Evaluation of Infant Language Link: an intervention aiming to improve expressive and receptive language skills among children aged 5-6

INTERVENTION: This trial is evaluating the Infant Language Link intervention. Pupils in schools randomly allocated to the intervention group will receive the programme, which uses a standardised universal screening tool to assess pupil ability in language and communication. The results are used to determine whether additional support is required through small group or one‐to‐one sessions delivered by teaching assistants, who receive training from the developer in the form of two 90‐minute webinars. Teachers at intervention schools also attend two online training sessions. All delivery takes place at school during normal lesson times. Pupils in control schools continue to be taught under business‐as‐usual conditions. Randomisation will be conducted at the school level to minimise spillover risk. The procedure will be conducted using the ‘stratarand’ command in Stata. All schools will be allocated at the same time. Three stratifiers will be used, specifically whether a school: is/not (1/0) in an Education Investment Area, does/not (1/0) use any relevant interventions (such as NELI, Wellcomm and Talk Boost), and uses external speech and language therapy support. CONDITION: Expressive and receptive language ; Not Applicable PRIMARY OUTCOME: Impact of Infant Language Link on language and communication skills in pupils measured using a combined measure derived from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals ‐ Fifth Edition (CELF‐5) receptive and expressive language subtests and the Renfrew Action Picture Test (RAPT) at the end of Year 1 SECONDARY OUTCOME: Impact of Infant Language Link on language and communication skills in pupils measured using the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals ‐ Fifth Edition (CELF 5) receptive and expressive language subtests and the Renfrew Action Picture Test (RAPT) as separate measures at the end of Year 1 INCLUSION CRITERIA: All maintained mainstream schools with pupils in the appropriate age range can take part provided that they have not already used the Infant Language Link intervention.