Nursery World - Funding scheme boosts early speech and language intervention

Councils have improved local speech and language services and raised the profile of the early years under a new £8.5 million Government scheme targeting disadvantaged under-fives, according to a new report.

The early years Local Government Programme has helped participating councils make structural improvements to their services and increased the confidence and skills of early years professionals working with these families, an evaluation has found.

The programme was launched in 2018 to try to tackle development gaps in language and literacy skills early.

It has two parts – the Early Years Social Mobility Peer Review Programme, which was conducted by early years professionals from councils, health or education sectors, who assessed the opportunities for local services to improve early outcomes for disadvantaged children at age five, with a focus on early speech, language and communication.

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