Seminars on language development are enjoyable and engaging.
In the autumn, educational meetings were held in Hafnarfjörður for parents of children aged 6-24 months, which had the important aim of educating parents of young children about language development and stimulation, and the connection between language development and literacy. Many expressed their satisfaction with the initiative, considering the meetings educational and informative, and encouraged the organisers to hold such meetings regularly.
In autumn
Educational meetings were held for parents of children aged 6-24 months in
Harbour facilities which had the important purpose of educating parents of young children about
language development and language stimulation, and the relationship between language development and literacy. The project is part of
Hafnarfjörður's literacy policy; Reading is the game of life and to discuss
a collaborative project of the City of Hafnarfjörður, the Hafnarfjörður Public Library and
The Health Service in Hafnarfjörður. In total, 10 educational meetings were held, one in
for each school district and two meetings were interpreted, one in English and the other in
Polish.
Educational and informative meetings for everyone
involved
Parents and
Guardians of 457 children were invited to attend an information session in their local area, but in total
116 individuals attended, and there were quite a few interested parent couples. At the end of each
After the meeting, participants completed a short survey about the training. 77% of respondents considered the training
very useful and 21% quite useful. Many expressed their satisfaction with the initiative,
they found the meetings educational and informative and encouraged relatives to have
such educational meetings regularly. „We aim for continued cooperation on
the development of children's speech and language, and it is hoped that it will be possible to offer
such an educational meeting for the parents of the youngest children annually. Parents mentioned it
especially realising for themselves that it is by no means a given that parents have the knowledge.
and that it is important to help, for example, new parents in this specialised way.
Parenting in such a way that children are encouraged in their speech development from a young age and intervention is made earlier.
“in case it is needed," says Bjartey Sigurðardóttir, a speech and language therapist and
Project manager Reading is the game of life. 75.31% of participants in a course say
will read more often to their child after the course, 77.6% pay more attention to conversation and
in their communication with their child, 69.41% will pay better attention to the time spent on
Smartphone use and 68.21% of participants say they are going to monitor more closely.
the children's speech and language development.
A slide presentation from the training sessions is available. Here
The results of a survey of parents can be found Here
Pamphlets on the importance of reading
Booklets about the importance of reading to children have now been published. The leaflets, which are linked to the literacy strategy of Hafnarfjörður, will be available in many places, for example in nurseries, health centres, with childminders, at after-school clubs and at Hafnarfjörður Library. The leaflet is available in Icelandic, English and Polish.