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Speech and language difficulties

Discover what you can do to help your child learn to communicate with these strategies to help children make themselves understood and express their feelings

Speech and language difficulties

Language is one of the most important skills we will ever learn. Everything we do at home or work requires us to communicate with our families, friends and colleagues. Without language it is incredibly difficult to share our thoughts and feelings with others, to make lasting friendships, to give and receive information and to learn about the world in which we live.

The ability to use and understand language is essential for all children too. Children learn language in such a short space of time and this is why the pre-school years are so crucial - with parents and early years workers playing a vital role in encouraging children's communication development.

Problems with speech and language are the most common developmental difficulty that children encounter. Studies indicate that as many as 1 in 10 children in the UK have speech and language difficulties, and these are particularly prevalent in the early years.

Language is central to learning, but a study by the Basic Skills Agency (in 2002) reported that - in the opinion of teachers - 50% of children begin school lacking skills that are vital for getting off to a good start in education.

But what types of speech and language problems do children suffer from – and what can grown-ups do to help?

Understanding spoken language

  • Children may have difficulty with understanding the meaning of words and concepts. They may have problems following instructions, understanding games and tasks, and making sense of what is being said to them. Often children with these difficulties may appear to understand as they may be getting clues from following other children or guessing from the context. However, they may also come across as 'difficult' simply because they do not fully understand what is being said.

Spoken language

  • Children may have problems with using language. They may have difficulty with words or sentence structure. They may struggle to express themselves in play and activities or tell people how they feel.

Speech sound production

  • Children may have problems with the intelligibility of their speech - they may have a reduced number of sounds available to them and difficulty making particular sounds in simple or longer words. They may not be easy to understand when they speak or reluctant to speak for fear of not being understood.

Attention and listening

  • Many children who have speech and language difficulties have problems with listening to spoken language (often when their hearing is okay). They have difficulty concentrating on a task and listening to adult instructions.

Social skills

  • Children's development of social skills, their sense of self and others, and their ability to form relationships and learn can all be affected by speech and language problems.

 

The impact of these difficulties:

Difficulties in one or more of these areas can have a profound impact on a child's experience of their early education. How each child is affected will depend on the degree of their difficulty and personal factors.

Following Routines

Owing to these problems, children with speech and language difficulties may struggle to follow and learn daily routines – e.g. if they find it hard to understand spoken language children may struggle to follow instructions, especially negatives such as the difference between "do" something and "don't" do something.

Complex sentences

They may also find sentences with more than one element difficult – e.g. “Get some paper and pencils and go and sit in the drawing corner.” The child may be able to follow the individual elements of the sentence but when they are combined into one, they can't process everything at once. Keeping sentences short and ing information with gesture will help.

Expressing themselves

Children who find it hard to make themselves understood by adults or other children will find their ability to in activities and tell people things, ask questions, relate stories, and form friendships is inhibited. They may be unable to in with songs or nursery rhymes and have difficulty following stories and ing information. In this situation, offering a choice with words to go with that choice may help, e.g. "Do you want to play with the cars or paint">