Parents are to be taught how to encourage their babies and toddlers to talk and listen as part of the government's drive to improve their communication skills before they start primary school, writes Debbie Andalo
Families who attend one of 200 children's centres will be able to take part in the Early Talk programme, which has been developed by I Can - the charity devoted to helping children improve their speech and communication skills.
Under the scheme, children and their parents will be encouraged to use sign language, gestures, symbols and pictures to help them talk to each other, as well as communicate more easily with other toddlers and babies.
I Can says its research shows that half of children, and in some regions that can rise to 84%, start formal education with "impoverished speech and language".
The statistics alone suggest that there is a problem which needs to be addressed.
But is it really necessary for parents to have lessons in how to encourage their children to communicate with them?
Experience shows that having a running conversation with a baby or toddler, no matter how inane, usually triggers some verbal response, even if it is not entirely intelligible.
So surely an alternative solution to the problem, which would also be cheaper, is to remind parents that it's good to talk?
