Early years: Glossary

Ages and Stages Questionnaire (3rd Edition)

Ages and Stages is a developmental and social-emotional screening tool for children from birth up to the age of 5 ½ years. It can be completed by parents and early years staff within about ten minutes and takes two minutes to score. It can help to identify strengths and needs and figure out next steps.

£210

Attention and Listening skills Programme

Listening and Attention training is a package developed by Salford Educational Psychology Service, which includes staff training and a colour coded activity pack, which practitioners can use to plan group sessions around developing joint, sustained and focussed attention. The programme highlights the importance of early attention skills for learning, language, play and social development and supports Early Years Practitioners’ understanding of attention skills and strategies and group activities they may use to develop young children’s attention skills (2-6 years).

£25

Contact Salford EPS eps@salford.gov.uk  for further information on their training package and intervention delivery.

Autism Education Trust’s Sensory Assessment

The Autism Education Trusts Sensory Environments checklist which helps practitioners assess and create and environment which enables the participation of those with autism.

Free

The Boxall Profile

The Boxall Profile is an online resource for the assessment of pupils’ social, emotional and behavioural development in all educational settings. The Boxall Profile is a two-part assessment tool designed to track the progress of cognitive development and behavioural traits of pupils through their education. The two-part checklist, which is completed by staff, is quick and identifies the levels of skills the pupils possess to access learning.

Varies

Elkan

Elklan  have a range of courses to suit you whether you are an early years worker, teacher or assistant working with children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN). Their courses can enable you to develop the speech and language skills of ALL children but especially those with speech and language difficulties. Delivered by local tutors throughout the UK they give practical advice and strategies that are also suitable for children with English as an additional language and other special educational needs.

Elklan courses are run locally by the Salford Speech and Language Therapy Service. Courses run regularly throughout the year and can also delivered for individual schools Please discuss training with your Link SLT.

Emotion Coaching

Emotion Coaching is a whole school approach, which focuses on using emotional validation strategies when a child is upset, angry or distressed. Through empathetic engagement the child’s emotional state is verbally acknowledged and validated, promoting a sense of security and feeling ‘felt’. This activates changes in the child’s neurological system and allows the child to calm down, physiologically and psychologically.

Contact Salford EPS, eps@salford.gov.uk, for further information on their training package and intervention delivery.

Lots of free resources available online.

Five to Thrive

Five to Thrive is a training package based on attachment theory. Resources are available online.

Pricing available online.

Incredible years

Incredible Years parent training intervention is an evidence-based series of programmes focused on strengthening parenting competencies (monitoring, positive discipline, confidence) and fostering parents’ involvement in children’s school experiences in order to promote children’s academic, social and emotional competencies and reduce conduct problems. The Parent programmes are grouped according to age: BASIC Early Childhood (3-8 years) and BASIC School-Age (6-12 years).

Freely available for suitable parents/ carers for whom an Early Help assessment has been completed.

Intensive Interaction

Intensive Interaction is an approach designed to help develop pre-communication skills such as joint attention through sensory and shared joy activities.

Can be delivered with no resources, but a range of resources can be purchased from £10 - £100.

Mindfulness in the Early Years

There are several resources available to support Mindfulness  within the Early Years. This book includes a range of activities and audio recordings to support mindfulness in the early years setting.

Contact Salford EPS eps@salford.gov.uk  for further information on their training package and intervention delivery.

R Time

 R time  is a structured programme that builds and enhances relationships for children from Early Years to the end of Primary School.

Prices online.

Reducing Anxiety Management Plan RAMP

Information about developing a RAMP

Free online resources

Smile Score

The SMILE Score s a tool that can help people of any age to live better.

Free

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

A brief behavioural screening measure for early detection of strengths and emotional problems in pupils and adolescents. It covers five key areas of emotional development: emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, peer relationship problems, pro-social behaviour. A full can profile to be gathered as it includes views from parents and staff as well as the pupil or young person.

Free

The Bear Cards

The Bear Cards  includes games activities that provide a safe and fun way to explore and engage in conversations about feelings.

Price online

The Blob Tree

Blob Trees are a visual stimulus, which consists of many blob figures on or around a tree. The tree represents a setting, such as a school or group, and the blobs represent different emotions and feelings. The tools can be used in a variety of settings. Teachers can easily start a discussion by asking students which blob they relate to, especially since there is no right or wrong interpretation of the blobs. The tools give students an opportunity to share what they’re feeling. It has been scientifically shown to be effective as a means of expressing feelings and emotions with pupils and adults.

£5 digital download

Theraplay

Theraplay is an intervention to build attachment, self-esteem, trust and joyful engagement. Level 2 and Level 2 training course are available. Thera-play type activities can be accessed through the practical guide

Pricing available online

Theraputty

Theraputty  is often used by occupational therapists to strengthen hand movements. Some children may also find this resource helps them to regulate themselves.

