2012 is going to be pretty special

I have a feeling that 2012 is going to be pretty special, I think it’s going to be a year where people, communities and society as a whole, come together to connect, talk and celebrate.

I believe that both the Queens Jubilee and the Olympics will be tremendously positive occasions that will bring out the best in people and give communities an opportunity to unite.

I know some people may scoff at the fuss and pour scorn on my optimistic outlook but I really do believe that something very special is going to happen this year!

Fink are planning a pretty spectacular year

Here at Fink we are planning a pretty spectacular year too – as you may know, Fink won £50,000 of investment from Village Capital just before Christmas and boy, are we excited about that!

This money will enable us to do great things; we want to get many, many people talking!

I know I have said it before but it’s worth saying again – conversation has a lot to offer, we can learn, grow, connect and strengthen relationships – all from a simply talking!

In 2012 we want to get communities talking

In 2012 we want to get communities talking, we want to get people, especially young people, talking about the communities they live in – what works, what doesn’t, what needs to happen – and more importantly – what can they do to make the place they live better!

Community Conversations Project

Throughout January we are going to be talking about communities in more detail with a project called Community Conversations – we are going to be talking to lots of people including politicians, police, business and religious leaders and asking questions about how we improve our communities.

Get young people talking about their future

We also want to get young people talking about their future, I am sure you were as shocked as me to see the rise in youth unemployment. We want to start conversations about employment and enterprise!

These are substantial projects for us, we know they are important conversations, but whilst we focus on getting people talking on a bigger scale we are not forgetting that FINK stands for Family Interaction Nurtures Kids.

Three new editions launching this year just for families

We have 3 new editions launching this year just for families – we plan to start some amazing conversations with mums, dads and grandparents. I am so excited about the questions we have written– and even more excited about conversation and memories they are going to create.

As you can see, 2012 is going to be a spectacular year and I am eager to get going.

Please join us

Please join us, we have lots to talk about, you can get involved in the conversation and follow our adventure on Twitter or Facebook

Wishing you all the best for 2012

Lisa

Being a great communicator is not a gift, it is a skill – what makes us great is practice. Fink Cards are a range of conversation cards that help people become more confident communicators.  

I am delighted to introduce you to Fiona Marshall, founder of www.notmassproduced.com and www.tastia.com AND Village Capital winner!

In addition to being a thoroughly lovely person and a worthy winner Fiona’s business is making a real impact. Her two websites showcase the work of amazing artisans.  She is passionate about connecting talented producers and artisans with consumers.

Here is Fiona talking about why she started her business

“I originally trained as an Intellectual Property Lawyer specialising in Trade Marks before taking time out to have a family. Over the years I became more concerned and interested in the effects of globalisation and the damaging impact on the environment.

These concerns prompted me to begin a mission to promote and support small-scale producers which I believe benefits more people than mass production by the few and will benefit society as a whole.

Consumers have more power as buyers than they do as voters. If we support small producers we can change what is essentially, a broken system which has created massive debt, unemployment and wealth for the few.

I want to change the way things are produced – locally instead of thousands of miles away – and to change people’s spending habits. To do this I have created two websites which help artisans sell their products more easily and bring great products to consumers in a sustainable way.”

Please, please check out these two amazing sites, if your quick you even finish off your Christmas shopping!

http://www.notmassproduced.com and  
http://www.tastia.com 


I have exciting news! Fink Cards has won £50,000 of investment

It goes without saying that I am absolutely delighted. This is a really big deal for us as it means we can scale up to create a bigger, better business and more importantly make more of an impact getting children and families talking.

It wasn’t easy though; the competition was tough, I was up against 5 amazing social businesses

It has been a rigorous process and over a period of 12 weeks I have worked hard to make my business stronger. To be honest it’s not just my business that has been made stronger by the process, it has changed me too.

The Programme is called Village Capital and it uses the power of peer support to build enterprises that change the world.  It was founded by an amazing individual called Ross Baird who set out to solve the problem that too many world-changing enterprises can’t get off the ground because of the lack of investment options. The programme aims to give social entrepreneurs the skills and resources to get their businesses ready for investment.

Peer support is such an important element to this programme that not only did the entrepreneurs support each other when it came down to deciding the winners of the 2 investment prizes of £50,000 it was the peers who voted for the winner.

This is why it means so much to me!

Over the next couple of days I want to introduce you Village Capital’s other winner, Fiona Marshall, founder of www.notmassedproduced.com and to my peers and their incredible businesses, Nigel from Mdiagostica, Jules from Our Health Mobile and Maryam from www.mysupportbroker.com

I also want to introduce you to the organisations and individuals that are responsible for bringing Village Capital to London, including Merism Capital Hub Venture Labs and Hub Westminister

I have so much to tell you!

