ABOUT EVERY CHILD A TALKER

Every Child a Talker is also known as ECAT. ECAT began as a National Strategy that was introduced across England. ECAT in West Berkshire is currently funded by West Berkshire Local Authority. The initiative is facilitated by two Early Language Consultants. Louise Griffiths is a Teacher and Tamsin Rycroft is a Speech and Language Therapist who works for the NHS.


ECAT focuses on supporting the communication skills of pre-school aged children through work with early years settings. All the adults, who work in the early years setting, are involved in encouraging children's speech, language, and communication skills. The setting will have a lead practitioner (known as an ELLP) who attends termly cluster meetings and liaises with the ECAT team.


ECAT AIMS

Each setting that is involved in the initiative has three areas that they focus on:

 

1. Identifying and supporting children who may be 'at risk of delay';

 

2. Developing the knowledge and skills of all of the practitioners who work within the setting;

 

3. Helping parents to understand the stages of development of speech and language skills and how they can encourage their child's development.


 OUR SETTINGS

We have worked with lots of different settings with the aim of all children to be supported to develop their speech, language and communication skills. This includes;

 

  • Nursery settings 
  • Reception
  • Schools
  • Childminders

 

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