Speech, Language and Communication Development

How do speech, language and communication skills develop?

We can think of the skills children need to develop their language, speech, social interaction and communication skills as building blocks. The skills build on each other to enable children to add the next block or skill as they develop. We can think of these blocks as building a pyramid with foundation skills at the bottom and more advanced skills higher up. If one of the building blocks is missing or is not as strong as we expect, this can have an effect on the other skills because they are all interlinked or dependant on each other.

For example, the development of speech sounds is at the very top of the pyramid, but in order to develop this, there needs to be good attention and listening, and practice during conversations in place, and they must understand the words they are trying to produce. Speech Therapists work with children who might be struggling with any of these areas.

The following websites have more information about how speech and language skills develop:

• Ages and stages - Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives
• BBC Tiny Happy People - Child development and milestones

How can I help a child or young person's speech, language and communication development?