Various

WellComm

WellComm Early Years and the new WellComm Primary toolkits enable you to identify children needing speech and language support, and come with an age-appropriate ‘Big Book of Ideas’ providing a total of around 150 instant, play-based activities.

£449 - EY

Zones of Regulation

Zones of Regulation is an intervention that supports the development of self-regulation and emotional control.

Free resources on website.

Attention and Listening Skills programme from the Salford Educational Psychology Service

The Listening and Attention training programme is a training package developed by Salford Educational Psychology Service, which includes staff training and a colour coded activity pack, which practitioners can use to plan group sessions around developing joint, sustained and focused attention. The programme highlights the importance of early attention skills for learning, language, play and social development and supports Early Years Practitioners’ understanding of attention skills and strategies and group activities they may use to develop young children’s attention skills (2-6 years).

The training package can be accessed via Starting Life Well.

£25

Contact Salford EPS eps@salford.gov.uk  for further information on their training package and intervention delivery.

Celebratory Approach to SEND Assessment in the Early Years

A Celebratory Approach to SEND Assessment in the Early Years This online toolkit is an assessment tool for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This assessment was developed by a group of Early Years professionals and was funded by the Department for Education.

Free

The Engagement Profile and Scale

Engagement Profile and Scale is a classroom tool which allows educators to focus on the child’s engagement as a learner and create personalised learning pathways.

Free

EYFS tracker

The EYFS Tracker is a web-based recording system, which helps Early Years settings record and analyse children’s progress through the Early Years Foundation stage (from birth to reception).

On request

Jolly Phonics

Jolly Phonics is a ‘fun and child centred approach’ to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. This program uses a multi-sensory method to facilitate engagement and letters sounds taught in seven groups.

On request

The Let’s Play Guide; Emotionally Friendly Settings (EFS) manual

Emotionally Friendly Settings manual takes you through the process of becoming an Emotional Friendly Setting. Within the manual it explains Salford Educational Psychology Service’s training and action planning process to become an Emotional Friendly Setting.

On request

Letters and Sounds

Letters and Sounds is an activity book which promotes speaking and listening skills, oral blending and phonological awareness.

Free

Supporting Positive Behaviour Audit

Supporting Positive Behaviour Audit is designed to help Early Years Practitioners to evaluate the provision and practice in their setting and to promote more positive outcomes for children.

Free

Teaching Play to Children with Autism: Practical Interventions using Identiplay

The Identiplay intervention is a resource book, which helps children on the autistic spectrum and those with communication disorders, learn to play. Using play scripts, the resource seeks to promote the development of social skills, imagination, understanding and exploration.

Online

What to expect, when? Guidance to your child’s learning and development in the Early Years foundation stage.

What to Expect When this booklet is designed to help parents and carers find out more about how their child is learning and developing during their first five years.

Free

The Attention and Listening Skills Programme

The Attention and Listening skills programme is a training package developed by Salford Educational Psychology Service, which includes staff training and a colour coded activity pack, which practitioners can use to plan group sessions around developing joint, sustained and focussed attention. The programme highlights the importance

of early attention skills for learning, language, play and social development and supports Early Years Practitioners’ understanding of attention skills and strategies and group activities they may use to develop young children’s attention skills (2-6 years).

Contact Salford EPS eps@salford.gov.uk, for further information on their training package and intervention delivery.

BBC Tiny Happy People

BBC Tiny Happy People has activities and advice, for parents and professionals, to support development of communication skills.

Free resources on the website

BLAST (Boosting Language, Auditory Skills and Talking)

The BLAST programme (Boosting Language Auditory Skills and Talking) can be used with children aged 3-5. BLAST 1 is designed for all children in nursery aged from 3-4. BLAST 2 is designed for all children in reception aged from 4-5. There are 30 consecutive sessions fully planned and resourced to deliver to a group of 4-8 children.

Online training course

Boardmaker

Boardmaker provides a wide range of symbol-based communication and visual supports which can be used around the environment, for displays and to create visual timetables.

Tiered pricing depending on number of installations/ packages

Inclusive Solutions offer a 1 year subscription for multiple users to Boardmaker Online for £585 Boardmaker V6 is available for £203 and allows for two installations

Can do Music

Can Do Music is a programme for children aged 3-5 to develop communication and interaction

Free resources on website

Chatting with Children (ICAN)

Chatting with Children (ICAN) - An activity pack to promote communication development of children from three to five years old.

£12

Colourful Stories (ELKLAN)

Colourful Stories (ELKLAN) is a visual support strategy which helps children to learn about the structure of stories and become more confident about telling and writing stories. Colourful Stories encourages oral narrative skills and introduces written words only when the child is confident about the structure of a story and how to tell a story orally.

