Consultant speech and language therapist Joanne Jones and consultant occupational therapist Vicky Robinson, who together have nearly 40 years’ combined experience of supporting nurseries and pre-school aged children with communication and sensory difficulties, are launching their Nurturing Environments Specialist Training (NEST) in April.
The pair have come together to launch NEST after separately delivering their individual parent programmes online to 5,000 families across the world.
Jones said, ‘Many of the parents Vicky and I have worked with have told their child’s setting about our unique programmes.
‘That led to requests from nurseries and pre-schools who wanted help to fully understand and support children with sensory processing and communication difficulties within their settings. Vicky and I are proud to have co-created NEST to fill that gap – focused on small actions to make a big difference to all children.’
The new training programme will be accessed through an online training hub, featuring workbooks and ‘bite-sized’ videos to teach practitioners techniques that impact on children’s readiness for school, self-esteem and behaviour.
The healthcare professionals will also be hand to provide guidance to participants, whose progress and ideas will be shared with other settings taking part.
‘So many more children are starting in settings with speech and sensory difficulties at a time when waiting lists are growing and there is often very little support, ‘ said Robinson, who has worked as a children’s occupational therapist in the NHS for 17 years and has completed her postgraduate in sensory integration.
‘Having worked in nurseries for most of our careers, Joanne and I wanted to make sure that our programme did not create additional work for staff, or involve working in small groups or with individual children.
‘It’s an exciting offering and we look forward to partnering with nurseries and pre-schools throughout spring 2022 and beyond.’
- For more information on NEST, click here
