Our Speech and Language Therapists support children with speech, language and communication needs, to help them to communicate better. They also work with children who have eating, drinking and swallowing problems.
Children learn how to communicate from the people around them. Language development happens in play, routines and everyday activities. It is important adults use strategies to support speech and language development throughout the day and in lots of different situations and environments.
You can do lots of things to help your child’s communication at any age. Here are 5 ideas to try:
The video above introduced you to the communication pyramid. This is an easy and structured way of thinking about how your child’s communication develops. Supporting the skills at the bottom provides the foundations for the skills further up the pyramid to develop. For example, a child needs to develop their attention and listening before they will be able to fully engage in play. Their understanding then develops through play.
Once understanding is developing, a child will begin to learn to express their wants, needs and ideas. Although speech sounds sits at the top of the pyramid, some children will communicate using methods other than speech. Your child will be developing skills at multiple levels of the pyramid at the same time.
It is helpful to start at the bottom of the pyramid with resources for attention and listening before moving higher up.
All children are different and develop at different rates, which can make it hard to know if your child needs support with their communication development. In this section, you can find information about what level you might expect your child to be at according to their age and development in other areas.
Milestones
Find out more about how your child is expected to be communicating at their age
Quiz
Answer questions anonymously about your child and get useful information to support their language development
Talk and Play
General information about communication in babies, toddlers and older children and how to help them learn and develop through play
If you have looked at the information above and have any concerns about your child's communication, please visit our further help section. Here, you can find out more about how to help your child and how to make a referral to our service.
