Your Child's Hospital Journey
Speech, language, and communication advice
Advice and useful websites for parents and children.
Speech
The child/young person may:
- Have speech that is difficult to understand
- Talk like a younger child
- Get frustrated when they cannot express their wants/needs
- Mix sounds when they talk (this may affect reading/writing)
- Be reluctant to talk because they are aware others can't understand them
Advice sheets
- How to support children with speech sound development
- Speech sound development top tips
- Speech sound awareness activities
Useful websites
- RCSLT overview of speech sound disorders
- Speech and Language UK - ages and stages
- Tiny Happy People - Tips and advice for children's speech and language (bbc.co.uk)
- What is phonological awareness? Tips to help kids learn to read - BBC Tiny Happy People
- Listening skills - BBC Teach
Language
Understanding language
The child/young person may:
- Struggle to understand what is said to them
- Appear to not listen, which is interpreted as unacceptable behaviour
- Misinterpret what has been said
- Struggle to access what is being taught in the classroom
Using language
The child/young person may:
- Be unable to express basic needs
- Have difficulties expressing their thoughts
- Struggle to find the right words
- Mix up word order, making them difficult to understand
- Use short simple sentences when speaking (this may affect writing)
Advice sheets
- Top tips for early language development
- How to support children with language difficulties in the classroom
- Classroom language support top tips
Useful websites
- BBC Tiny Happy People
- Speech and Language UK - ages and stages
- Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) educational support - Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives
- Help for families - Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives
- DLD | Developmental Language Disorder | Language Disorder (dldandme.org)
- The DLD Project | Developmental Language Disorder Information, Resources & Training
- NAPLIC | DLD bubble toolkit
- RADLD - Raising Awareness of Developmental Language Disorder - RADLD
- Afasic - Support for families with children and young adults with speech, language, and communication needs
Social communication
The child/young person may:
- Struggle to play with others
- Find it difficult to start and maintain interactions with others
- Have language but not know how to use it to communicate
- Have no words and also not use non-verbal communication
Advice sheets
- Supporting children with social communication differences - early years at home
- Supporting children with social communication differences - early years
- Supporting children with social communication differences - primary
- Supporting children with social communication differences - secondary
Useful websites
Voice
The child/young person may:
- Present with a hoarse, croaky, strained, breathy or weak voice
- Be unable to control volume, so it may be difficult to be heard by other people
- Experience pain in their throat when talking
Advice sheets
Useful websites
Stammering
The child/young person may:
- Give up when their words get stuck
- Avoid speaking or change what they want say as they are worried about stammering
- Feel frustrated when others respond unhelpfully when they stammer.
- Experience a range of emotions/behaviours linked to their stammer
Advice sheets
Useful websites
Selective mutism
The child/young person may:
- Be very anxious about speaking in some situations
- Be able to speak freely with people they feel comfortable with in certain places
- Also have difficulty using other forms of communication (e.g. nodding, pointing)
- Want to avoid situations where they feel they might be expected to speak
Advice sheets
Useful websites
Dysphagia
Dysphagia is a difficulty with swallowing. Your child may be referred to a speech and language therapist if they have problems with eating, drinking, or swallowing.
The child/young person may:
- Frequently cough or choke with food and or drink
- Parental/professional concern about the mechanics of eating or drinking
- Gag or choke on age-appropriate textures
- Be tube fed and require support to develop the oral skills necessary for food progression
Useful websites
- RCSLT overview of dysphagia
- Child feeding guide - strategies and tools for fussy eating to create happy mealtimes
- Start for life - NHS website with useful videos and tips for child feeding development
- SOS approach to feeding
- Infant and toddler forum
- Bliss - information about feeding premature babies, including tube feeding, breast and bottle feeding, weaning, and reflux
- Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation
- International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI)