Talking Buddies: Language Development Strategies for JI & SI Teachers 16.2.2022

Talking Buddies is a local project developed by two Speech and Language Therapists, Katie Walsh and Maria Bracken suitable for Junior & Senior Infant teachers. The aim of the project is to promote language development strategies. They are passionate about children’s books and feel that they are a brilliant way to promote speech and language development. Their work has centred around educating parents and teachers about the importance of a daily reading aloud routine for children’s language development. They want to demonstrate how to use picture books to support the child’s ability to understand language and communicate effectively. More specifically, they will target how picture books can support the child’s development in the following areas:

• Comprehension of language
• Vocabulary
• Sentence structure and syntactical development
• Narrative
• Verbal reasoning
• Phonological awareness.

Lots of great book recommendations will be given also. You can find out more about Talking Buddies on www.talkingbuddies.ie and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter