The national year of communication

Introducing Hello

• Hello is the national year of communication – a campaign to make children and young people’s communication development a priority in homes and schools across the UK (www.hello.org.uk).

• The campaign is run by The Communication Trust, a group of 40 leading voluntary sector organisations in partnership with Jean Gross, the Government’s Communication Champion.

• The campaign is sponsored by BT and Pearson Assessment and backed by the Department for Education.

The origins of Hello

• The national year was originally proposed by John Bercow MP in his 2008 Review of Services for Children and Young People(0-19) with speech, language and communication needs.

• 77% of parents who responded said that they did not get the information and support that they needed when they needed it. 12% said they “needed to know where to look”.

• The review noted “there is grossly inadequate recognition across society of the importance of communication development.”

• It recommended, and government agreed, that a campaign should be organised to increase understanding of how important it is to be good at communicating.

Why have a national year

• Communication is a fundamental life skill that anyone can learn and improve. It underpins everything we do and is how we connect with another person.

• In the UK, over 1 million children have long term and persistent speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). This can affect them early, severely and for life.

• In areas of poverty, over 50% of children start school with delayed language skills. They may have a smaller vocabulary, unclear speech or be able to understand only simple instructions.

• For many of these children, their daily struggle to communicate means they are shut out of everyday life. Their barriers are often invisible to others meaning they can be misunderstood, misinterpreted or missed altogether.

Poor communication impacts on...

Educational achievement Behaviour/vulnerability Mental health

Employability Criminality Disadvantage Cycle

•50 - 90% of children with persistent SLCN go on to have reading difficulties

•Only a fifth of children with SLCN reach the expected levels for their age in English and Maths at age 11

•2/3 of 7-14 year olds with serious behaviour problems have language impairment

•Children with SLCN are more likely to be bullied

•40% of 7 to 14 year olds referred to child psychiatric services had a language impairment that had never been suspected

•“..communication skills are the most important employability skills and a lack of them in a candidate is a deal breaker... for many employers”. (Sir Michael Rake, BT)

•60% of young people in young offender institutions have communication difficulties

•Children from low income families lag behind high income counterparts at school entry by sixteen months in vocabulary. •Vocabulary at age 5 has been found to be the best predictor of whether children who experienced social deprivation in childhood were able to ‘buck the trend’ and escape poverty in later adult life

Wider range of life chances

Like and stay at school

Positive self-esteem

Academic Friendshipssuccess & acceptance

Manage behaviour & problem-solve

Literacy skills Social skills

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Language – a foundation life skill

The aims of Hello

1. To create a society that understands the fundamental role that communication plays in our ability to live life to the full. To do this by: – Increasing awareness and understanding of children’s typical communication

development– Disseminating information on how to spot if children are struggling, and on

where to go for help and support– Improving the ability of parents and professionals to develop and support

children's speech, language and communication

2. To prompt tangible improvements for the 1 million plus children and young people in the UK with some form of long-term speech, language and communication need. These tangible improvements include:– More support for parents and carers– Earlier identification of children’s difficulties– Earlier and more appropriate referral to specialist support

Hello audiences

All parents/ carers

- Parents to be and parents of 0-1- Parents 1-5- Parents of lower income families- Parents of children identified with SLCN

Children’s Workforce

- Early Years- Primary Years- Secondary Years-Health Visitors and workers- GPs- Speech and Language Therapists

Young People

- Aged 14 -19

Commissioners

- Local authority commissioners- Health commissioners (GPs, GP Consortia, Primary Care Trusts)- School commissioners (Head teachers and governors)

The following are priority audiences for the campaign

What you can do to get involved

Support counts at every level...

Individual level

‘If you think you're too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.’

Betty Reese

Things you can do now

Promote Hello to others – befriend us on Facebook and Twitter. You can also download our eCommunications toolkit from the Hello website and add text to your newsletters, Facebook and Twitter pages. You can also download a press release template at www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/hello

Email hello@thecommunicationtrust.org.uk to receive the Hello logo and branding guidelines. Add the logo to your materials, flyers, email signatures etc.

