Early Years SEND toolkit - Communication and interaction

Making sense of the world

Activities and strategies to help a child make sense of their world.

Communication

Activities and strategies to help a child communicate.

Talking together (pdf format, 106Kb)
Descriptive commentary (pdf format, 32Kb)
Match plus one (pdf format, 130Kb)
Summary of strategies to help a child to communicate (pdf format, 117Kb)
Choices (pdf format, 142Kb) For choosing things that aren't immediate, it can be helpful to use pictures e.g. 'do you want water play or playdough?'
See also the listening and attention, language skills and communication sections of Treasure Trove (pdf format, 253Kb).

Interaction

Activities and strategies to help a child interact with others.

Speech and language resources

The Children’s Speech and language therapy – Oxfordshire NHS covers all areas of speech, language and social communication development. In addition, it has activities and resources relevant to the age and communication needs of the child.

Communication resources

Signing booklet (pdf format, 2Mb )
Children develop their speech, language and communication skills at different rates. However, knowing what is typical can help you identify speech and language problems early. Ages and Stages - Speech and Language UK

Speech and language therapy referrals

Information to include when making a referral for speech and language therapy.

Supporting Your Child’s Speech and Language Development with WellComm

What is WellComm?

WellComm is a simple, effective toolkit used by early years providers to support children’s speech, language and communication development. It’s designed for children aged 6 months to 6 years and helps identify any areas where a child might need extra support — early on, when it can make the biggest difference.

In Oxfordshire, all early years settings — including nurseries, preschools and childminders — have access to the WellComm toolkit. It’s part of our county-wide approach to supporting children’s communication skills from the very beginning.

Childminders use the digital version of the tool.
Health visitors, speech and language therapists, and early years advisory teams work together with settings to use WellComm effectively.
It’s used both universally (for all children) and targeted (for children who may need extra help).

Strong communication skills are the foundation for learning, friendships and wellbeing. If a child has delayed language skills, it can affect their confidence and progress at school.

WellComm helps early years staff:

Spot any speech or language difficulties early
Understand each child’s communication needs
Provide ready-made activities and interventions to support development straight away — no waiting for specialist input

Want to know more?

Understand and respond to children

Early Years Autism Project created the leaflets below. They may help you understand and respond to children with social communication difficulties and autism.

General resources

The Council for Disabled Children (early support) produces information resources about a variety of needs including:

The Inclusion Development Programme (IDP) supports practitioners to learn more about special educational needs and the best ways of supporting children.

The Autism Education Trust has produced Autism Standards and Competency framework to help settings to evaluate their practice. These contain useful resources and strategies.