Currently seven out of 10 children in Leicester begin school with speech, language and communication needs.
The multi-agency campaign has been in development for the past two years and will involve primary care trusts, health professionals and early years practitioners. It will start this month and continue until August 2010.
The council hopes the scheme will help 15,000 under-fives through 200 early years settings. It will involve around 1,400 early years workers.
Although it draws inspiration from Stoke City Council's Stoke Speaks Out campaign, programme developer Mary Campbell said Talk Matters is unique in its preventative nature. "We've identified 'parent champions' across children's centres, and we're working with them to share and develop good techniques, so all children will then have a menu of activities that are preventative instead of reactive," she explained.
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