After our 90 children settled in, two members of the nursery team made initial language assessments to find out where they 'were at' in order to take forward the dialogic book talk approach from the ECAT programme that helps to extend children's vocabulary.
For example, they were individually shown a photograph of a bed, and if the child said 'beh' this was recorded and letter sounds were assessed. We then identified which children were able to speak clearly and in line with developmental norms, and which children needed additional support.
After further observations and discussions between all nursery staff, some children, in partnership with the SENCO and parents, were referred to speech and language therapy. Others who have English as an additional language were identified as needing additional support.
So, after identifying 20 children who needed extra support, and after I delivered a short training input to two members of staff about dialogic book talk, we took the approach forward for individual children.
What is dialogic book talk?
The goal is to enable children to be active participants in picture book reading. This is achieved by having an adult promoting a conversation about the book and elaborating upon the child's responses. They should:
- Ask open-ended questions
- Relate the story to children's experiences
- Extend children's vocabulary
- Provide follow-up activities to consolidate new vocabulary.
We shared 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' on a one-to-one basis with a child, followed by a discussion about what we eat for breakfast. Vocabulary was consolidated by adding props such as cereal packets to the role play area so that the new vocabulary could be used in a meaningful context.
Find further details of ECAT materials at http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/quality-provision/early-language
Research provided by National Strategies highlights that book talk has been shown to produce gains in:
- Rate of language development
- Expressive language abilities
- Vocabulary development
- Identifying letters and sounds
- Establishing more emergent writing skills
- Enhanced knowledge of print concepts.