What is TWiTCH?
Experts say that the best way for children to develop language skills is for the adults around them to really listen to them and have a meaningful conversation with them. That’s what the Talk With Tales for Children (TWiTCH) programme is all about. It uses story time to interact with children, using repeated reading and games and activities to create the perfect environment for children to develop their language.
In the TWiTCH programme we coach practitioners to use specific language structures to engage children in meaningful conversations that supports their language development.
The programme is based on popular fairy tales which have simple story lines, and many children are already familiar with them. They also feature moral dilemmas and opportunities to discuss what the characters are doing and why. Over time, this means children develop more advanced language skills as they give (and justify) their reasons for what happens in the stories. The TWiTCH programme takes place in story time sessions.
TWiTCH draws on the principles of dialogic pedagogy (teaching through dialogue) by using the dilemmas and moral concepts in stories as the basis for discussion and activity.
The adult uses facilitative rather than directive questioning approaches to develop children’s language and thinking skills. For example: practitioners might ask children to discuss ‘Do you need to have superpowers to be a hero?’.
Through TWiTCH training, practitioners learn how to use a clearly structured intervention that builds on familiar early years practice (storytime and small group work) to improve the quality and quantity of adult-child interactions, leading to improvements in the vocabulary and complexity of children’s language and their ability to express opinions.
Why dialogic reading?
Young children entering school with poor oral vocabulary skills may be “doubly disadvantaged.” Their poor oral vocabulary skills will likely impede their attempts to become proficient readers while also possibly increasing the frequency of their problem behaviours. Dialogic Reading is a scientifically validated shared storybook reading intervention that is known to boost at risk children’s oral vocabulary skills. As such, use of Dialogic Reading is one potential way to help children avoid both later reading failure and the negative outcomes associated with poor behaviour.’
(Morgan & Meier, 2018).
Case Studies
Case Study 1
“Child A has selective mutism and only talks at home with her dad. At present we are looking at ways to develop her confidence in communication skills within the setting. During the Twitch programme, child A really started to get involved with the actions as well as the extensions, such as role play set up in the classroom on week 3. During the story sessions, child A benefited in seeing intonation of the new words introduced and started to copy their peers. From this, it helped her confidence in joining in with those around her, as she could take what she had learnt expressively and use it to initiate the set play around the story.”
Case Study 2
“At the start of the programme we had a staff member who was not overly enthusiastic about delivering the programme due to confidence and having the roleplay. To help several more confident practitioners did a master class on each section and then encouraged the staff member to try various ideas herself. Our TWiTCH Coach also came and provided a demonstration, which provided valuable insight. From this, the staff member’s delivery has improved overall.”
Testimonials
“Since accessing TWiTCH every day, he can hold a full conversation with staff and other children within the setting and expresses his wants and needs throughout the day.”
“When she started with speech it wasn’t clear but now, she speaks freely and clearly, and gives a reason.”
“She initially had low confidence and was really quiet but after listening to practitioner’s model language she has become more confident.”
“I am really pleased how their speech has progressed and given them confidence to speak their minds.”