Prices online

The Communication Trust

The Communication Trust offer a range of information and tools to enable practitioners to improve their practice, many of which are free to download. Their resources include the communication development pyramid. Staff can be trained in the pyramid and to understand how to adapt their communication cues so that they can ‘step up’ or ‘step down’ with a child as necessary.

Free

Elklan

Elklan have a range of courses to suit you whether you are an early years worker, teacher or assistant working with children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN). Their courses can enable you to develop the speech and language skills of ALL children but especially those with speech and language difficulties. Delivered by local tutors throughout the UK they give practical advice and strategies that are also suitable for children with English as an additional language and other special educational needs.

Elklan courses are run locally by the Salford Speech and Language Therapy Service. Courses run regularly throughout the year and can also delivered for individual schools. Please discuss training with your Link SLT

Hello Framework

The Helping Early Language and Literacy Outcomes (HELLO) improvement framework is a quality improvement tool for early years settings who want to improve their communication, language and literacy provision.

The self-evaluation framework provides prompts, critical questions and resources to help settings identify their strengths and areas for development.

Requires account to access free resources.

Hungry Little Minds

DfE Hungry Little Minds provides simple and fun activities for 0-5 year old to increase adult-child interactions. Includes video clips and is broken down into 5 age bands.

Free online resources

Identiplay

The Identiplay intervention helps children on the autistic spectrum, and those with specific communication disorders, learn to play. Through the use of play scripts, the approach promotes the development of social skills, understanding, imagination and exploration. By learning these skills, the child can enjoy reciprocal play with an adult or peer. The new edition of this popular book includes: - More on developing your own scripts - How to assess the child s current play skills - The adult’s role in play - The use of visual/verbal support - New case studies - New scripts - Advice on taking learning outdoors - Links to resources and useful websites A supporting CD ROM contains video clips of the intervention in practice, printable scripts and a PowerPoint presentation to facilitate professional training.

£25

Intensive Interaction

Intensive Interaction is an approach designed to help develop pre-communication skills such as joint attention through sensory and shared joy activities

Can be delivered with no resources – but resources available for purchase online.

JabberJacks

JabberJacks provide a targeted intervention to develop EYFS children’s speech and language and through the fun music and physical activities, the sessions also help develop their gross motor skills to an expected level for that age group.

Price online

Language Link

Infant Language Link can be used to support children (4-8 years old) with mild to moderate language and communication needs and those new to English. The pack contains 500 colourful resources, 12 planned termly language groups, 24 individual teaching plans and 52 handouts for parents.

Yearly subscription

PECS

PECS [Picture Exchange Communication System] - an alternative / augmentative communication system in which simple picture cards are used to communicate simple needs initially but work towards more complex sentence structures.

Prices available online

PODD (Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display)

PODD is a book or device that contains symbols and words to support communication between people with complex communication needs and their communication partners (family, friends or teaching staff).

Software bundles available

Progression in Language Structures

Progression in Language Structures is a document for identifying how content learning can be built on language structures. Language structures are presented in sentence starters for different text types, for example, the language of explanations and how it can be structured from Early Years.

Prices available online

Proloquo2Go

Proloquo2Go. Children, teens and adults who can’t speak can use this Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) app for iOS as a daily communication tool and to build language skills. From the first time someone opens the app, a few taps are all it takes to start talking to the world.

£250

Circle Time

Quality Circle Time helps pupils to develop their social, attention and listening skills. Additional adult support should be used to support group work (e.g. one adult leading, with another adult supporting the children’s engagement).

Various resources available online

Signalong

Signalong is a key word sign-supported communication system. It uses speech, sign, body language, facial expression and voice tone to link between sign and spoken word.

Vocabulary bundles available online

Sliding In

The ‘Sliding in Technique’ is a process that can be used to support a child to talk in front of new people, using a gradual process of the new person ‘sliding in’.

Free

TALC

The TALC (Test of Abstract Language Comprehension) was designed to help speech and language therapists, education staff and the wider workforce to assess and develop the verbal reasoning skills of all under 5s and primary aged children who experience difficulty understanding what is said to them.

£45

Tales Toolkit

Tales Toolkit – Online package of training and resources to develop children’s skills in story development and sequencing in small groups.

£800

Talk Boost

Talk Boost   is a targeted intervention that narrows the gap between 4-7 year olds with language delay and their peers.

£500

Talking Points Progress Checker (ICAN)

These Talking Point Progress Checkers have been written by speech and language therapists, based on typical developmental milestones from 6 months – 11 years. Their resources can help you identify signs of a child who is struggling to communicate, and ensure they get the support they need.

Free

Talking Tots

Talking Tots is a parent/ carer and toddler group. It focuses on strategies and activities for you to do with your child that help develop their speech, language and communication skills. Families will be invited to attend after a child’s name has been passed to the Communication Development Worker

Free

TEACCH

The TEACCH approach aims to respond to the needs of autistic people using the best available approaches and methods known so far, for educating and teaching autonomy. It is not a single method and can be used alongside other approaches.

