Table 3 Workshop descriptors of the behaviours targeted and intervention techniques used in the research literature

Shared/dialogic book-reading

Share an age-appropriate book with your child for 10–15 min per day for 5 or more times per week. While sharing the book

 1. Ask open questions like ‘where, who what……..’

 2. Avoid questions where your child might answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or just point

 3. When your child answers, follow up with another question

 4. Follow the child’s interests in the book

 5. Praise them for good answers and ideas

 6. Expand what the child says—so if they say ‘ball’, you say ‘yes, a big ball’

• You are given gifts of age-appropriate books

• You watch the Health Visitor show you how to share the book using the recommended behaviours

• While you share the book using the recommended behaviours, you are videoed and then you and the Health Visitor look at the video together and see what you might change

• You attend a group at a community centre or library to work with other parents to learn the recommended techniques for book sharing—you watch videos of other parents sharing books with their child and discuss what they might change

• You are phoned weekly to see how you are doing

• You are given a leaflet describing the techniques to use when sharing books with your child

• You are asked to keep a diary of when, where and for how long you share a book with your child

• The Health Visitor explains to you how shared book reading benefits your child

Responsive/contingent interaction

During every day activities and routines, you are asked to communicate with your child in a ‘responsive’ way by

 1. Following the child’s lead and interests

 2. Pausing and waiting to see what they are interested in

 3. Listening, watching and responding to their communication—these may be words, points, sounds or movements

 4. Describe what your child is doing

 5. If they say anything, imitate and expand what they have said—so if the say ‘shoe’, say ‘yes, that’s Molly’s shoe’

 6. Have fun, and show them you are having fun

• You are given gifts of age-appropriate toys which will help you to follow their lead. You watch the Health Visitor show you how to play with your child using the recommended ‘responsive communication’ behaviours

• While you play with your child using the recommended ‘responsive communication’ behaviours, you are videoed and then you and the Health Visitor look at the video together and see what you might change

• You attend a group at a community centre or library to work with other parents to learn the recommended techniques for ‘responsive communication’; you watch videos of other parents playing with their child and discuss what they might change

• You are phoned weekly to see how you are doing

• You are given a leaflet describing the responsive communication behaviours to use when playing or in everyday activities with your child

• You are asked to set aside 15 min per day to practice this responsive communication and to keep a diary of when, where and for how long you manage to do this

• The Health Visitor explains to you how shared book reading benefits your child

• You have a wristband—like a fit bit—which records how much you say to your child and you get a daily report

• You and the Health Visitor make a plan together about the best times in the day and activities to practice this responsive communication

• You and the Health Visitor reflect on how things have gone this week and what you might change

• You are given fridge magnets to help you to remember how to be a responsive communicator with your child

• You are asked to teach a close family member how to be a responsive communicator and to support you

• Over the weeks you create a library of you and your child playing and communicating to look back over and share with your family

• You are helped to identify resources in your local community where you can get help and advice, meet other parents and where your child can experience play with other children

Focussed stimulation

1) Work with a practitioner to choose a language goal for your child—this can be target sentences or target words.

2) Identify activities in the day to use that target sentence or target words with your child

3) Set up play activities to encourage your child to use the target words or sentences.

4) Ask your child to follow instructions and copy you saying these words or sentences.

• You watch the professional show you how to play with your child using focussed stimulation

• While you play with your child using the recommended ‘focussed stimulation’ you are videoed and then you and the professional look at the video together and see what you might change

• You attend a group at a community centre or library to work with other parents to learn the recommended techniques for focussed stimulation—you problem solve how to create play situations to encourage certain kinds of words and sentences

• You are helped to plan games to play with your child to encourage certain kinds of words and sentences

• You agree goals to work on over the next two weeks—choosing games to play and how often to try them

• You are asked to think back and reflect on how well you have done over the past fortnight and think about things you might change

• You receive toys in the post with a newsletter explaining how to play to encourage certain target language structures appropriate for your child’s age