Dear Parents,
Next half term, all children will have the opportunity to receive BLAST training. BLAST stands for Boosting Language Auditory Skills and Talking and has been found to be beneficial for Nursery aged children, helping to build important communication skills. More information about the programme can be found on the leaflet attached.
The programme will be carried out with groups of between 6 – 8 children by Mrs Wheatman. All children who choose to participate in the programme will receive the training over this next school year. Miss Bowie will let you know when your child will receive theirs.
Please indicate below whether you wish your child to take part in the programme.
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask a member of the Nursery Team.
Yours Sincerely,
Miss H Bowie
BLAST training
I do wish my child to take part in the BLAST programme.
I do not wish my child to take part in the BLAST programme.
Child’s name……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Signed………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Date………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
What is BLAST?
BLAST is Boosting Language Auditory Skills and Talking
Who is it for?
BLAST is aimed at nursery aged children. The aim is to build up their pre-linguistic skills such as attention, listening, speech sound awareness and story awareness in order for them to more rapidly develop speech and language skills based on these pre-linguistic abilities. We feel that it will benefit all children, not only those with a speech and language delay.
Where does it take place?
BLAST is delivered mainly in nurseries but it is also used in a range of childcare settings including playgroups, crèches, parent and toddler groups or childminder provision. Training is provided but the delivery is by the childcare setting staff.
How is it delivered?
BLAST takes place daily for 6 weeks in the setting with the same group of 6 – 8 children. Parents are more than welcome to meet with the staff delivering the programme to find out how their children are progressing and to ask any questions. Parents are encouraged to sing the BLAST songs with their child and to read the stories with them. Photocopiable resources are available for parents. These include copies of the stories and the songs for the child to colour in, read and sing with parents. There is also a simple summary leaflet of what BLAST is and some suggestions of ways that they can support their child. The BLAST pack contains the manual which gives the rationale behind BLAST and a day by day prescriptive programme of how to deliver BLAST.
Why is it useful?
Feedback from nursery staff is that the children attend better, have more confidence in expressing themselves and are more able to listen to a story and follow it. National research and experience in working with young children and those with speech and language difficulties shows that these children respond well to structure within a small group. Structure gives the child confidence to focus on the activity without having to worry about “what will happen next”. The BLAST format is the same every day, the songs are the same for 6 weeks, the stories and listening activities are the same for a week and the language activity is fundamentally the same for a week with developments each day. In this way, children get the opportunity for repetition and soon build up confidence to join in. The focus on pre-linguistic skills also gives children the chance to develop the “building blocks” of language which will enable them to access language and the curriculum more easily. BLAST is also fully inclusive enabling children with special educational needs or with English as an additional language to take an equal and full part in the group.
For more details – please ask your child’s teacher or visit the website