I was truly lost for words when I received notification from Janey Lee Grace that I was selected as the Winner of the Janey Loves 2011 Platinum Awards after a few people had kindly nominated me.

After detailed scrutiny by Janey and their panel of experts, and some seriously stiff competition I was chosen as a winner for the Best Innovative Family Product: “Its brillant that these encouraged conversation at our family dinner table, looking forward to using the Teen edition too !”

Well it’s great to know that my products have made a big impact on the way families are communicating and THAT is my main aim and very proud of it.

Thanks very much to Janey for the opportunity.

You can view Janey’s site at www.janeyleegrace.com.

We have always believed that communication is the key to children reaching their potential so we were delighted to support the National Year of communication in highlighting their Hello campaign.

This month we have devoted our blog and social media activity to the campaign. We have learnt so much this month about children’s speech and language development, including what is normal and what to do if there is a problem. It has been wonderful to share with you so many of the free resources available at www.hello.org.uk and we hope you have found the information useful too!

But it’s not over yet, as we mentioned yesterday there is much more to come from the campaign as they continue their mission make communication for all children and young people a priority in homes and schools across the UK so that they can live life to the full. 

Keep in touch with the campaign by signing up for their newsletter or stay tuned and we will bring you all the regular updates and news from the campaign.

Our month of activity for the Hello campaign is drawing to a close but the national year doesn’t end here, have a sneaky peek at what is to come:

September – Back to school
Speech and language skills are vital in the classroom. Language is the way that teachers teach and children learn.

October – Not just words
Some children have little or no speech. They use facial expressions, signing, symbols or computer aides to communicate with others.

November – Celebrating communication
Our ability to communicate is something to celebrate – it’s what makes humans unique!!

December – Talk to the future
Children with severe and complex communication difficulties will struggle for life, not just in 2011.

For more details of the campaign click here where you can download a handy ‘zig zag’ calendar which you can print off and fold to fit into your pocket or alternatively download an A4 calendar which you can print off, put up in your home, office or classroom and add your own events and activities.

It isn’t easy to see and recognise what happens beneath the surface of children’s communication.

Being able to listen, pay attention, play and understand are the fundamental building blocks of communication.

Adults play a crucial role in supporting these skills. If a child can’t listen and understand, they’ll struggle to talk.

We’ve developed brand new FREE resources to encourage listening, understanding, interaction and play.  For pre-school children, Listen Up 0-5, includes a card game with fun activities and advice on how parents and early year’s workers can use the resource.

Remember fortune tellers from the school playground? The folded up square pieces of paper that you control with your fingers and thumbs? Well you will when you see it! For school aged children Listen Up 5-11 includes a fun fortune teller with activity cards. These short and simple activities can be done easily and quickly with no resources or with everyday things.

Please note that we are currently out of stock on the 0-5 version, however you can order 1 copy of the 5-11 version by clicking here. Orders will take up to 10 working days to arrive.

There is a limit to one pack per family, however if you require further copies please e-mail hello@thecommunicationtrust.org.uk and please state which pack you require.

Or to download the packs please follow the links below:

Listen Up – for parents and practitioners working with children aged 0-5

Listen Up – for parents and practitioners working with children aged 5-11

I can’t believe our month of activity for the Hello campaign is almost over, we have learnt so much over the past month about the important role communication plays in children’s development.

I want to say a massive thank you to all the people who have contributed: -

• Sue Atkins
• Fiona Stachan
• Carole Anne Rice
• Erica Douglas
• The Big Family Challenge

Over one million children in the UK have some kind of speech language and communication needs. This is known as ‘SLCN’ for short.

Every child is different. Their needs depend on different factors, including:

• Which areas of speech, language and communication they struggle with?
• How severely these areas are affected?
• What skills and strengths they have?
• How they need to use their skills?
• Their level of confidence and self-esteem?

This section gives a general introduction to the kinds of needs children may have. Some information may not be relevant to your child.

Within this section we will look broadly at four areas of needs:

• Difficulties with speech sounds.
• Difficulties with understanding language. Also known as receptive skills.
• Difficulties with producing language. Also known as expressive skills.
• Difficulties with using language appropriately in context. Also known as social skills or pragmatic skills.

Some children may have difficulty in only one of these areas. Others may have difficulty in more than one.

Some children may have difficulties that can be helped quite easily. Others may have greater needs. Some children will have life-long difficulties that will affect them significantly.

Sometimes children develop their skills in the usual way, but at a slower rate. This is often called a ‘delay’ or ‘delayed speech and language development’.

Sometimes children may have specific difficulties with speech and language, and this is called ‘SLI’, which stands for specific language impairment. Read more about SLI here.

The SLI Handbook is a book written by I Can and Afasic that explain what a Specific Language Impairment is, it gives advice and support and shows where to go for further information. 

What you need to know about Specific Language Impairment. What it means, looks, feels and sounds like, and how to get help. 

To order your copy here.