Talking Point offers information and advice about children’s communication.

According to Talking Point speech, language and communication play a vital role in our lives. Without being able to talk to, and understand other people we can’t do things like:

• Communicate with our families.
• Buy things at the shops.
• Watch television.
• Build relationships.
• Socialise.
• Learn.
• Go to work.

Fortunately, most children do learn to communicate. Children develop communication skills from birth. They rely on speech, language and communication to be able to learn at school and play with their friends. They need these skills to reach their full potential.

Children need to:

• Learn to understand words, sentences and conversations. This is often called ‘receptive language’.
• Learn how to talk using words and sentences. This is often called ‘expressive language’.
• Know how to use their language socially. For example, listening as well as talking, or talking to a teacher differently than to a friend. This is often called ‘pragmatic language’.
• Say speech sounds correctly so they can be understood by others.

Children begin to understand words before they can say them. They then learn how to say these words and how to put them together to make sentences.

Children develop speech, language and communication skills at different rates. Some develop quickly, while others may take longer.

I think my child is slow with their talking but I’m not sure. Should I get a speech and language therapy assessment?

Children all learn to talk at different rates and some children develop more quickly than others. We do know however that there are ‘typical’ ages by which we expect children to have developed certain skills, and most children do. There are some children that do struggle with learning to talk and understand and they will need extra help with this. If you are at all concerned about the way your child is talking or understanding, ask for a speech and language therapy assessment. A speech and language therapist (SLT) will be able to tell you exactly how your child is getting on and if there is a reason to be concerned.

You can find out more on how children learn to talk and check your child’s progress on the Talking Point website.

My child is due to be seen for a speech and language therapy assessment. What will the assessment involve?

A speech and language therapist (SLT) will usually start by talking to you about your child’s early history and development and gathering some information about your concerns. The assessment they do will look at how well your child’s speech and language are developing compared to what we would expect for a child of their age.

Depending on the age of your child and the type of difficulty that they have they will do a number of different tasks and activities. For some children, particularly younger ones, the assessment may be done through the SLT playing alongside your child, or watching them play. This is known as ‘informal’ assessment. They will be looking at the way your child understands language, how well they are talking and which sounds they are able to use in their speech.

Sometimes an SLT will carry out a ‘formal’ assessment. This means they work with your child using a number of published assessments, many of which are standardised. Standardised tests mean that they are able to give your child a score comparing them to other children of the same age. Doing this lets them see if a child is developing as they should be, or if their speech and language is delayed.

The speech and language therapist will then tell you how they think your child is doing, and whether they feel your child needs to get some extra help with their speech and language development. They will usually write a report about the assessment.

My child has been referred for a multi-disciplinary assessment. I know that he will see a speech and language therapist but I don’t know who else will work with him.

A multi-disciplinary assessment means that more than one professional will assess your son, and they will talk to the other people involved to help them work out where his main difficulties are.

Usually a multi disciplinary assessment will involve a paediatrician, as well as a speech and language therapist. Sometimes there will also be a psychologist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist or other professional, depending on the clinic and the way that services are set up locally.

For more information go to: Talking Point

Written by Rachel Harrison, speech and language therapist, on behalf of Integrated Treatment Services