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Communication Capers - Early language and literacy development
The full Promising Practice Profile is available for download in PDF format (695 KB)
Project practice
Development of oral language and literacy concepts for preschool children
Project undertaken by
Therapy Focus Inc
Start date
April 2006
Focal areas
Early learning and care
Program
Communities for Children (CfC)
Issue
Children with language and functional literacy difficulties are at risk of not achieving their potential. The Communication Capers project is primarily concerned with building the early development of language and literacy to help achieve better outcomes for children age 0-5 years within a community through innovative local area programs. The project specifically addresses speech and language vulnerabilities and the related literacy difficulties that children at risk are likely to experience, in the Armadale region of Western Australia.
The Community Results 2004-2005 of the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) data collection indicate 20% of students in Armadale are considered vulnerable in the language and cognitive domain, with a number of Armadale suburbs having no children performing well in this domain. AEDI results also reveal 33.7% of students are considered vulnerable in more than one domain. These figures represent a large number of students who are at risk of not achieving their potential.
Armadale is an area with a high proportion of children and young people compared to the demographic profile of Western Australia and Perth metropolitan averages. The population in the City of Armadale was estimated at 54,000 in 2000, and the number of children aged 0-4 years was estimated at 3,640 in 2001 (AEDI Community Results 2004-2005). This high number of children increases the demand for services in the community. Speech pathology services in the area are under great pressure and have long waiting lists for services. An additional compounding factor is that the WA Health Department services have an early intervention focus, with school age children a lower priority.
Many teachers are unsure of how to identify children in need of intervention; of strategies to address language and literacy difficulties; and the referral processes of children to appropriate services within the local community.
Program context
Therapy Focus is a community service organisation that provides therapy and professional services in home, school and community settings. Therapists work with families, teachers and communities to help children learn to walk, talk and grow to reach their full potential. The service offers a range of therapy service options including disability therapy services for children, grants to fund services to communities, and private services for schools, families and the community.
The Communication Capers project aims to promote early development of oral language and literacy concepts and skills for children through delivery of tailored approaches and programs within a community.
The Communication Capers project is delivered by a team of speech pathologists and a therapy assistant from Therapy Focus working in partnership with early childhood educators and families to help children at schools, playgroups and community events. The project promotes early language development using various strategies and programs:
- helping educators and families at school through the"Let's Grow Language" program;
- supporting families at home through a Parent home program "MAYTE - Me And You Talking Everywhere"; and
- helping educators and families at playgroups through "Ridgy-Didge - real Language together".
For the purposes of this Promising Practice Profile, the focus will be placed on the Let's Grow Languageprogram, examining the partnerships and intervention provided to schools and educators through the project. The program targets kindergarten and pre-primary children from 8 schools that have been identified as having socio-economic needs in the Australian Early Developmental Index (AEDI) data.
Practice description
The program follows a specific process involving the following:
- pre-intervention screening;
- identification of needs;
- intervention; and
- post-intervention screening.
Integral to the whole process are certain key ingredients which have been identified as having contributed to the effectiveness of the project:
Collaborative partnership between speech pathologists and educators
The Communication Capers project is based on the development of strong working partnerships between speech pathologists and educators in kindergarten and pre-primary settings.
The speech pathologist's role in the project is to support and empower teachers to address issues of language development in their classroom, whilst being readily available to provide ongoing consultation and expertise when required.
The working partnerships that are established between speech pathologists and teachers in this project involve the following tasks:
- The speech pathologists identify the needs of children in the selected schools using the Speech and Language Screener and then through consultation with the teachers develop a customised oral language program. Consultation is conducted with teachers to report on the profiles of the school children to prioritise and identify teacher and language goals.
- Speech pathologists assist teachers to integrate these strategies into their existing classroom programs and model the intervention techniques. Depending on the child's level of need, skill acquisition is achieved through whole class, small group or individual programs.
- On-going consultation with teachers focuses on building existing strengths and empowers them with additional strategies to develop language for long-term sustainability.
Provision of on-site staff development/professional development
A primary aim of the program is to promote sustainability within the selected schools and their communities. Teachers are provided with professional development training to build on their strengths and further develop their skills in addressing oral language difficulties in their classrooms. On-site staff development workshops aim to build:
- competence and confidence to identify children with needs in their classrooms;
- skills in accessing appropriate resources to ensure the long term implementation of a range of strategies to use in classrooms that enhance language and literacy development;
- skills and knowledge to refer children at risk to existing community services, such as child health centres and private therapists; and
- networking and information sharing between teachers and schools involved in the project.
Provision of a child-focused program
The program recognises the need for flexibility and appropriateness in addressing differential needs of children and teachers in different school settings.
The speech pathologist and teacher work together to provide a child-focused program through the preparation of individualised programs for specific teachers and their classrooms. A pre-intervention screening regime of each child involved in the project is conducted by the speech pathologist using the Therapy Focus Speech and Language Screener. Once each child's specific needs have been identified, an individual language profile is established for every child to assist with goal setting.
A program is then developed by the speech pathologist and implemented in partnership with the teacher, and family, based on the child's needs.
Development and implementation of school-based oral language packages for kindergarten and pre-primary school children using strategies such as language stimulation techniques, shared reading, whole-language experience and activities to develop vocabulary, semantic, narrative, comprehension, phonological awareness and pre-reading skills, form the basis of the intervention.
These oral language programs target selected areas of language such as comprehension skills and understanding of concepts, story-telling skills, pre-reading and early literacy skills such as rhyming and sound awareness. For example the team may work with children who have difficulty responding to questions or may have difficulty putting words together or formulating sentences. They may also work with children who have difficulty following instructions, as the children may not understand basic or fundamental concepts.
Post-intervention screening
As part of the project evaluation, a sample of children in each class are screened with the same Speech and Language Screener to evidence post-intervention improvement.
Working in partnership with the families
Another important aspect of the Communication Capers project is working with families to develop language and literacy at home. This is done by the speech pathologist through:
- supporting teachers' communication with families;
- individual consultations for those families with children with high needs; and
- through offering family workshops.
Family workshops are aimed at educating families on the importance of early speech and language development, and strategies to support their child's language at home.
Research base
There is a wealth of evidence in the literature relating to the links between early oral language development and the later development of literacy and other language related skills (Bishop, Price, Dale, & Plomin, 2003; Dale, Price, Bishop, & Plomin, 2003; Paul, Murray, Clancy, & Andrews, 1997).
There is strong evidence in the literature that supports the effectiveness of the approaches used in the Communication Capers project. Many research studies have linked early oral language development to the later development of literacy and other language related skills (Bishop, et al., 2003; Dale et al., 2003; Paul et al., 1997). Results of one follow-up study of children identified with language impairment when they were 5 years old, showed that 71% of these children exhibited clinically delayed language skills at 18 years (Johnson et al., 1999, as cited by Justice & Pence, 2004).
There is overwhelming evidence regarding the importance of early intervention in working with vulnerable children to overcome the diverse challenges they face to become successful communicators and conventionally literate adults (Badian, 1994; Britto, 2001; Juel, 1988; Kennedy, Ridgway, & Surman, 2006; Meiers & Forster, 1999). Unfortunately, not all children have the opportunity of developing emergent literacy understandings and inequality of opportunity still exists. These results are reflected in Australia with those from socio-economically disadvantaged and culturally different backgrounds still achieving less well with literacy in the early years of schooling (AEDI).
McCain and Fraser Mustard (2002) argued that with effective early childhood development programs, the number of vulnerable children in the preschool population can be reduced. Raban and Ure (2000) advocated for professional development literacy programs for early childhood teachers that address how language and literacy skills are developed by preschoolers and how their day to day practice with young children can enable a more significant impact on those children's language and literacy development. Recent studies have shown that service models that provide language intervention in the home and inclusive settings (such as kindergartens and preschools) achieve very positive results. Important features of these successful intervention programs include collaboration between the speech therapists, educators and families (Justice & Pence, 2004).
Young (2007) demonstrated that emergent literacy learning opportunities for young children can be enhanced by embedding literacy-related activities into play-based preschool programs. Evidence obtained through this study suggests that young children's emergent literacy understandings improved significantly on a number of measures over a period of five months, and teachers perceptions of emergent literacy pedagogy in preschool changed due to the experience (Young, 2007).
Further practical evidence is demonstrated by examining the evaluation results of the "KU Early Language and Literacy Initiative (ELLI)" project. Key learnings from this initiative indicate that working within a collaborative team helps engage families, children and preschool staff in a low income Australian community, to grow early language and literacy (Booth, Croll, Davis, Lewis, & Stock, 2007). The preliminary first year evaluation findings of this study indicate the effectiveness of preschool staff development and consequent action research, language assessments and intervention including phonemic, semantic awareness, and literacy initiatives covering speaking, listening and reading (Booth, 2007).
