‘Imagine a world where all children are given the opportunity to reach their full potential in speech, language and communication; where the need for intervention is either prevented or identified and supported early. In Warwickshire, early years practitioners, working in partnership with a small team of speech and language therapists, aim to achieve just that.’ (Early Years Educator 2017)
‘time to talk’™ is Warwickshire’s strategy for supporting the development of speech, language and communication skills of babies and young children in Children and Family Centres, Early Years and Childcare settings.
Our principles:
prevention – advice, support and information should be available to prevent children falling behind in their speech, language and communication skills
early identification – children should be identified early and accurately by appropriately trained practitioners.
early intervention – intervention should be high quality, flexible and responsive to need especially for the most disadvantaged.
easy to access support – services should be easy to access at all levels of need with extra consideration for those families who previously have not engaged.
high quality and effective training – if identification and intervention is to be appropriate and effective training should be delivered by specialists in speech and language therapy.
integrated and holistic service – intervention should be part of a pathway of support delivered in partnership and built around the child and family
communication friendly environments – children should have access to communities and spaces that resource and facilitate communication as appropriate to their stage of development
Warwickshire's Speech, Language & Communication Strategy for 0-5s 