Time to Talk Book

Helps 4-6-Year-old pupils to gain access to the curriculum and develop friendships. School can be a frustrating and confusing experience for children who have not developed their communication skills. Access to the curriculum may be difficult, as will developing co-operative skills and friendships. Time to Talk has been developed to teach and develop oral language and social interaction skills to young children. Containing 40 sessions, designed to take place 2 or 3 times a week, Time to Talk will help you teach and develop the ‘rules’ of interaction with the help of Ginger Bear who features in all the activities.

The skills taught include:

• Eye Contact
• Turn Taking
• Sharing
• Greetings
• Awareness of Feelings
• Giving and Following Instructions
• Listening
• Attention

The Time to Talk Game teaches and reinforces essential language and social skills through the fun of a board game involving Ginger Bear, her family and friends. this enjoyable game encourages effective social interactions by providing children with opportunities to improve their receptive and expressive language, listening skills, self-esteem and awareness of their own and others’ feelings.

The Time to Talk Game is easily adaptable and can serve as an introduction to these key areas for younger children, or provide an entertaining way to improve communication skills in older children who are struggling with their social interactions. Through a variety of thought-provoking activities such as performing everyday actions, role-play, exploring emotions and providing information about themselves, children practice vital social skills including:

• Listening
• Eye contact
• Role-play
• Telephoning
• Non-verbal communication
• Asking and answering questions
• Engaging in basic conversations
• Building and maintaining friendships
• Understanding feelings
• Showing an interest and responding appropriately
• Developing an awareness of self and others
• Turn-taking
• Joint attention
• Pretend Play