Free

Bear Cards

The Bear Cards includes games activities that provide a safe and fun way to explore and support development of emotional vocabulary.

Purchase online

Time to Talk

Time to Talk has been specifically created to teach and develop social interaction skills and improve oral language skills for children aged 4 - 6 years old. Time to talk contains over 40 sessions which are designed for children who will be seen two to three times each week. The book will also help teachers to develop the basis of interaction with the help of a friendly and approachable character, Ginger the Bear who is a core feature in all of the activities.

Book available online

Toddler Talk from ICAN

Toddler Talk - An activity pack to promote communication development of toddlers from 18 months to 3 years old.

£9.99

WellComm

WellComm Early Years and the new WellComm Primary toolkits enable you to identify children needing speech and language support and comes with an age-appropriate ‘Big Book of Ideas’ providing a total of around 150 instant, play-based activities.

Prices vary

Widgit

Widgit provides a wide range of symbols which can be used to signpost around the classroom environment, for displays and to create visual timetables.

Widgit essentials bundle – £289

A Practical Approach at Home for Parents and Carers Making Sense of Sensory Behaviour

Making Sense of Sensory Behaviour is an information resource which is designed to help staff, parents and carers become more aware of the effects of sensory information and how it may impact on life skills and behaviour. It provides further support on the thinking and planning of positive sensory experiences and how to help children best manage over or underwhelming situations.

Free

Autism Assessment Sensory Environment Checklist

Sensory Environment Checklist  is a sensory profile checklist which helps practitioners assess and create and environment which enables the participation of those with autism.

Free

Blobble Write

Blobble Write is an app that help young children develop their handwriting skills and learn to write letters and numbers.

£2.99

Be Sensory Aware

Be Sensory Aware  is a training course which is designed to help practitioners identify and support children with a variety of sensory difficulties. The course also provides a variety of strategies to support children that can be implementing in your setting. The course is three hours and is provided by Salford Local Authority.

£25

Circle of Friends

Circle of Friends is an approach to enhancing the inclusion, in a mainstream setting, of any pupil or young person who is experiencing difficulties in school because of disability, personal crisis or because of their challenging behaviour towards others. Circle of Friends works by mobilising the young person’s peers to provide support and engage in problem solving with the person in difficulty. This intervention is aimed at pupils aged 5 to 18 years.

Contact Salford EPS eps@salford.gov.uk  for further information on their training package and intervention delivery.

Clever Fingers

Clever Fingers are creative activities that have been specifically selected to support children to develop their fine motor skills.

Various

Dexteria Jr

Dexteria Jr is an app that supports the development of fine motor skills and handwriting readiness through hand and finger exercises. The activities are suitable for children aged 2-6 years.

Downloadable App

Dough Disco

Dough Disco This free and simple activity involves moulding play dough in time to music such as rolling, squeezing and flattening to develop fine motor skills.

Free

Funky Fingers and Finger Gym

Funky fingers and finger gym encourages the development of fine motor skills and pre-handwriting skills using play activities

Free

Hairy Letters

Hairy Letters is an app for children aged 4-6 years learn the letters of the alphabet and trace the letter shape using their fingers.

£2.99

Handwriting Without Tears

Handwriting Without Tears curriculum provides developmentally appropriate, multisensory strategies for early writing including teaching pencil grip, letter formation, and the literacy skills that are needed for print and cursive handwriting.

Varies

Keyboarding Without Tears

Keyboarding Without Tears is a programme that teaches pre-keyboarding and keyboarding skills to children.

Varies

LetterSchool

LetterSchool is an alphabet tracing and handwriting app.

App

Move n Sit

Move ‘n’ sit/ disc ‘o’ sit wobble cushions help to improve sitting posture and attention and concentration.

£22.99

Motor Skills United

Motor Skills United was developed by Stockport Children’s Occupational Therapy Service and consists of 70 large and small room activities to support the development of fine and gross motor skills.

Prices online

One Page Profile

One Page Profile is a template which allows practitioners to personalise support for each individual child.

Free

Ready Steady Write

Ready Steady Write is a free Occupational Therapy programme to support children to improve their ability to produce fluent, spontaneous and legible handwriting.

Free

SEN and Disability in the Early Years: A Toolkit

SEN and Disabilities in the Early Years :A Toolkit is based on the statutory requirements and the guidance from the early years, the SEN and the disability frameworks, and draws on a range of relevant practice guidance.

Free downloadable resource

Write Dance

Write Dance incorporates music and dance to develop the skills needed for handwriting.

Book prices vary

Write From The Start

Write From the Start (Teodorescu Perceptuo-Motor Programme) contains over 400 graded activities to support perceptual and fine-motor development.

£34.99