First Opportunities charity launches new project to support children with additional needs has launched a with speech and language

A CHARITY set up to support children with additional needs has launched a new initiative to provide speech and language support in local nurseries.

First Opportunities has teamed up with Hampshire County Council to identify children needing extra help early. They also develop “communication friendly environments”, offer “language interventions”, and support parents and carers.

The charity, which ran a pre-school at Ashley Junior School which closed in 2020, has stressed it is not “replacing or funding core statutory service provision” that the council provides already.

First Opportunities was set up in 1974 by retired social worker Joan Turnbull and her friends, who saw the need for nursery provision for young children with special needs.

At the time youngsters with high needs were often denied access to such education.

But the financial pressure of running the specialist pre-school, along with the fact progression in the education system meant special needs children went to mainstream schools, led to the closure of the facility.

It launched a ‘Play & Stay’ group but that did not prove to be a “sound use” of the charity’s funds, the organisation said.

Since then, the trustees have been looking at the level and type of educational and developmental need there was amongst young children in the local area, and it became apparent that, particularly following the pandemic years, the greatest was in the development of speech and language.

It says that some youngsters “have specific additional needs or disabilities which cause language” difficulties or delay, but there are also some who are struggling both socially and educationally when they start school simply because of developmental delay in speech and language.

The project aims to help both these groups of young children, with ten local pre-schools taking part in the project which started at the end of April and will initially run for a year.

The programme is being led by two “inspirational and enthusiastic” speech and language therapists, Helen Gibbons and Jennifer Done, who are already, says First Opportunities, “reporting promising results”.

A spokesperson for the charity said: “We remain grateful for all the local support offered to us over the years, and we’re pleased to be able to continue helping these children in need.”

For more information, email firstopps@hotmail.com