Queen’s speech 2021

It’s a significant step that children are mentioned in the Queen’s speech to the Houses of Parliament:

“Measures will be brought forward to ensure that children have the best start in life, prioritising their early years. My Ministers will address lost learning during the pandemic and ensure every child has a high quality education and is able to fulfil their potential.”

We welcome this significant commitment from the Government set out in today’s Queen’s speech. We have more evidence than any other generation that investment in the earliest years of life is the smartest of all investments – this is not hypothetical. There is no time to waste, our youngest citizens have been overlooked for too long. We look forward to working with the Government to strengthen the health visiting service which forms an important part of the solution which will be crucial to ensure that every child really does fulfil their potential.

Read Her Majesty's full speech transcript

PHE launch new toolkit to identify very young children with SLC problems

Health visitors across England are to be trained to use a toolkit which can identify very young children with speech, language and communication problems. They will use a simple word list and child observation – known as the Early Language Identification Measure (ELIM) – during routine home visits when children are aged between two and two-and-a-half years.

Research shows the ELIM can identify 94% of toddlers with early language needs. Numerous research studies have shown that children with delayed language development do worse at school and have poorer outcomes later in life. It can also signal other developmental conditions such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The Early Language Identification Measure (ELIM) and intervention was successfully piloted in five areas – Derbyshire, Middlesbrough, Newham, Wakefield and Wiltshire – and will help make sure that families who need more help are identified and supported appropriately and in a timely way.

The research, led by Newcastle University and including Aberdeen University, the Bristol Speech and Language Therapy Unit and the Institute of Health Visiting, was published in a new Public Health England report – Identifying and supporting children’s early language needs Summary report.

Vicky Gilroy, Projects and Evaluation Lead at Institute of Health Visiting, commented:

“The Institute of Health Visiting is delighted to have contributed to this exciting research and the development of the Early Language Identification Measure and Intervention. This work builds on the health visitor Speech Language and Communication training that the iHV was commissioned to deliver by PHE last year, where we designed and delivered training to over 1000 health visitors to cascade to their local teams.

“With a more robust tool to support health visitors in their practice, early intervention and support can be offered to families to promote speech language and communication, alongside offering tailored interventions to support those with needs.”

Public Health England will roll out training to support health visitors in using the new Early Language Identification Measure (ELIM) and intervention tool alongside their wider guidance on Best Start in Speech, Language and Communication.

PHE Guidance: Best start in speech, language and communication (SLC)

Guidance to help improve SLC in the early years, including an Early Language Identification Measure and Intervention tool for use with children aged 2 to 2 and a half.

Early Language Identification Measure and Intervention Guidance handbook

iHV co-signs letter calling for improved support for children and young people with SLCN

The Institute, together with leading organisations from the world of children’s health and social care, education, justice, disability, has co-signed a letter sent to the Prime Minister calling for more action to improve support for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Executive Director of the Institute of Health Visiting, said:

“The iHV is pleased to co-sign such an important letter to raise the need for better support for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). We are delighted to already be working with PHE and DfE on new training for health visitors to help close the language gap between disadvantaged children and their peers (as announced last week). However, there is plenty more to be done to tackle the inequality of services – further actions are needed to improve the life chances for these children and young people, enabling them to reach their full potential.

“We fully support the call for joint commissioning to put an end to the postcode lottery of support for these children and young people. In addition, the implementation of a cross-Government strategy for children and young people would enable children and young people to fulfil their potential.”

Coordinated by I CAN, the children’s charity, and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT), the coalition of over 60 organisations has sent an open letter to the Prime Minister calling on the Government to tackle the inequality of services for some 1.4 million children and young people with SLCN in the UK. The coalition wants to see urgent action in five key areas, which will improve the life chances for these children and young people, enabling them to reach their full potential.

