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Let's Play in Tandem

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Evidence rating: 3+
Cost rating: 3

Let’s Play in Tandem is a school-readiness programme for children aged three living in socially disadvantaged communities. It aims to improve children’s cognitive development and self-regulation.

The programme runs for 12 months, and is typically delivered through Sure Start Children’s Centres.

Each family is assigned a project worker who visits the family in their home each week for 90 to 120 minutes. They deliver a pack of three educational activities to develop pre-reading and numerical skills, and promote vocabulary and general knowledge. The activities are demonstrated by the project worker to the family during visits, and are designed to facilitate one-on-one verbal interaction and to teach parents key scaffolding skills, including how to prompt, provide instructions and encourage their child. The activities specifically focus on school readiness in terms of children’s knowledge (name, address, colours), numeracy, listening and communication.

EIF Programme Assessment

Evidence rating: 3+
Level 3 indicates evidence of efficacy. This means the programme can be described as evidence-based: it has evidence from at least one rigorously conducted RCT or QED demonstrating a statistically significant positive impact on at least one child outcome. This programme does not receive a rating of 4 as it has not yet replicated its results in another rigorously conducted study, where at least one study indicates long-term impacts, and at least one uses measures independent of study participants.
Cost rating: 3
A rating of 3 indicates that a programme has a medium cost to set up and deliver, compared with other interventions reviewed by EIF. This is equivalent to an estimated unit cost of €600 – €1199. This figure is based on an analysis of UK costs and a conversion rate of 1.19.

What does the plus mean?

The plus rating indicates that this programme has evidence from at least one level 3 study, along with evidence from other studies rated 2 or better.

Child outcomes

This programme can affect outcomes for children in Active and healthy, physical and mental wellbeing.

According to the best available evidence for this programme's impact, it can achieve the following positive outcomes for children:

Supporting children's mental health and wellbeing

Improved personal and social skills

based on study 1

  • Statement: 0.3-point improvement on the personal and social skills subscale of the Four Counties Phase Profile
  • Score: 20
  • Timeframe: 4 months later

Enhancing school achievement & employment

Improved knowledge

based on study 1

  • Statement: Improvement on measures of academic ability in nursery
  • Score: 0
  • Timeframe: Immediately after the intervention

Improved pre-reading skills

based on study 1

  • Statement: Improvement on measures of academic ability in nursery
  • Score: 0
  • Timeframe: Immediately after the intervention

Improved numerical skills

based on study 1

  • Statement: Improvement on measures of academic ability in nursery
  • Score: 0
  • Timeframe: Immediately after the intervention

Improved listening and communication

based on study 1

  • Statement: 0.6-point improvement on the listening and communication subscale of the Four Counties Phase Profile
  • Score: 25
  • Timeframe: 4 months later

Improved writing

based on study 1

  • Statement: 0.6-point improvement on the writing subscale of the Four Counties Phase Profile
  • Score: 28
  • Timeframe: 4 months later

Improved mathematics

based on study 1

  • Statement: 0.7-point improvement on the mathematics subscale of the Four Counties Phase Profile
  • Score: 33
  • Timeframe: 4 months later

Improved vocabulary

based on study 1

  • Statement: 7.8-point improvement on the British Picture Vocabulary Scales
  • Score: 26
  • Timeframe: 4 months later

Improved inhibitory control

based on study 1

  • Statement: Improvement on measures of inhibitory control developed by Carlson & Moses
  • Score: 0
  • Timeframe: 4 months later

This programme also has evidence of supporting positive outcomes for couples, parents or families that may be relevant to a commissioning decision. Please see About the evidence for more detail.

Who is it for?

The best available evidence for this programme relates to the following age-groups:

Preschool

How is it delivered?

The best available evidence for this programme relates to implementation through these delivery models:

  • Home visiting

Where is it delivered?

The best available evidence for this programme relates to its implementation in these settings:

  • Home

How is it targeted?

The best available evidence for this programme relates to its implementation as:

  • Targeted selective

Where has it been implemented?

  • United Kingdom
  • Wales

Ireland provision

This programme has not been implemented in Ireland.

Ireland evaluation

This programme’s best evidence does not include evaluation conducted in Ireland.

About the programme

What happens during the delivery?

How is it delivered?

  • Let’s Play Tandem is delivered by one practitioner (QCF-3) to individuals.
  • Let’s Play in Tandem is delivered over 40 sessions, of one hour duration each. 

