Your child's communication

Speech and language toolkit

If you want to support your child’s speech, language and communication development, take a look at the free speech and language toolkit.

Communication is a vital skill that all children need to learn. 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.
Learn how to talk using words and sentences.
Know how to use their language socially. For example, listening as well as talking, or talking to a teacher differently than to a friend.
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.

Wye Valley NHS Trust has some leaflets that you may find useful. Leaflets include advice on talking to your baby during pregnancy, from 0 to 6 months, 6 to 12 months, 1 to 2 years. 2 to 3 years, use of television, advice on dummies and what to do if you are having difficulty understanding your child's speech.