The coalition urges action on:

Joint commissioning to put an end to the postcode lottery of support for these children and young people;
Support for children and young people with long-term, persistent SLCN, who require some level of specialist help during and beyond their early years;
Providing professional development for those working in education, including teachers and teaching assistants, to enable all children and young people to develop language and communication skills. Teachers also need to be able to identify children and young people with SLCN as early as possible so they can be supported effectively;
Incentivising schools to give speech, language and communication the priority it deserves;
Training practitioners who are working with vulnerable children and young people, including; looked after children, those in the youth justice system or who are living with mental health issues, in how to recognise SLCN and respond effectively. They must also have access to specifically commissioned speech and language therapy services for those children and young people who need them

The letter to the Prime Minister comes as I CAN and the RCSLT publish the first anniversary update to their joint report, Bercow: Ten Years On, which looked at the state of provision for children and young people with SLCN in England. Of the 47 recommendations for action made in the report, 17 of them have been implemented. However, far more needs to be done by the Government.

Read letter

Your views are needed to help shape SLC training for health visitors

As part of the government’s commitment to reducing the word gap, the Department for Education (DfE) and Public Health England (PHE) are leading a joint programme of work as part of the Social Mobility Action Plan (SMAP). One element of this is that the Institute of Health Visiting has been commissioned by PHE to develop training for health visitors to:

promote a strengths-based approach to supporting parents and carers of pre-school children with their child’s speech, language and communication development;
to support early identification and appropriate signposting to speech language and communication services.

We need to establish a baseline in relation to health visitors’ current knowledge of speech, language and communication. This will help us to shape the planned training and the development of resources which we will be rolling out in 2019.

Your participation in this survey is entirely voluntary and this short survey will take no more than 10 minutes of your time.

Go to Speech, Language and Communication Survey

Exciting opportunity with the Institute – Health Visitor SLC Trainer(s)

We are seeking two ambitious health visitor trainers to be part of a North and a South of England training team. You will be an experienced practice educator and able to confidently deliver formal training to groups of professionals, primarily health visitors.

The iHV has been commissioned by Public Health England to deliver train the trainer training on Speech, Language and Communication (SLC) to health visitors across England. To support this, we are establishing two training teams each made up of a health visitor and a speech and language therapist to deliver the training in training sites spread across England. The post holder(s) will ensure training is delivered to the highest standard, supporting our evaluation and a consistent professional approach to delivery.

This post(s) will offer the successful candidate(s) an opportunity to work nationally and to benefit from a superb development opportunity with this high profile national professional body focused on strengthening health visiting.

You will be home based, but able to travel across England with the likelihood of many overnight stays.

You must be dynamic, proactive, flexible and have engagement in your teaching approach. You will report to the iHV Training Programme Manager, to support the delivery of high-quality training.

The post will suit candidates who want to experience working nationally with the Institute and will provide excellent experience for a growing CV.

For further details, job description and application form

Applications close: 9.00 am, Monday 3 December 2018

Interviews: By Skype on Monday 10 December 2018

For further information or an informal conversation about this post please contact Philippa Bishop [email protected]

iHV delighted to support children’s early communication skills

The Institute is delighted to be part of an exciting multi-million investment to support children’s early communication skills as announced by the Department of Education this week – commissioned to deliver new training for health visitors in speech, language and communication.

The government announcement launched projects to improve children’s early language and literacy, and boost parents’ confidence with home learning. It will fund educational games, apps and text message ‘tips’ for parents and carers from disadvantaged backgrounds, helping them to interact with their children when at home or out and about, making everyday activities an opportunity for learning.

It also includes funding for additional training for health visitors which the Institute has been commissioned to deliver. The new speech, language and communication training for health visitors will help to identify speech, language and communication needs early on, helping to address and support concerns when they can have the most impact.

Read the full Department for Education press release

Free professional development for HVs on speech, language and communication

Are you a health visitor looking for free professional development in speech language and communication? If so, look no further. The Communication Trust’s programme Early Voices offers a unique opportunity to health visitors to access free professional development and training to increase their knowledge in early speech language and communication development in order to achieve higher impact with the families that they work with.

This is recruitment for the second cohort of Communication Leaders – following the first cohort earlier this year.

The Early Voices programme seeks to recruit health visitors to take on the role of ‘Communication Leader’ in their locality. Communication Leaders will receive a fully-funded place on a Level 3 Award in speech, language and communication, and additional training from The Communication Trust (TCT).

TCT training will outline the expected levels of early speech language and communication development, advice on how to share this information and evidence-based strategies with parents, and where to signpost parents to access further support. To broaden the reach of this knowledge, Communication Leaders will cascade their learning via two TCT-designed sessions to their local early years networks.

Find out more & apply

Find out more here.

Applications for the second cohort are now open. To find out more and apply, please see:

the Communication Leader application pack and
Health Visitor Manager letter.
A Word version of the application pack can be accessed here.

Once both have been completed, please send via e-mail to [email protected].

The second round of recruitment of the Communication Leader role is open until 23 October.

PHE – call for Speech, language and communication local practice and pathway examples

Call for good local practice and pathway examples:

Speech, language and communication local practice and pathway (0-5 years)
Evidence-based speech, language and communication training for health visitors/ health visiting teams

Public Health England has formed a partnership with the Department for Education as part of their Social Mobility Action Plan to address the “word gap” and the inequalities associated with speech, language and communication needs in the early years. They are pleased to share the first of a series of regular communications with you in this briefing by Wendy Nicholson.

The programme of work will include training for health visitors on speech, language and communication needs; the introduction of an early language assessment tool to support clinical decision-making; and the development of a model pathway for services for children 0-5 years to promote language and early identification/ interventions for children with speech, language and communication needs.

There are some excellent examples of innovative, evidence-driven practice in parts of the country and PHE would like to learn from your experiences and work with you to develop a model pathway for speech, language and communication for children 0-5 years.

If you would like to be involved in this work, please complete a short case study example describing the model/ training that you have developed and any evidence of outcomes.

Please submit your case studies to [email protected] by COP Tuesday 29 May (if you are unable to meet this deadline – please get in touch with Alison directly).

PHE will review all case studies and plan to hold a workshop at the end of June/ beginning of July at Wellington House in London to develop the pathway. They will be inviting representatives from areas with good practice examples to join with them and members of their Expert Advisory Group to develop this programme of work.

If you would like to discuss your ideas informally, please contact Alison Morton by email and she will arrange a call.

Download Wendy Nicholson briefing

Download short case study example

Early Voices – Free professional development for HVs on speech, language and communication

The Communication Trust’s new programme Early Voices offers a unique opportunity to health visitors to access free professional development and training to increase their knowledge in early speech language and communication development in order to achieve higher impact with the families that they work with.

For more information and how to apply

Application deadline – 11 April 2018

iHV welcomes Bercow: Ten years on report

iHV welcomes the Bercow: Ten years on report and its recommendations, published by I CAN (the children’s communication charity) and The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) on 20 March 2018.

In particular, the iHV welcomes the recommendation that Public Health England should support the development of national health visitor training on identifying and supporting SLCN.

Bercow: Ten years on reports on the state of provision for children’s speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) in England. It lays bare the current picture of services for young people with SLCN and makes informed recommendations of what must be done to improve the situation at a local and national level.

Through extensive evidence gathering, I CAN and the RCSLT collected the views of children and young people, parents and carers, speech and language therapists, education professionals, commissioners and many others about the reality of support for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs in 2018. This included information from the iHV’s State of Health Visiting Survey 2017 which found that 74% of health visitors have seen a rise in the number of children with SLCN.

The report shows poor understanding of and insufficient resourcing for speech, language and communication needs. This means too many children and young people receive inadequate, ineffective and inequitable support, potentially impacting on their educational outcomes, their employability and their mental health.

Follow #Bercow10 on Twitter

Download 2-page Summary report - Bercow:Ten years on

Download Full Report - Bercow: Ten years on