An app for children in Greater Manchester to access early years development support has been extended to support those with speech and language difficulties.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has added a capability to the Early Years App for the digital completion of WellComm assessments, which screen children for problems with speech and language and help practitioners provide the relevant support.
This makes it possible to share assessment data between relevant staff in local authorities and health services, and there are plans to extend its use to private, voluntary and independent settings.
GMCA said the extension has also increased the age range of children up to primary school age, and provided quicker access to the data to support the earlier identification of any developmental needs a child may have.
The new function has become available for use by early education practitioners in Rochdale, which with Bury is one of two boroughs to deploy the app so far for digital assessment of young childrens’ development.
Streamlining services
Cllr Eamonn O’Brien, GMCA lead for employment, skills and digital, said: “In Greater Manchester we continue to invest in digital transformation that benefits our residents. The extension of the existing Early Years App into early education settings is helping to join up our public services and is a great example of using digital to streamline and make our services more efficient.”
Since the original Early Years App was launched in 2020 it has been used for 40,000 digital assessments.
