Every Child A Talker (ECAT)
Every Child a Talker (ECaT) is a national project to develop the language and communication of children from birth to five years of age, running in Southampton since 2009.
The project was set up after concern about the high levels of ‘language impoverishment’ in the UK, and how this affects children’s progress in school and chances in life.
Focusing on speech, language and communication (SLC), it aims to raise children’s achievement in early language and literacy. As well as improve practitioner’s knowledge and skills to and increase parental understanding and involvement.
The Early Years and Childcare team in Southampton produce regular ECaT posters providing information for practitioners and families to support SLC in children. These will shared on our Facebook page. You can also find previous posters on the ECaT section on the Southampton City Council Website.
Supporting ECaT at Sticky Fingers Pre-school
Each of our settings have an ECaT Lead Practitioner, who take charge of ensuring that our settings are effective in promoting SLC development.
For more information or if you have any questions or concerns regarding your child's Speech, Language or Communication development please speak with your child's key person or the settings Special Educational Needs Co-Coordinator (SENDCo).
ECAT Audits
We use the ECaT child audit tool to monitor each individual child's speech, communication and language skills are developing and identify areas where they may need additional support in the setting and outside agencies if appropriate.
ECaT setting Audit Tools
We also use audits to evaluate our settings to ensure they are rich in opportunities for Speech, Language and Communication development, focusing on Enabling Environments, Positive Relationships, the Unique child and Learning and Development opportunities throughout the day based on our routine.
These help us to recognise what is working well and where we need to make improvements within the setting.
Communication and Language Programmes
We deliver specialist programmes during the session by a trained practitioner to support children develop attention, listening, communication and language skills such as BLAST and Attention Autism.
