Give Your Child the Gift of Confident Communication

Talking Tips for Kids is a new website and free App that gives parents innovative new tools to help their child get a head start in the communication stakes.

peech and Language Therapist Fiona Barry has used her wealth of experience to develop a series of short films that use simple ‘parent-child interaction strategies’ to show parents how even small changes can help their child become happier, chattier and more confident.

Parents are the key to unlocking children’s communication skills and the good news is that it’s never too early or too late to start. Evidence shows that what parents do at home with their children is more important to language development than class, ethnicity, education or wealth (1)

Children with strong speaking and listening skills are more likely to make friends easily, do well at school, stay out of trouble and thrive in the workplace as adults. In fact a child’s vocabulary at the age of five is a strong indicator of future qualifications and achievements (2)

A recent Parliamentary review into services for children with communication difficulties – The Bercow Report – described the ability to communicate as ‘an essential life skill for all children and young people in the twenty-first century.’(3) But in some areas of the UK as many as 50% of children start their school career without adequate language skills.

With films spanning the pre-natal to five-years age range, as well as films tailored specially for Dads and even Grandparents, Talking Tips For Kids has something for every young family. There’s even a film exploring how the use of dummies can affect a child’s speech. Priced at £2.99 each, the films are directly downloadable from the website Talking Tips For Kids or can be purchased individually through the free app!

You can watch the selection of free films here.

www.talkingtipsforkids.com

References
1. Sylva, K. et al (2003) The Effective Provision of Preschool Education (EPPE) Project, DfE, http://eppe.ioe.ac.uk/eppe/eppefindings.htm
2. Law, J. et al (2010) Modelling developmental language difficulties from school entry into adulthood. Journal of speech, language and hearing research, 52 http://jslhr.asha.org/cgi/content/short/52/6/1401
3. Bercow, J. (2008) DCSF http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/8405/1/7771-dcsf-bercow.pdf