BBC News shares our data in its report ‘Lockdowns hurt child speech and language skills’.

Average Read Time: ~ 1 minute

27 April 2021

Speech and Language Link

Supporting school children with SLCN is all that we do, so we are thrilled that Branwen Jeffreys at the BBC shared our Language Link data to show the levels of need in English schools – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-56889035 .

During the 2020 Autumn term, we analysed 50,000 standardised assessments after using Infant Language Link with 4-5 year olds. These clearly showed an increased level of need with at least 20% more pupils arriving at school with the lowest language levels. The effect on language of time away from school this year is unknown but likely to be highly detrimental.

To help schools know where they are now with language levels in all of their Reception/P1 and Infant classes, we are providing completely free summer term access (Apr-Jul 2021) to the child friendly, Infant Language Link standardised assessments.

This includes:

Unlimited language assessments
Evidence-based listening group interventions
Classroom differentiation resources
No obligation, no strings attached, no payment required.

To identify which children have language difficulties and learn how to support them, schools can get a free recovery subscription to Infant Language Link this term.

If you would like a copy of our report, please get in touch with helpdesk@speechlink.co.uk.

Read more about Infant Language Link here.