What happens during the intervention?

  • Individual families are assigned a project worker who visits the family in their home each week for 90 to 120 minutes.
  • Project workers deliver a pack of three educational activities to develop pre-reading and numerical skills, and promote vocabulary and general knowledge.
  • The activities are demonstrated by the project worker to the family during visits, and are designed to facilitate one-on-one verbal interaction and to teach parents key scaffolding skills, including how to prompt, provide instructions and encourage their child.
  • The activities specifically focus on school readiness in terms of children’s knowledge (name, address, colours), numeracy, listening and communication.

What are the implementation requirements?

Who can deliver it?

  • Let’s Play in Tandem is delivered by one practitioner with NFQ-5 qualifications.


What are the training requirements?

  • The practitioners receive and 35 hours of programme training. Booster training of practitioners is not recommended.

How are the practitioners supervised?

It is recommended that the practitioner should be supervised by three supervisors (two from the host agency and one programme developer supervisor), all with NFQ-7/8 level qualifications.


What are the systems for maintaining fidelity?

  • Other printed material
  • Face-to-face training
  • Supervision

Is there a licensing requirement?

There is no licence required to run this programme.


How does it work? (Theory of Change)

How does it work?

  • Let’s Play in Tandem is based on the assumption that school readiness can be improved by targeting cognitive development and cognitive self-regulation.
  • Families learn through activities, which are intended to develop pre-reading skills (eg phonological awareness, perceptual discrimination), basic numerical skills (eg understanding of size and quantity, counting to 10), and the child’s general knowledge.
  • In the short term, Let’s Play in Tandem aims to develop parents’ scaffolding skills (eg prompting; providing instructions; encouragement) that foster the child’s learning with regards to numeracy, reading and vocabulary.
  • In the long term, Let’s Play in Tandem intends to improve school readiness and academic performance.

Intended outcomes


Contact details

Ruth Ford
ruth.ford@anglia.ac.uk
http://www.anglia.ac.uk/science-and-technology/about/psychology/our-staff/ruth-ford


About the evidence

Let’s Play in Tandem’s most rigorous evidence comes from an RCT which was conducted in the UK. 

This study identified statistically significant positive impact on a number of child outcomes.

This programme is underpinned by one study with a Level 3, hence the programme receives a Level 3 rating overall.

Study 1

Citation:Ford, R., McDougall, S., & Evans, D. (2009)
Design:RCT
Country:United Kingdom
Sample:73 children and their mothers, predominantly receiving benefits
Timing:Post-test; four-month follow-up
Child outcomes:
  • Improved personal and social skills
  • Improved knowledge
  • Improved pre-reading skills
  • Improved numerical skills
  • Improved listening and communication
  • Improved writing
  • Improved mathematics
  • Improved vocabulary
  • Improved inhibitory control
Other outcomes:
    Study rating:3

    Ford, R., McDougall, S., & Evans, D. (2009). Parent-delivered compensatory education for children at risk of educational failure: Improving the academic and self-regulatory skills of a Sure Start preschool sample.  British Journal of Psychology, 100, 773-798.

    Available at
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19261208

    Study design and sample

    The first study is a rigorously conducted RCT.  

    This study involved random assignment of children and their mothers to a treatment group and a business-as-usual control group

    This study was conducted in the UK, with a sample 73 children and their mothers, predominantly receiving unemployment or sickness benefits. The majority (90%) of children were of White ethnicity. 

    Measures

    Child general knowledge, pre-reading skills, and numerical skills were measured using the Nursery tests of academic ability (direct assessment). Child school readiness (Listening and communication, responding to stimuli, reading, writing, number, mathematics, personal and social skills) was measured using the Four Counties Foundation Phase Profile (teacher report). Child receptive vocabulary was measured using the British Picture Vocabulary Scale (direct assessment). Child verbal short-term memory was measured using the British Ability Scales (direct assessment). Child inhibitory control was measured using the Carlson and Moses test (direct assessment). Child theory of mind was measured using the Sally-Ann test (direct assessment), deceptive-box test (direct assessment), and Linda’s false belief test (direct assessment).

    Findings

    This study identified statistically significant positive impact on a number of child outcomes.

    This includes:

    • Knowledge
    • Pre-reading skills
    • Numerical skills
    • Listening and communication
    • Writing
    • Mathematics
    • Personal and social skills
    • Vocabulary
    • Inhibitory control
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