Early Years Assessment: Communication and Language

This text has been a really value resource for my team. The book is sectioned by ages and stages, linking with the Development Matters ages and stages, making it really easy to flick to the stage needed. I have found this most useful when looking at next steps for a child, or for getting ideas for planning to support the children moving up through to the next stage. This has also helped look at ways to support children with SEN, with communication being an area of development for them. The ‘What you notice/what it may signify’ pages have been very useful to my Teaching Assistants, as they are observing the children all the time often noticing these points but not always understanding what it means. So they have enjoyed looking at these sections to understand what is really going on in the children’s development. I have used this as a training tool for new members to our team and they have been grateful of the insight. This has saved me some time as they have been able to take the information away and apply it to the everyday observations of the children. It is a requirement to report on the Characteristics of Effective Learning at the end of Reception, so having links to this at the start of every age and stage will help me to write accurate reports for parents at the of the year. -- Sophie Tamms
This book focuses on this prime areas of development in detail but without the ‘waffle’ making it a book that is accessible to all practitioners working across the range of settings and would be great to recommend to parents too. The Early Years Outcomes are explored in depth to enable the practitioner to understand what exactly is meant by the statements. The glossary provides a quick reference to recap terms particularly useful for new practitioners. A diverse range of activities to promote language development is provided – including a great range of sensory activities. Emphasis is placed on the effective modelling of language and how practitioners can do this in a sensitive manner; a fundamental but often overlooked necessity. The planning sections and the additional adult led activities provide examples of effective questioning, ideas and guidance that practitioners can follow. These are also written in a manner so that the advice is easily transferable for practitioners when scaffolding children’s free-flow play. The progress checklists provide a quick and easy method of pinpointing development and tracking progress. These would also be an excellent resource to contribute to assessing and evidencing children’s level of development. These are specific and detailed to help practitioners understand exactly what is meant by the statement. Through all ages the children’s next steps in development and activities to develop these are clearly linked to typical practitioner observations making this simple to follow and understand regardless of prior knowledge and experience. The size, headings, colour coding and layout all lead to this being a book you can pick up and quickly locate the information you need - crucial in any busy Early Years setting! -- Yvette Huitson, EYFS Teacher and co-ordinator