Talking Buddies a success story for children in Laois and Offaly
Talking Buddies, a new initiative funded by Sláintecare which promotes language development in communities, has been deemed a success in Laois and Offaly, having collected over 550 books.
The plan is for these books to be gifted to children in communities, and also to support families and other people in a child’s life to use books in ways that gets the most out of them.
With evidence showing that sharing a book everyday greatly improves a child’s vocabulary, Talking Buddies want to encourage parents and anyone in a child’s life to read books together. Not only will children learn new words through books, but it is a great opportunity for bonding. This initiative was launched on Thursday 25 February to coincide with National Reading Day.
The Talking Buddies programme offers parents timely access to education and training resources about using books to develop language.
Maria Bracken, Speech & Language Therapist said:
“Many of the referrals for Speech & Language Therapy for children aged 0-5 are for children with delayed language development. While we currently run training programmes for parents of these children, we felt that if parents had accessible public health education earlier it would greatly reduce the number of referrals into our service and thereby reduce Speech and Language Therapy waiting lists.”
“With the Talking Buddies programme we have created a series of short education and training videos about how best to share books with your child. The first series of videos will include information on; the benefits of books, reading to babies, learning new words and book recommendations.’
Laura Magahy, Executive Director Sláintecare said:
“We are pleased to support this work through the Sláintecare Integration Fund. Timely access for parents to these supports will help improve speech and language outcomes for children experiencing difficulties as well as reducing waiting times for the Speech and Language service.”
Katie Walsh, Speech & Language Therapist said that as a result of Covid-19, “Talking Buddies have not been able to meet with communities yet,” although they hope to meet with preschools, community groups and parents in Laois and Offaly to implement theTalking Buddies Programme as soon as it is safe to do so.
“Talking Buddies Programme is an extension of our video material. It offers more in-depth education and training about using books to develop language.”