Speech, Language and Communication 

If you have any concerns regarding your child's speech and communication please call the Helpline number 0118 904 3700 to talk to a speech and language therapist.

Lines are open Tuesdays and Thursdays 9 a.m.– 3.30pm 

We can help if your child has difficulties:

• understanding words, sentences and instructions
• using words and sentences, pronouncing words
• talking, stammering, a husky/hoarse voice, social skills and play

Words for Life : Words for Life is created by the National Literacy Trust and supported by UK publishers with funding for its creation from the DfE and Kindred².

Click here for great ideas to develop and support your child's speech and language:

Speech and Language UK 

Children at 3 to 4 years will usually be actively learning language and asking many questions. 

How to support your child

There are lots of things you can do to encourage children at this stage:

• Have a special time to talk about the day. Talking about what has happened that day will help their memory skills. It will also help them to talk about things they cannot see and things that happened in the past which is an important skill for learning in school.
• Wherever possible, use pictures, objects, puppets, acting, gestures and facial expressions. This will keep a child’s interest.
• Talk about or play games involving opposites like 'on and off' or 'big and little'
• Join a child in pretend play. Let them take the lead. This will help their language and creativity. Talk about what they are saying and doing rather than asking lots of questions. Your commentary helps their language skills and shows you are listening and interested.
• Reversing roles can be great fun for a child. Let them be the 'mummy' or the 'teacher'. This helps them to talk about new situations.
• Play with and talk about sequences of coloured bricks or shapes, numbers and days of the week.
   

Things to look out for

By 3 and a half years old, a child should be understood by people outside the family. If not, parents should seek advice from a speech and language therapist.

You should be concerned if:

• They are struggling to turn ideas into sentences
• The language they use is jumbled and difficult to understand
• They are unresponsive or slow to follow instructions.
   

https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/talking-point/parents/ages-and-stages/