Information for parents

WellComm is a speech and language toolkit used by early years and primary practitioners, such as nursery workers, health visitors and teachers, to identify any speech and language difficulties quickly and easily, in early years and primary school pupils, so that appropriate support can be provided.

An important part of WellComm is the age-appropriate Big Book of Ideas providing a total of over 150 instant, play-based activities so appropriate action can be taken straight away. Activities can be used with parents at home too, so that support is provided whether or not a child is referred to a speech and language therapist.

WellComm Early Years is suitable for use with children from the age of 6 months to 6 years, and can be used to identify any speech or language delays early, as this is key to the progressive development of a young child’s overall development. WellComm Primary is used with pupils aged 6 years to 11 years with the aim of enabling primary school practitioners to identify pupils who may have speech, language and social communication needs and minimise any identified difficulties through implementing appropriate interventions. WellComm Digital covers both toolkits and so can be used with children from 6 months to 11 years.

The first part of WellComm is the Screening Tool, which involves the diagnostic assessments used to evaluate the child’s language skills, allowing administrators to draw up a detailed profile. From this, informed judgments can be made about children who require close attention and support from within their own setting, and children who might benefit from referral to an outside agency for additional support.

Children are screened using a combination of techniques – observation, discussion with the parent/s and screening by asking the child to complete a variety of tasks. This ensures that the results obtained and the conclusions drawn are more accurate than using one approach alone. It is also fun and motivating for the children.

Once children are screened, they are given a colour-code according to their overall score:

The second part of WellComm is the Big Book of Ideas, which provides focused teaching and intervention activities to meet the individual needs of each child.  Through The Big Book of Ideas, WellComm provides a large number of bespoke, fun and practical intervention activities for use with children across the entire age range, which are designed to stimulate and improve the speech and language skills of all children at all levels.

WellComm is not a timed assessment administered under formal conditions; rather, it consists of a number of interactive and entertaining activities for children, which are used to draw up a profile from which appropriate interventions, such as activities from the Big Book of Ideas, can be introduced.

We advise against any practicing or training in order to get a fair assessment of the student’s abilities at that moment in time.

If you have any concerns or questions about the test, please contact your school. Please note that only schools and certain qualified professionals can buy the WellComm assessment.