Early Talk Boost is our catch-up programme for children aged 3-4 who are struggling with talking and understanding words.  The programme is designed to help support children who need a targeted approach to catch up with their peers, enabling them to access all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage.  

The programme is:

• 9 weeks long
• comprises of three 15–20-minute sessions a week
• delivered to around 6-8 pupils in each setting 

Early years practitioners are provided with:

• five hours of live online training
• three support sessions from an Early Talk Boost Tutor
• an Early Talk Boost manual and resources pack
• guidance for engaging parents and carers, and
• access to an online tracker used to assess children’s progress

Early Talk Boost has been designed by our specialist teachers and speech and language therapists, with the help of early years practitioners and parents. It is informed by strong evidence and has demonstrated early promise in a study that showed impact on children’s ability to talk and understand words. 

Early Talk Boost is for 3 to 4-year-olds who struggle with talking and understanding words. 

These children may have: 

• difficulty listening/paying attention 
• poor vocabulary 
• difficulty understanding language 
• difficulty organising and using language 
• immature sentences 
• difficulty explaining or describing 
• difficulty taking turns 

This research project funded by the EEF and carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research aims to rigorously evaluate the impact that Early Talk Boost has on children’s language skills as well as develop our understanding of effective professional development in the early years. 

In a small randomized controlled trial that was conducted in 2014-15, children made additional progress after the 9-week intervention, helping them to catch up with other children their age (Reeves et al., 2018). 

This research project aims to evaluate the programme on a larger scale to establish stronger evidence of Early Talk Boost’s effectiveness, and in turn support more children. 

All settings in England can take part in the study, except those in the North East, North Yorkshire and Cumbria. Both private, voluntary and independent (PVI) and maintained nurseries (either stand alone or as part of a school) are eligible.  

To take part you need to be able to: 

• commit two practitioners to attend the training 
• deliver the programme over 3 sessions per week for 9 weeks to 2 groups of children (up to 4 groups of children in larger settings) 
• expect to have at least 20 children, aged 3 to 4 years-old, who do not have SEND concerns and can attend the setting for at least 3 different days (or half-days) in a week during the 2025-26 academic year
• commit to supporting evaluation activities 
• have a device to administer language screen assessments in Autumn 2025 (If not the loan of one can be arranged)  

You can’t take part if your setting: 

• are running Early Talk Boost groups during the academic year 2024-25 
• are planning to deliver the Nuffield Early Language Intervention for Preschools (NELI Preschool) or Talking Time in the academic year 2025-26 

If your setting meets the criteria, it is free to take part. Settings will receive an Early Talk Boost programme pack worth £575 and training and support. EEF will also contribute to staff time. Settings in the control group will additionally receive £1,000, which can be used to purchase the Early Talk Boost programme after the study. 

If you would like to register your interest please complete this form.

Got a question about the project that wasn’t answered above? Check out our FAQs here.

If you’re question isn’t covered, reach out to our team via ETBtrial@speechandlanguage.org.uk.