Promote our 5 key messages

1. Being able to talk and listen well is important.

2. Learning to talk doesn’t happen by accident! Adults play an important role.

3. More children than you think struggle to learn to talk about 1 million in the UK.

4. Poor language puts children at risk of literacy, behaviour and social / emotional difficulties.

5. The earlier we spot children who have difficulties the better.

Sign up to Hello online information

www.talkingpoint.org.uk - the information portal for parents and professionals on speech, language and communication

www.hello.org.uk – the campaign website. Information on how to get involved

Order campaign materials

From Hello.org.uk

• Misunderstood• Don’t Get Me Wrong• Top Tips Leaflet• Universally Speaking Booklets• Primary School Milestone Poster• Secondary School Milestone Poster• Promotional Posters• Listen Up• Other Ways of Speaking

Share

Tell us your storiesSend to us at

www.hello.org.uk We will add to the websiteUse case stories with the

national and local pressTCT will collate stories and

use as evidence

Link events to monthly themesJanuary Hello. Don’t take communication for grantedFebruary and March Early chatter matters – from bump to birthand beyondApril - It’s not just about talkingMay - Good communication begins at homeJune - Imagine life for those that struggleJuly - Skills for work, life and playAugust - Talk and goSeptember - Back to schoolOctober - More than words November - Celebrating communication

December - Talk to the future

Shine a Light Awards

‘Shine a Light’ are theHello campaign awards, in partnership with Pearson Assessment, for developing children and young people’s communication.

Applications are encouraged from a wide range of settings, professionals and individuals – those who work with children and young people, those responsible for planning children’s services as well as parents and young people.

The winners will be celebrated at an awards ceremony taking place at Pearson’s Head Office in London on Wednesday 23 November.

Full details of the awards and how to apply can be found at www.helloawards.co.uk

Who might be involved locally

• Health visitors• Speech and language therapists• GP consortia• Local authority early years teams• School improvement services• Inclusion services• Special schools and units• Specialist schools for language

and communication• Ethnic minority achievement

services

• Parenting support• Family information services• Family learning teams• Libraries and museums• Youth offending teams• Voluntary organisations • Early years settings – children’s

centres, nurseries • Schools• Local higher and further

education institutions.

For advice on local planning, download the All Together Now toolkit from www.hello.org.uk

Who might be involved locally?

Who?

Health visitors

Early years teams

School improvement

Special schools

and unitsEMA services

Voluntary bodies

Youth offending

teamsLibraries

and museums

Family learning teams

Family inclusion services

Parenting support

Specialist schools

Higher education

institutions

Inclusion services

SLTs

Schools and

settings

Planning templateQuestions to ask ourselves:• How does Hello fit with our local and regional priorities? • Who are our priority target groups? Are they the same as the Hello

audiences? • What do we want our audiences to do differently? • What actions shall we take? • How can we piggy - back on what is happening with Hello nationally? • What resources / initiatives do we have already? • How can we share information or case studies with the Hello campaign so

they can promote our work nationally? • What resources do we need? • Who might we approach locally to support / fund us? • How will we know if we have succeeded?

Planning

• Objective • Action • Person • Time

Examples of creative ideas

• Nottinghamshire -‘Baby achievement walls’. • Sheffield- ‘the biggest conversation in the world’.• Cornwall - Augmentative and Alternative

Communication roadshows.• Blackburn with Darwen - children take over a

village for a day.• Harrow – open house events in settings, schools

and services.

Things you can do now Check out our range of Hello resources and publications – you can download or order

FREE of charge. If you need bulk copies for a major event, email hello@thecommunicationtrust.org.uk.

Set up a local multi-agency planning group, or volunteer to be your school / setting / organisation champion or even the Hello co-ordinator for your area. You can see who has signed up to be a co-ordinator on the Hello website.

If you work in early years or provide training, free materials are now available that supports the delivery of the Early Years Mandatory pathway in the new Level 3 Children’s Workforce Diploma. Email enquiries@thecommunicationtrust.org.uk or call 020 7843 2517 to order yours now.

Let us know your plans so we can shout about your work. Email hello@thecommunicationtrust.org.uk or call 0207 843 2550.

In a nutshell, we want people to...

• Understand the importance of communication

• Take Action

• Support children and young people

Information / resources / publications

Engagement toolkits / specific

“asks”

Practical resources

www.hello.org.uk