So continue sending us your feedback. You can do this by emailing enquiries@thecommunicationtrust.org.uk or visiting our 'Your Stories' section.

Communication consortium comments on Year 1 Phonics Screening

A controversial phonics screening test - aimed at Year One children - could soon be rolled out to schools across the country. However, the Government believes two-thirds of children are likely to fail the screening because of teaching methods. The Communication Trust has raised concerns this test may be detrimental to children with speech, language and communication needs. Its statement is available here.

 

Celebrate Good Times

Hello has launched Celebrate Good Times - a downloadable toolkit with information and activities that will help you celebrate communication milestones big and small. It includes activities on how to celebrate the special moments in your child's life, ideas for holding a mini-awards ceremony and advice on celebrating different cultures and languages.

Partners from across the country, including Leicestershire County Council, the Makaton charity, London SIG Bilingualism, Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust and Speech and Language Therapy Service and Plymouth City Council have kindly provided activities and advice as part of their support of Hello.

Please click here to download the Celebrate Good Times toolkit.

Celebrating communication - whatever your language

November is the month in the Hello campaign where we celebrate our ability to communicate, and it is an excellent opportunity to celebrate the huge diversity of language and cultures in the UK today.

For many children, English is an additional language. Research has shown it can take about two years for a child to develop enough of an additional language for communication and social interaction and up to six to fully master the language needed for school learning. It also means that if they struggle to communicate in their home language, it is likely they will struggle with their additional language too.

The Communication Trust has teamed up with London SIG Bilingualism to create a factsheet of advice and useful websites to help your child develop their communication skills whatever their language. Over November, more information, fact sheets and expert opinions are being added to Talking Point www.talkingpoint.org.uk

Watch this space!

For more information about London SIG Bilingualism visit their website http://londonsigbilingualism.co.uk/

 

 

Early Language Development Programme announcement

The Communication Trust, a 40-strong coalition of voluntary organisations with expertise in speech, language and communication, today welcomed the announcement that I CAN will be leading the Early Language Development Programme (ELDP) contract along with several other Trust members. However, it suggested the programme needed to go further to ensure all children's needs were being met.

Read the full press release here.

Charity supporters praised for successful campaign

Supporters of the Hello campaign were delighted to receive praise from high-ranking politicians when they attended The Communication Trust's Parliamentary event.

Children and Families Minister Sarah Teather MP told the gathering of more than 200 people how she's been pushing to make speech, language and communication needs a core policy. She said: "An enormous amount has been achieved by people in this room, laying the building blocks for work we can do in future."

The star performer of the day was 18-year-old Ben Morfey. Ben has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and cannot speak, but gave a presentation to demonstrate the electronic communication aid which he uses to speak.

The event, which took place on 19th October, was sponsored by Annette Brooke MP who is a keen advocate of the issue. She said: "I was excited by what would happen during the year and the Hello campaign has been an amazing success. So many children were missing out on achieving their full potential in life for a host of reasons. We are here to highlight and celebrate the amazing work that has gone on and I would like to congratulate all the people involved in that."

Communication Champion Jean Gross also spoke at the event, describing all the wonderful events she's been to around the country and paying tribute to The Communication Trust, and its consortium members, for doing so much to raise the profile of the issue.

A full account of the event will appear soon on our blog.

Please follow the links below to download the materials from the delegate pack:
- Welcome letter
- Timetable
- Speaker biographies
- Press release
- Other Ways of Speaking booklet

Parents learn to help children with complex needs

The Calderdale Parent and Carers Council is delighted by the success of the first part of its workshop - Helping Your Child Communicate.

Nineteen parents attended the course, which took place earlier this month, and gave the group some fantastic feedback.

Comments included: "It has given me more confidence in my field of work, as a group support worker with pre-school children with complex needs",  "I learned lots of things to use to help me with my youngest child" and " It gave me plenty of ideas on how to better communicate with my child".

The course was run in partnership with ACE Centre North and the local Calderdale Speech and Language Therapy Department. It was a full-day course and gave parents the chance to learn how to communicate with a child who has complex needs and the essential building blocks for supporting them and their child. They were also given top tips to use every day and shown how to create their own resources.

The second part of the workshop will take place in February 2012.
For more information visit their website http://parents-and-carers.org.uk/

 

October's theme: It's not just words

October's Hello theme is 'Not just words' timed to co-incide with International Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) month with next week's Parliamentary Reception forming the milestone event of the month.

Highlights this month include:

Communication Matters, who are publicising a number of events and activities taking place in support of October's theme including the launch of iMuse - a new programme to enable museums to encourage participation by people with AAC and highlighting case studies of AAC users. This month, the winners of the 'I'll be asking the questions' initiative are being announced. AAC users were challenged to devise 10 questions to present to somebody famous with the prize for the best questions being an opportunity to interview a well-known person. www.communicationmatters.org.uk

The airing of the 100th episode of Something Special - a CBeebies TV Programme, supported by the Makaton Charity, where Mr Tumble applies signing to a variety of places and situations. Makaton also have available a new article on the importance of this months theme and free downloads to make the most of autumn activities.

