Coactive launches oral language screen for young children

Coactive Education has launched Express Oral Language in New Zealand for early childhood services and primary schools. The programme is designed to help teachers identify children's oral language needs earlier.

The launch comes as about one in five New Zealand children has poor oral language skills, according to the Education Review Office. Children who need to see a Speech-Language Therapist can also face waits of up to 12 months.

Express Oral Language is a screening and support programme for children aged three to seven. Teachers take a child through a short structured screen and receive a green, amber or red result, along with suggested next steps and activities they can use straight away.

The approach is intended to help teachers begin support before a specialist referral is completed. It also aims to give specialists more information when a child is referred.

Del Costello, Founder of Coactive Education, said long waits for specialist support leave schools and early childhood settings trying to respond without clear guidance. "Up to 12 months is too long to wait at one of the most formative stages of a child's development. That's why we've launched Express. A child shouldn't have to wait for a specialist before anyone starts helping them. Teachers can do a lot in the meantime if they know where each child is at and what to try next. Express gives them that, and when a referral is needed, it gives the specialist a clearer picture too."

Oral language development is closely linked to later literacy. The Education Review Office's report Let's keep talking found that delays in the early years can later show up in reading comprehension, and that timely support can help prevent further problems.

Pilot findings

The programme is being piloted over 12 months with more than 150 children across two West Auckland schools, one early childhood education centre in West Auckland, and another in Waikato.

Six months into the pilot, educators said the digital platform was faster and easier to use than the paper version of the toolkit. They said automatic links between screening results and suggested activities reduced administration and allowed targeted teaching to begin sooner.

Teachers involved in the pilot said the screen gave them a broader view of children's oral language, while Teacher Aides were able to provide more focused support to learners whose needs had been identified.

Feedback from the Waikato early childhood centre pointed to a clearer link between assessment and teaching. Staff said the structured assessment helped show both strengths and areas where children needed more support.

A Team Leader at the Waikato centre described the effect of the pilot on classroom practice. "Express has been helpful in identifying specific areas of language development that we may not have previously thought about or focused on, such as concepts like understanding tallest or knowing what day comes next. It has given us a more specific focus when thinking about individual children's language development and has helped us identify areas that can be intentionally incorporated into everyday teaching and learning."

Support tool

The programme is based on WellComm, an oral language screening and support toolkit used in more than 3,000 services in the UK. Coactive is the exclusive New Zealand partner for the tool.

WellComm has supported 290,000 children and is being adopted in more countries, according to Coactive. Its activities are intended to help educators respond to screening results, while those results can also indicate when a child may need to be referred to a specialist.

Grace Morton, an Auckland-based Speech and Language Therapist, said tools that help teachers distinguish between children who need classroom support and those who need referral can be useful in practice. "It provides a practical starting point for early intervention that teachers can implement straight away."

Morton added: "When we support children's communication skills early, we're supporting their learning, confidence, participation, everything for years to come."

Coactive was founded in Auckland in 2010 and provides professional learning and development for teachers, leaders and Teacher Aides from early childhood through to secondary school. Its work includes assessment, literacy, oral language and leadership, as well as projects delivered with schools, Kāhui Ako and the Ministry of Education.