Workshops and training

Our workshops are open to any professional working with children.

For those working in the Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre area our training is free (although some do require the purchase of workbooks or resources as specified). For professionals outside of this area, we welcome attendance but do charge for places.

For those working in Early Years

TeacherTalk

Play and daily routines provide opportunities to create enriched, interactive language-learning environments that include all children. This training will discuss how to foster language development through daily interactions.

Relevant for those working at all stages of the EYFS.  Learn how to:

  • Identify the children’s conversational styles and the roles teachers play
  • Let the child lead in individual and group interactions
  • Help children become better conversational partners

 

ABC and Beyond

The ABC and Beyond programme is designed to help educators of preschool/reception children (three to five years of age) promote the emergent literacy skills that all children need to develop in order to learn to read and write successfully.

Educators will learn practical strategies that can be easily integrated into everyday conversations and literacy activities, meaning that educators don’t need to carve out any new time in their days.

Each strategy is designed to make literacy-learning a fun and natural part of every child’s day to promote the following six building blocks of literacy:

  • Oral language
  • Vocabulary
  • Story comprehension
  • Language for thinking and learning
  • Print knowledge
  • Phonological awareness

This programme is offered in modules. We also offer a follow up in-setting visit to support reflective practice following the workshops.

 

We have two workshops available from Speech and Language UK’s Early Talk 0-5 programme

EarlyTalk: Working with Under 3s

Working with Under 3s is a one-day training course that both enhances practitioners’ knowledge, and provides them with strategies they can use to support communication and language development right from the start of a child’s life.

The course is aimed at early years/preschool practitioners who want to increase their knowledge of the approaches and strategies that can be used in settings to support the development of speech, language and communication in children aged 0-3

 

EarlyTalk: Working with Parents

Early Talk Working with Parents is a one-day training course that will help participants:

  • Be aware of adult behaviours that affect children’s communication development
  • Understand their own behaviours that can affect parents’ support of their child’s communication development
  • Develop techniques for supporting Healthy Child Programme reviews and EYFS progress checks.
  • This course is designed for family facing practitioners, including health visitors, early years’ practitioners and family support workers, with the aim of enhancing parental support of early communication development

 

These workshops have been developed to support those working with children in their preschool and reception years.

 

Understanding speech, language and communication (3-5s)

This half-day workshop will help practitioners develop/refresh their knowledge of:

  • What speech, language and communication skills are
  • Typical development of speech, language and communication development
  • Signs a child may need support with SLC
  • Different types of SLC needs
  • How to access support.

 

Supporting speech, language and communication development (3-5s)

This full day workshop aims to support practitioners to:

  • Reflect on their own practice
  • Understand how adults’ communication impacts on that of children
  • Understand strategies to support language and communication.
  • Understand how the environment can impact on communication and understand how to create a communication friendly environment.

 

Understanding speech sound development

This two-hour workshop will support practitioners to:

  • Understand how speech sounds are produced
  • Understand typical speech sound development
  • Identify potential difficulties
  • Support sound awareness skills

 

Early Talk Boost is a targeted intervention, delivered by a trained early years practitioner to a group of up to eight children aged 3-4 years old that have delayed language. The intervention helps to boost their language skills to help narrow the gap between them and their peers.

Evaluation showed that after Early Talk Boost, children make statistically significant progress in their early language. On average they make six months progress after a nine week intervention helping them to catch up with other children their age. This is twice the amount of progress of children not having the intervention.

In order to deliver the intervention settings require a toolkit at a cost of £550 which contains everything you need to deliver the groups and measure the children’s progress.

Practitioners are required to attend a full day training to deliver the programme – there is no cost for the training.

 

Makaton Taster sessions

These 90-minute sessions will give you an insight into the Makaton programme and how it can help; you will also learn around 30 signs to get you started on your Makaton journey.

 

Makaton Workshops Levels 1-4

The Level 1-4 workshops will give you more information about the Makaton programme, how to support users and teach you all of the signs from the Makaton Core  Vocabulary over the four workshops (stages 1-8). The cost of this workshop covers the manual provided and your certificate.  Levels must be completed in order.

 

Book an Early Years course
For those working with school age children and young people

Talk Boost KS1 is a targeted and evidenced based intervention, which supports children with delayed language in Reception and KS1 to make significant progress with their language and communication skills.

Talk Boost KS1 can help schools raise Reception and KS1 achievement by:

  • Identifying vulnerable learners
  • Providing a structured evidence based programme that accelerates children’s progress in language and communication
  • Supporting the foundation language skills that lead to phonics
  • Increasing classroom participation by improving confidence and skills in listening, vocabulary, narrative, sentence building and conversation.
  • In order to deliver the intervention, settings require a toolkit at a cost of £550 which contains everything you need to deliver the groups and measure the children’s progress

Practitioners are required to attend a full day training to deliver the programme. There is no cost for the training.

Makaton Taster Sessions

These 90-minute sessions will give you an insight into the Makaton programme and how it can help; you will also learn approx. 30 signs to get you started on your Makaton journey.

Makaton Workshops Levels 1-4

The Level 1-4 workshops will give you more information about the Makaton programme, how to support users and teach you all of the signs from the Makaton core vocabulary over the four workshops (stages 1-8).

The cost of this workshop covers the manual provided and your certificate.  Levels must be completed in order.

Book a course.

We provide a range of Elklan training courses. Please take a look at the Elklan website and contact us if you would like to know more about our Elklan training offer.

This is what our students say ....

“Courses are well run and have provided an 'eye opener' to staff into speech development and how to support this.”

“Courses are very valuable …. the sessions help boost children’s development and allow them to practise their speech and language whilst they are waiting for their initial assessment, the nursery have also said that children with speech and language difficulties have shown improvements since completing the courses.”

“In terms of impact the programmes have been invaluable to the nursery and cannot be faulted”.

“Fantastic and helped to enhance their knowledge and practice. It always gave them ways to support parents and they would like more staff to take part in the training.”