THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION GROUPS IN DAY NURSERIES

This project, run by a speech and language therapist and a clinical ps ychologist, took place in three inner city day nurseries. A group of c hildren over whose communication there was concern were assessed on bo th formal (verbal and non-verbal) and informal (observational) measure s. At each nursery these children were divided into two matched groups : intervention and control. The intervention consisted of communicatio n groups run jointly with nursery staff. These small groups focused on promoting communication through play. On reassessment the children at tending the communication groups had made significantly more improveme nt than the controls on both formal and informal measures. In particul ar, the number and quality of children's interactions, their underlyin g ability to focus on tasks and their knowledge of basic concepts appe ared to benefit from the intervention. The study, therefore, provides strong evidence for the efficacy of such interventions in enhancing co mmunication development in a real-life setting.