In August 2008, the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard launched Quality Education: The case for an Education Revolution in our Schools. This federal initiative further reinforces the evidence-based principles underlying the Communication Capers project:
- working together to deliver greater accountability and better outcomes;
- getting the basics right at school is fundamental to helping all Australian students reach their full potential;
- the quality of classroom teachers is critical to giving every child the best start in life;
- school results improve across the board when parents, families and the community are engaged; and
- developing external partnerships with parents, other schools, businesses and communities (Commonwealth of Australia, 2008).
Outcomes
Regarding the teacher-education aspect of the Communication Capers program, there has been an overall positive response to the program from teachers, school administrators and parents. There is evidence to suggest, through ongoing action research, that the following outcomes are being achieved:
- Teachers are incorporating the given language strategies in their planning of oral language programs and class activities.
- Teachers are demonstrating improvement in modelling language in class.
- Teachers indicate improved confidence in targeting specific language skills required by their students.
- Teachers indicate increased awareness in the range of resources available to target oral language.
- Independent testing conducted by some schools using their own language screeners or evaluation programs such as PIPS (Performance Indicators in Primary School Program, Murdoch University) demonstrates improved language outcomes of children.
Through the implementation of pre- and post-intervention screening of children, there are significant improvements evident in the language and communication skills of kindergarten and pre-primary children involved in the project. Pre-intervention language results are highlighting an overwhelming need for improvement and support for development of language in school. Post-intervention language results are indicating improvement with all children in overall language areas.
Evidence of outcomes
As there is a year remaining in the project timeline, ongoing evaluation is still being conducted, with the final report due at completion in 2009.
The numbers of children, parents and teachers participating in this project has varied slightly over the timeline of the project due to the timing and overlap of multiple rounds of funding received. However an estimate of the significant numbers of people reached through this project can be illustrated over a sample of 6 month period:
January-June 2007
- Over 1,000 families received a service
- 81 teachers, education assistants, educators were supported
The following data show the estimated population of children participating in the Communication Capers project over a sample of 6 month period:
January-June 2007
| Total children | 620 |
| Male | 312 |
| Female | 308 |
A sample of screening results has been selected to demonstrate the significant increases in screening scores, which illustrates the development of oral language skills. This sample contains data from 87 children participating in the study (42 male, 44 female).
Results were obtained during the following timeframes:
- Kindergarten students - Pre-screened January-March 07 & Post-screened June 07
- Pre-primary students - Pre-screened June-December 06 & Post-screened June 07
The data from the pre and post language screening has been analysed at an individual, class and school level to provide detailed information on the up-take and success of the project.
The following two graphs illustrate the improvement in speech and language scores, from pre and post-intervention language screening of kindergarten and pre-primary children by schools.
The following chart demonstrates the range of scores obtained from the pre- and post-intervention language screening and marks the average score. Analysis of the individual and overall results indicate that:
- All kindergarten and pre-primary children improved in all targeted oral language areas and overall average language scores.
- This resulted in a smaller gap between the highest and lowest scores with children achieving higher scores and performing better.
- Children demonstrated better communication skills with increased vocabulary and improved understanding and responses to questions. Stories told had better content and were more cohesive in structure.
Highest = Highest Oral Language Scores Achieved of the sample cohort
Lowest = Lowest Oral Language Scores Achieved of the sample cohort
Average = Average Oral Language Scores of the sample cohort
(*Note: Oral Language Scores are an average scoring of conversation skills, semantics, narrative and comprehension)
Improvements in teacher knowledge and skills
Changes in teacher knowledge and skills because of the program are measured using pre- and post-program questionnaires. Preliminary data obtained from teachers indicate a strong positive shift in their confidence rating in targeting oral language. The questionnaires also provide qualitative data by including questions about suggested improvements to the program. Teachers are also encouraged to keep their own learning journals and to seek out additional information and support from the speech pathologist to support their learning.
Continuous evaluation of the project occurs through ongoing action research conducted by the project officer. Through regular teacher consultations, informal feedback is being received as the language programs are implemented in classrooms. Adjustments are made to the program on an ongoing basis, as a result of this informal feedback.
Samples of the feedback that is being obtained from teachers include:
"For years, they have been saying early intervention. Finally something is being done. It's great we can see it. Our kids have shown great improvement."
"Class sessions are so valuable - modelling different activities and strategies and resources."
"The program is growing in its effectiveness the more it is with us... (The therapist) has been a wonderful resource to the children and our school... (She) has provided activities and resources that suit the children within our special school community, in addition has demonstrated the implementation of these activities with the class."
"I find it really useful to see the class activities and discuss the programs. I feel more confident in planning my activities."
"The program is really positive. I hope it continues. We need on-going support."
