Language is the vehicle for most learning, so when a child has speech, language and communication difficulties it can affect the development of the child’s cognitive, social and emotional wellbeing. The level of development problems will vary depending on the severity of the problems and the support that the child receives. All children can benefit from some support in speech, language and communications because of how important it is for learning. We need all three elements of speech, language and communication to get our message across, without any of these, what a child says and understands may become confused. Here are some areas that may be affected.

Personal, social and emotional development.

Some may find it difficult to follow the rules of communication and interact socially with others. Because they may find it hard to express themselves and get their views and needs across to others they can often find themselves avoiding social interaction situations. This can then make them feel they lack confidence and have a low self-esteem. Decision making will become difficult and they may start to rely on others to make decisions for them.

Friendships.

Friendships are very important for children. Children with speech, language and communications difficulties can find making and maintaining friendships a real challenge. The ability to understand and negotiate disagreements, socialise with peers and be part of a friendship group is an important development in life. This can become even more difficult as the child progresses through primary school as the need increases for them to become more aware of the feelings, thoughts and motives of others.

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Behaviour.

Children with these difficulties can often become frustrated, this can result in them demonstrating behaviour difficulties. These can range from occasional bouts of unpredictable behaviour to more specific patterns of misbehaviour. Sometimes because of this poor behaviour, which is often seen as the bigger issue, the language difficulties can be missed.

Play.

Play is a vital part of a child’s development, by playing they can learn from their peers. When a child struggles with speech, language and communication, this can have an effect on their ability to play with others. They may not have the confidence to mix with others and participate in games as they can struggle to understand the rules or to make themselves be understood when explaining what they want to play.

Literacy.

Spoken language is important for the development of reading and writing. Children with speech and language problems will often go on to also have reading and writing difficulties. Children who are unable to understand complex oral language and word meanings can have reading difficulties because their ability to understand and produce written language is limited. This can have a knock on effect with accessing the rest of the curriculum, for example, for the development of maths there needs to be an understanding of language and instructions to help with mathematical problem solving and using number and shape names.