Nursery World - Speech, language & communication. Your essential guide

A guide to the early stages of communication by I CAN speech therapist and consultant Kate Freeman Approximately one in ten children across the UK has some kind of communication disability. This means that for each school class, three children will struggle with understanding or using words or sentences, or may not make themselves easily understood.

Approximately one in ten children across the UK has some kind of communication disability. This means that for each school class, three children will struggle with understanding or using words or sentences, or may not make themselves easily understood.

This is very worrying for these children and their families. Many more people are worried by the recent studies of nursery-aged children in some disadvantaged areas, which found that between 50 and 80 per cent of children lacked the communication skills expected for their age.

However, research has also shown that children who have received help with their speech and language difficulties by the age of five-and-a-half have the best chances of going on to do well in school, developing good literacy skills and building good social relationships.

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