Promoting early language development in the Arab world and Sustainable Development Goals 3, 4, 10 and 17.

Purpose: This commentary describes a multi-national project which addresses gaps in the design and delivery of health and education services in Arabic-speaking countries in relation to early language development, with a focus on Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories. This includes: (1) co-production with early years professionals and NGOs of approaches to support early language development; (2) development and standardisation of tools to identify monolingual and multilingual Arabic-speaking children at risk of poor language development; and (3) examination of language development in refugee communities.

Result: The importance of inter-professional partnership and the inclusion of families in planning support for oral language development is highlighted.

Supporting language development in Lebanese preschools: SLT and pre-KT practice and perception of roles.

Background: Speech and language therapists (SLTs) are increasingly engaging in school-based interventions targeting children with language difficulties. Collaborative work between teachers and SLTs has shown to be beneficial in fostering language development in all children. Both groups of professionals have different but complementary roles in offering language support, according to children's needs.