There's a new free factsheet from Signalong has been made available here in support of the October theme - this is something they have kindly done every month to support the different Hello topics.

Read all about an interesting story from Meru on the history of communication aids and their organisation dating back to 1976. This is in our Your Stories section, please click here to view.

Hello is also shouting about Other Ways of Speaking - a booklet with information on the variety of different ways children and young people communicate, how you can help support them and where to go for further information. Developed by The Communication Trust with Communication Matters, 1Voice, ACE Centre, ACE Centre North, The Makaton Charity, Signalong and Scope, this booklet is a must read if you live or work with children and young people whose speech is difficult to understand or who have no speech.

Click here to order or download copies.

 

Thousands of pupils put down their pens

On Wednesday 28th September, thousands of pupils put down their pens to focus on speaking and listening by taking part in No Pens Day Wednesday - a unique educational event for the Hello campaign.

Nearly 700 schools have signed up to take part either on 28th September or in the coming months. This breaks down as nearly 500 primary schools, 100 secondary schools and 50 special schools as well as a hospital school, pupil referral unit and even a school over in Indonesia.

In total, 250,000 pupils are set to benefit from an explicit and structured focus on speaking and listening. Over the day teachers and school staff will use lesson plans and activity templates developed by specialist teachers and speech and language therapists to conduct their lessons without pens.

Classroom activities include podcasting, maths games, debating, vocabulary games and 'talk' homework, all designed to highlight the importance of language for learning to pupils, parents, carers and school staff.  

At one school in Newark (Nottinghamshire), the entire school attend an assembly where an alien invasion took place (complete with an alien-dressed teacher). The aliens stole all the pens from humans because 'we write too much'. The day included a treasure hunt of activity challenges ending in the aliens giving the pens back at the end of the day.

 

September's 'Back to School' launch

The September edition of The Times Educational Supplement (TES) includes a special 8 page Hello supplement. Co-funded by BT and the Communication Champion, Jean Gross, the supplement features a number of schools that have developed effective strategies to develop their pupils' speech, language and communication skills.

To view the online version of the supplement please click here.

Bank holiday conversations

Hello partner for August, FINK has created an 8 page activity booklet with ideas for days out and questions to get conversations going with your children. Our Hello expert Alison Marrs has created 10 top tips on asking questions, please click here to download.

Fink has been running a month-long calendar of activities in support of August's 'Talk and Go' theme. In addition to the free activity and conversation booklet, there are tips and expert blogs from the likes of parenting expert Sue Atkins. This and much more is available from www.finkcards.co.uk/resources/blog

 

 

Talk and Go

Hello has launched Summer Talk - a downloadable pack with games and activities that support families to encourage children's communication skills when they are out and about this Summer.

Summer Talk includes fun and 'easy to do' activities for trips to the zoo, park and museum. It also contains games and challenges to keep kids entertained on car journeys and at home.

Partners from across the country, including Hello sponsor BT, Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust, Signalong and Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust and Children's Speech and Language Therapy team, have provided the activities as part of their support of Hello.

One partner, Fink, has created a month-long calendar of activities in support of the Hello August theme of 'Talk and Go'. This includes a free activity and conversation booklet for the summer holidays, tips and expert blogs from the likes of parenting expert Sue Atkins all available from www.finkcards.co.uk/resources/blog  

Please click here to download Summer Talk.

 

 

Get your 'talk' fitness tested now with Talk Gym

July's Hello theme is 'Skills for Work, Skills for Life' aimed at young people. This month's milestone is the launch of Talk Gym, a new resource from BT, to help young people aged 14-19 to develop their communication skills. Talk Gym is available at www.bt.com/talkgym and is also beneficial for parents and teachers.

The free resource can help build verbal communication skills, so young people can express themselves more effectively.  Talk Gym includes a innovative Facebook application to help young people check their 'talk fitness available at http://apps.facebook.com/talkgym

The app assess an individual's communication ability and then highlights why communication skills are so important and gives tips  on being clear, listening, talking in groups and being interviewed. It has been developed as part of BT's sponsorship of the Hello campaign and is backed by Communication Champion, Jean Gross.

To read the full press release please click here.

You can download Teachers Notes and Talk Gym tutorial here. 

Hello has also developed a quick advice guide on using Talk Gym in the classroom here.

 

'One in a Million'

To help highlight the challenges experienced by children with speech, language and communication needs, the Hello campaign has launched a new short film, below. The theme for June is 'Imagine life for those who struggle' and the film will help you do this.

 

 

 

Produced with support from Pearson Assessment, the film is narrated by Ben Macleod, a 21 year old actor who developed severe communication needs at a young age.

'One in a Million' explains how learning to communicate is one of the most important things a child will ever do and how children can struggle immensely unless they are supported by adults to develop strong talking and listening skills.

The film highlights that as many as one million children and young people have hidden long term and persistent speech, language and communication needs. It also makes clear what both parents and professionals, such as teachers and health workers, can do to help children by taking part in the Hello campaign.

The film was produced by Tentacle Media.