Welcome to Better Communication CIC
Supporting change in systems so that children and young people, and their families, are helped by the right people, in the right place at the right time.
Better Communication is a Community Interest Company - a not-for-profit organisation which was initially formed to support the implementation of change in the commissioning and provision of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) but has evolved to also work across other areas of need that benefit from the Balanced System® approach. Better Communication CIC is committed to enhancing the evidence base around the factors which really make a difference in terms of impact for children and young people.
Our aim is simple: to make the best use of resources to ensure that the right people work with the right children in the right place and at the right time.
Better Communication CIC was established by Marie Gascoigne in 2011 in order to provide a focus to bring together a team of associates with a wide range of expertise and backgrounds in order to provide, commissioners, provider organisations, leaders and practitioners with access to training, advice and support to implement change.
The work of Better Communication CIC uses the Balanced System® Framework. The Balanced System® is an outcomes-based, whole system approach to the delivery of integrated services developed by Marie Gascoigne over the past twenty years. The core concepts remain true but the framework and supporting resources have continued to develop in response to the changing context and requests to consider new applications.
The Balanced System® Schools and Settings accreditation scheme was established in 2014 in partnership with NAPLIC and Afasic. In 2020, the Balanced System® Pathway Tool was developed as part of the Early Outcomes Fund project in the East Midlands with Nottingham, Derby and Leicester Cities. This has since expanded to include Worcestershire and further areas are in the process of moving to using the Pathway as a means of supporting parents and practitioners to find the resources and advice most relevant to them. Work is currently underway to develop a platform to support services, schools, settings, parents and carers to capture impact of support across the integrated system - Prove it! will be available in the autumn of 2024.
Better Communication CIC and Concept Cat
Better Communication CIC has been commissioned by the Education Endowment Foundation to be responsible for the delivery of a randomised control trial for the Concept Cat intervention that forms part of Word Aware 2. Concept Cat authors Stephen Parsons and Anna Branagan will be supporting a team of Concept Cat Coaches to delivery the programme in Early Years settings in the Midlands (via the Heart Stronger Practice Hub (SPH)), Greater Manchester (via the Bright Futures SPH) and the North West (SPH to be confirmed).
For more information about the Concept Cat EEF trial please also see the Concept Cat page
