A NEW programme to help boost children’s language development in schools is set to begin in the region next month.

Speech and language therapists at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust are now able to offer the training schools need so they can deliver Talk Boost to their children.

Talk Boost is a catch up programme, developed by the children's communication charity I CAN and The Communication Trust, which has been shown to produce great results in schools.

Research has shown that Talk Boost can boost children’s communication by up to 18 months.

The programme can be used with groups of children in reception, year one or year two once the teacher and teaching assistant have been trained. Clinical lead speech and language therapist Kate Cummings said: “The programme aims to support children if their language skills are below the average for their age and helps to bring them up to the same level as other children.”

“Each session includes activities that cover the key elements of language, including attention and listening, vocabulary, building sentences, telling stories and conversation. We think teachers and teaching assistants will love the resources, and all of the sessions are planned out ready to use with the children.

“It’s a fantastic programme and encourages parents and carers to support the language activities through a family workbook which the children take home.”

For more information visit nth.nhs.uk/trainingslt/talkboost