Over £250,000 to help children learn to speak and develop their vocabulary

Communities and Tackling Poverty Minister, Lesley Griffiths, today announced £257,000 to help parents develop their children’s language skills.

The Minister made the announcement while visiting the Treowen Flying Start centre in Newtown, Powys. As well as providing part-time childcare for two and three year olds living in some of Wales’ most disadvantaged communities, Flying Start also offers parenting support, enhanced health support services and help for early language development.

Early language development has a fundamental impact on the development of children’s literacy, social skills and behaviour. Evidence also reveals early language development has a significant impact on people’s progress in later life, with research showing a three year old’s vocabulary is predictive of their income at 30 years of age.

The additional funding announced today means 10,000 children from our most deprived communities will be given an additional book bag when they turn two, which contains an English language book, a Welsh language book, a scribble pad and crayons.

The funding will also provide 10,000 pregnant women from Flying Start areas across Wales with a CD of nursery rhymes in English and Welsh to encourage them to interact with their babies and teach them how to speak.

Information packs for expectant mothers, new parents and professionals will also be produced containing facts about stages of speech and language development and ideas on how to encourage communication progression.

Speaking at the event, the Minister said:

“Good speech and language skills are the building blocks on which literacy and numeracy development are based. Without solid foundations in language and communication skills, children may have difficulty progressing in school and suffer from low self esteem and poor social skills.

“Investment in early language development is, therefore, vitally important to ensure children from our most deprived communities are given as much support as possible to enable them to get the best start in life.

“I hope the extra resources I have announced today will enhance the delivery of the early language development services provided by Flying Start and encourage more parents to take the time to read with their children.”

To date, more than £28 million of capital funding has been awarded to create Flying Start settings across Wales, supporting the Welsh Government’s aim to double the number of children and their families benefitting from Flying Start from 18,000 to 36,000 by 2016.