Supporting Language Development

What’s Happening In Birmingham

All children develop communication and language skills in different ways. Some may have multiple languages; some may use symbols or signs.

Across Birmingham, children's language development is a priority. Childminders, nurseries,  schools, health visitors, speech and language therapists and a range of other professionals work in partnership with parents to support language development.

Read on for information about these activities.

Free Childcare for 2-year-olds

Attending a nursery or childminder setting from the age of two has many benefits for your child’s early development.

Find out if your child is eligible for free childcare on the Birmingham City Council website.

Bookstart, Libraries, and the Under 5s

Birmingham libraries are open to all; you can register to become a member at any age - even a newborn.

Events and Activities

All Birmingham libraries run various activity sessions for children under 5 years and their families. These sessions include Rhyme Time, Stay & Play, Creative Tots, under 5s storytime and Saturday Story Time. Find your nearest library.

 

Once you’ve joined your local library, you’ve joined every library in Birmingham. 

Birmingham Forward Steps

Birmingham Forward Steps (BFS) provide health and wellbeing services for babies and children (up to the age of 5) across the city.

They offer a variety of support for families including:

  • Child speech and language development support

  • Community engagement workers

  • Healthy lifestyle advice

  • Behaviour management

  • Parenting education

  • Online virtual support

BFS’s Health Visiting teams provide health reviews and antenatal advice.

They also have Children’s Centres across Birmingham that offer baby groups, free baby massage, breastfeeding support, family support, stay-and-play sessions and many other services.

 

WellComm 

The Birmingham Early Years Speech, Language and Communication (SLC) – WellComm Project is part of Birmingham’s SEND Local Offer.

The SLC project will support a consistent universal approach to assessing and supporting children’s speech, language and communication needs.

Your child’s setting may use the WellComm approach to screen, identify and support any speech or language needs your child may have. The adults working with your child may talk with you about this. 

You may be able to support the setting by helping with WellComm screening, especially if you are bilingual. 

Settings may also share advice sheets with you to give ideas for activities you can be doing at home to support your child's communication to continue developing.

Language Champions

In early years settings across Birmingham, some adults have received additional training to support children's language and communication development.

These Language Champions can be contacted through your child's setting or by contacting the Early Years Duty team at the city council. 

‘Language Through Play' workers are based in Children's Centres across the city and lead groups with parents.

Find your local Children's Centre.

Developing Local Provision (DLP)

The Developing Local Provision (DLP) initiative aims to enhance the work already being done by early years settings and mainstream schools in supporting children in their local area.

The project's long-term aim is to establish good quality local provision that successfully meets the needs of individual children, supporting them in their early years’ journey through to their chosen mainstream school, where their needs will continue to be met.

Find out more about this project on our dedicated DLP page.