Publish date: 10 January 2023

Teams from Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care Foundation Trust and Tameside Borough Council have joined forces to create a standard aimed at improving communication skills in young people.

The new Tameside language and communication standard offers specialised support for early years providers and health teams to offer quality screening, communication-friendly environments and interventions for children who need it.

Launched this week, the scheme was created by the ISCAN Speech and Language Therapy team at TGICFT in conjunction with Tameside Borough Council’s Early Years Quality team.

The standard includes access to a dedicated early years speech and language forum, where providers can get advice and support from a Speech and Language Therapist.

Research shows children face significant challenges throughout their lives if speech or communication issues go unidentified at an early age.

Helen Slater, Speech and Language Therapist and ISCAN Team Leader, said: “The new standard provides a framework for our Early Years settings to feel confident and skilled in identifying and supporting young children with speech, language and communication needs. Settings will be able to easily access training, resources and support to help children reach their communication potential.

“This is a great piece of collaborative work between our ISCAN team and Tameside Borough Council, and will result in improved communication skills for children in our area.”

Read more about the standard on the enclosed information leaflet.