Policy analysis
Communication Capers demonstrates a working structured partnership between speech pathologists and early childhood educators supporting sustainability in enhancing language and literacy skills in communities that have a high number of children displaying vulnerabilities in important developmental domains. The project is consistent with policy for early learning which recognises the importance in partnerships between health and education practitioners. Outcomes of the project are resulting in increased awareness of families and educators of the importance of early intervention, and are helping to strengthen partnerships and access to existing community health services. The project is also a good example of early intervention to address speech and language issues to ensure that children are not delayed in language and literacy development.
Communication Capers is an evidence-based project that builds upon the natural learning opportunities for children in everyday experiences within early childhood programs, and their home. By using the many learning opportunities that occur in these domains (particularly in the school environment), this project has the potential to make a significant difference to the lives of children with language difficulties.
Project evaluations
Preliminary evaluations have been conducted through Action Research by the University of Western Australia.
The 'Communication Capers' project has been evaluated and reviewed through the selection process of the Promising Practice Profile.
Project related publications
Burgess, H., & Harries, M. (2007, November). Armadale Communities for Children. Communication Capers: Improving oral language and literacy in Armadale. Paper presented at Working Together to Create a Child-Friendly Community: The Communities for Children Forum, Sydney. Retrieved 2008 from http://www.aifs.gov.au/cafca/evaluation/cfcforum1107.html
Ferguson, M. (2008, May 16) Perth teachers learning literacy skills. 3rd Degree, 5(1), WA, Edith Cowan University Communications Programme. Retrieved 2008 from http://3degree.ecu.edu.au/articles/1661
References
Badian, N. (1994). Preschool prediction: Orthographic and phonological skill, and reading. Annals of Dyslexia, 44, 3-25.
Bishop, D. V. M., Price, T. S., Dale P. S., & Plomin, R. (2003). Outcomes of early language delay: 11. Etiology of transient and persistent language difficulties. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 1029-1037.
Booth, K., Croll, J. H., Davis, M., Lewis, G. F., Stock, L., & Wise, T. (2007). Early language and literacy as social practice: Engaging families, children and preschool staff in a low income australian community. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the Redesigning Pedagogy: Culture, Knowledge and Understanding Conference, Singapore.
Britto, P. (2001). Family literacy environments and young children's emerging literacy skills. Reading Research Quarterly, 36(4), 346-347.
Australian Early Development Index (AEDI). (2007). Building Better Communities for Children Australian Results 2004-2006. Melbourne: Centre for Community Child Health and Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.
Commonwealth of Australia. (2008). Quality education: The case for an education revolution in our school. Launched by The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard at the National Press Club, August 27, Canberra. Retrieved 2008 from http://www.deewr.gov.au/deewr/About/QualityEducation-ThecaseforanEducationRevolutioninourSchools.htm
Dale, P. S., Price T. S., Bishop D. V. M., & Plomin, R. (2003). Outcomes of early language delay: 1. Predicting persistent and transient language difficulties at 3 and 4 years. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 544- 560.
Justice, L. M. and Pence, K. L. (2004). Addressing the language and literacy needs of vulnerable children. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 25(4), 173-226.
Juel, C. (1988). Learning to read and write: A longitudinal study of 54 children from first through fourth grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(4), 437-447.
Kennedy, A., Ridgway, A., & Surman, L. (2006). "Boundary crossing": negotiating understandings of early literacy and numeracy. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 31(4), 15-22.
McCain, M. N., & Fraser Mustard J. (2002). The Early Years Study three years later. From Early Development to human Development. Ontario, Canada: Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
Meiers, M., & Forster, M. (1999). The ACER longitudinal literacy and numeracy study (LLANS). Paper presented at the ACER Research Conference: Improving Literacy Learning: What does Research tell us? Adelaide.
Murdoch University, School of Education. Performance Indicators in Primary Schools: On-Entry Baseline Assessment. WA.
Paul, R., Murray, C., Clancy K., & Andrews, D. (1997). Reading and metaphonological outcomes in late talkers. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 40, 1037-1047.
Raban, B., & Ure, C. (2000). Literacy in the preschool: An Australian case study. In J. Hayden (Ed.), Landscapes in early childhood education: Cross cultural perspectives on empowerment. A guide for the new millennium. New York: Peter Lang.
Young, J. (2007, July) Design-based research of emergent literacy: Enhancing potential for young children. Paper presented at Critical Capital: Teaching and Learning AATE/ALEA National Conference, Canberra.
Contact
Haw Shinn Wai, Anna Scott
Project Officers
Phone: 08 9478 9500
Website
http://www.therapyfocus.org.auMore information
More information on the Promising Practice Profiles can be found on the Communities and Families Clearinghouse Australia website.