Communication Friendly Environment

Onthank Early Childhood Centre was awarded the first in East Ayrshire – Communication Friendly Environment Award in 2019. We strive to make a difference in the lives of the children and families who attend our centre.

Effective Communication and Language skills are extremely important from the early stages in a child’s life and we have specially trained Communication Champions who work collaboratively with the Speech and Language Therapists to support children within this area.

Storyland and Once Upon a Time break out rooms provide the opportunity for smaller groups of children to develop their listening and attention skills, communication and languages with particular focus on speech sounds and immaturity of speech.

Our Communication Champions Arlene, Linzi, Julie B, Coline, Lynne J & Lynn D work with staff, children and parents to  provide support for children with speech, language and communication difficulties.

This role enables the champions to work with small targeted groups of children and provide 1:1 support and guidance for children with communication difficulties, whether it may be speech sounds, listening and attention skills, stammering, social interactions etc.

Referrals for children to the speech and language team can be made directly from the centre by Arlene with parents/carers acceptance to do so.

Please note that our champions are not Speech and Language therapists, however they do work closely with the Speech and Language Team to provide targeted support around children’s communication.