Launching a research trial into Early Talk Boost programme

At Speech and Language UK, we know that right now, at least 1.7 million children are behind with talking and understanding words. That’s why the early years workforce must be given the right skills, training, and tools to support children in pre-school and early primary years.

Our Early Talk Boost programme was designed by specialist teachers and speech and language therapists, with the help of early years practitioners and parents. It aims to support children who need a targeted approach to catch up with their peers, enabling them to access key areas of the EYFS curriculum including Communication and Language, Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Mathematics. In a small randomised controlled trial that was conducted in 2014-15, children made additional progress after the nine-week intervention, helping them to catch up with other children their age.

It is vital that our Early Talk Boost programme is backed by robust, independent evidence and that’s why we are delighted to be partnering with the Education Endowment Foundation on a larger scale research trial. The trial is funded by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and is being carried out by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES).

Delivery of the intervention is funded by the East of England Early Years Stronger Practice Hub and the South West Early Years Stronger Practice Hub. By participating in this project, we aim to both support education recovery following the pandemic, whilst also developing our understanding of effective professional development in the early years.

Starting from Spring 2023, settings in the following local authorities are invited to take part in the study: Norfolk, Suffolk, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Plymouth, and Torbay. Both private, voluntary and independent and maintained nurseries - either stand alone or as part of a primary school - are eligible.

All settings will take part in the research activities from September 2023 – July 2024, whether they are part of the first or second cohort to receive the intervention. Early years settings can receive a maximum of one funded Stronger Practice Hub programme between 2023-2025.  

The Early Talk Boost intervention is nine weeks long and comprises of three 15–20 minute sessions a week. Each session comprises of two activities, a song and story related to the theme. Over the nine weeks attention and listening, vocabulary and building sentences are areas of focus. The intervention also includes parents and carers through a parent/carer workshop and opportunities for them to share the books with their child. Training and materials to run the groups is provided by Speech and Language UK.

Settings taking part in the programme will receive an Early Talk Boost intervention pack which normally costs £500 and training and support, all of which is fully funded.

The results will be used to think about ways to improve Early Talk Boost so that Speech and Language UK can help more families of young children. The findings will also be used to help researchers understand more about how to support children’s language development. 

If you or your early years setting would like to find out more about the eligibility criteria to participate in the trial, please contact project@speechandlanguage.org.uk or for further information on the Early Talk Boost research project, visit: https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/early-talk-boost-research-project-with-eef/

Jane Harris is chief executive of Speech and Language UK