Dear everyone, We have an exciting opportunity for schools across the UK to take part in a large research study. We, and the University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre, are delivering a national study which aims to improve the identification of children with SLCN at school entry. Our Infant Language Link package contains a standardised assessment of the understanding of language. Every school year approximately 120,000 Infant Language Link assessments are completed in the UK. We are completing this research project to update and improve our assessment to make it even more accurate and efficient to use. We are looking for schools who do not currently use our Infant Language Link package to take part.  Benefits to schools of taking part: We will pay for the time required for a member of TA staff to complete the assessments A summary report for the group of children assessed A FREE subscription to our award-winning Infant Language Link package for 1 year What do schools need to do? Complete our online assessment with a minimum of 20 children in your school entry cohort (takes 15-20 mins per child) How can your school get involved? Please visit speechandlanguage.info/study to find out more information and to express your interest. We are expecting interest to be high, and places are limited, so please register to secure your place. Thank you, Louise BurtonResearch Lead & Speech and Language Therapist

Hello all, We have an exciting opportunity for schools to take part in an assessment pilot in the summer term between May and July 2024. Our Infant Language Link package contains a standardised assessment of the understanding of language. The assessment is designed to accurately identify children experiencing difficulties, with approximately 120,000 assessments completed every year in the UK. We are completing an important project to update and improve the assessment, and we need settings to help us with this. All schools taking part in the Summer Assessment Pilot will receive the following benefits: A free Pocket Pack bundle, containing 5 packs designed to develop children’s speech and language skills, including phonological awareness, through fun games. A free 1-hour live webinar training session delivered by a speech and language therapist. This can be attended by as many staff from your school as you would like. The webinar will focus on practical advice and strategies for staff to take away to make the biggest difference for pupils with SLCN. Schools that take part in the project will be asked to complete an online assessment with a minimum of 20 pupils from their nursery and Reception cohorts. To take part in the pilot, schools need to meet the following eligibility criteria: Be a mainstream state primary school in the UK, with a nursery Have at least 20 pupils that are eligible to take part (children can be included who are aged between 4 years and 5 years 11 months, English speaking only, and have no diagnoses of ASD or Global Learning Difficulties) Not deliver the Infant Language Link programme currently in school (schools can have previously used the programme) If your school would like to help with this research, please email us at study@speechlink.co.uk to express your interest. In your email, please can you confirm that you meet the eligibility criteria above. Any questions please don't hesitate to get in touch. Thank you, Louise BurtonResearch Lead & Speech and Language TherapistSpeech Link Multimedia Ltd

Hello, I'm Louise, a speech and language therapist and Research Lead at Speech and Language Link. We help schools to support pupils with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), and my role is to ensure that what we are doing is evidenced and really works for schools. It will be great to chat to people about their experiences in supporting children with SLCN in different settings.We are really excited that the EEF has funded a trial of our Infant Language Link package. This is underway now: educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects-and-evaluation/projects/infant-language-link-2022-23-trial We are planning some more trials of our assessments and interventions for next academic year, so if any nurseries or schools are interested in taking part, please send me a message. Taking part can be a really great opportunity to see interventions first hand, and make a real difference to the future support that is available for children with SLCN. Look forward to speaking to you. Louise