Nursery World Show: a recap

Nursery World Show: a recap

After a long break from in-person events, it was lovely to be back at the Nursery World Show last month and to see the people we help face-to-face. It was really interesting to get their feedback on the past two years and the impact the pandemic has had on children's skills in speaking and understanding language.  

The past two years have impacted all areas of society, including education. Many in the Early Years space fed back to us that the pandemic and the lockdowns it has entailed have impacted all elements of children's learning. Reduced social opportunities with peers and time spent away from education have meant that children’s skills in speaking and understanding language have suffered.  

We received lots of positive feedback about Early Talk Boost (our intervention for 3–4-year-olds). Users seem to particularly like the amount of time it takes to implement, as other interventions delegates spoke about can take much longer to run. Early Talk Boost was developed with practitioners’ requirements in mind, with easy-to-follow steps and – as it’s only 9 weeks long – an ability to run it within a single term.  More information about our Early Talk Boost can be found here. 

Other positive feedback we received was from a parent of a child who used our I CAN products over 20 years ago and praised the long-term positive impact this has had on their child’s speaking and understanding skills. As a charity, it is always nice to hear the real-world effect our work has on young people and how it can change their lives for the better.  

Our Enquiry Service was signposted in one of the Nursery World seminars. This is a free service which allows parents/carers or professionals concerned about a child's skills in speaking and understanding language to book a confidential phone call with one of our speech and language therapists. The therapist can provide information on typical development of speaking and understanding skills, as well as general advice on how to help and suggested next steps.  Advice can be provided over phone and email, and more information can be found here. 

Throughout the event we spoke to lots of delegates and as usual many of our resources flew off the table, including the Ages and Stages of Development Poster, First Words Poster, Talk Together Booklet and Top Techniques Poster.  

We attend events throughout the year, all around the country – so if you do see us at an event, please come over and say hello! If you are hosting an event and would like us to attend, please contact info@ican.org.uk and we will see what we can do. Finally, if you have any queries about I CAN, what we do or if you have any general questions about children’s skills in speaking and understanding language, please contact us on the same email address.