Success Week: We seize the child at the first opportunity

Intervene to ensure the well-being of children

This school year, 44 of the 374 first-year pupils in Hafnarfjörður have received help after Reading for Year 1 was submitted in the autumn term.

„We referred sixteen of them for a full speech and language assessment, in addition to which 14 children had their pronunciation analysed and were referred for speech therapy,“ says Bjartey Sigurðardóttir, project manager of Lestur er lífsins leikur, a speech and language therapist. She says the project makes teachers more aware of their pupils' situation, which is very important when it comes to supporting language development and literacy.

Provide help after screening

The project Early intervention in Year 1 is one of nearly 30 resources available in the City of Hafnarfjörður's toolkit to ensure the well-being of our children. The project aims to identify, at the start of the school year, those pupils who may need further assessment and/or support with their speech and language development and literacy, and to provide appropriate intervention.

„This is important because language development and literacy are the foundation for all learning,“ says Bjartey. Children start school at different levels of readiness. „There are many reasons for this, but we meet them where they are and provide them with appropriate intervention.“ Bjartey says there is good collaboration between the nursery and primary schools in the town, and that information about the children's progress and any previous interventions is passed on with them between stages of education.

Find the children and support the teachers

„But we monitor them in Year 1 to identify the children who might need further assessment,“ she says, adding that they ensure form tutors are aware of their pupils' previous assessments and that the advice previously given is being followed.

Reading for Year 1 is introduced in all primary schools in Hafnarfjörður in October. Particular attention is paid to aspects relating to language development, pronunciation and the foundational elements of literacy. A more detailed screening is then carried out where it is deemed necessary.

„The project first got underway in the 2021-2022 academic year and has proven its worth, because despite the good work in the nurseries, there always seem to be some pupils who need further assessment and intervention.“

Well-being Week in Hafnarfjörður

Well-being Week is currently taking place in the capital region. The aim is to draw parents' attention to the municipalities' new way of working, for the benefit of the children. Various specialists are now working together to ensure the children receive the right support at all times.

„I am extremely pleased with this way of working of ours; Early intervention in Year 1, because I feel it does a great deal of good,“ says Bjartey. The interventions are of varying degrees.

„It is also very important to educate parents about language development and ways to support it. It is so rewarding to see parents becoming more aware of how crucial language development is for all learning, and to give them the tools to support this important aspect of their children's development.“

• See all about child well-being here

See courses related to language development in the primary and nursery schools of the City of Hafnarfjörður.

Course – nursery school

• Supporting the Icelandic language learning of multilingual nursery children – practical advice for daily work
• The youngest children in the nurseries
• Language development and stimulation for young children (daycare)
• The Foundation for Literacy – Effective Phonological Awareness Training in the Nursery School
• What is Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) – symptoms, manifestations and practical advice
• Parent education on the fundamentals of language and literacy
• The pronunciation of nursery children

Course – primary school
The primary school's courses are often related to work on literacy (literacy is based on language development).

• Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) – symptoms and practical advice
• Vocabulary development and its importance for reading comprehension
• Working with vocabulary in all subjects
• Working with vocabulary programmes
• Training on language development and literacy for support assistants and teaching assistants
• Working in language stimulation groups
• Enhancing basic vocabulary using vocabulary posters
• Language stimulation in after-school clubs