It can feel very worrying for Parents of a child who stammers. We know that lots of children go through a period of stammering in early childhood – about 5%. For 4 out of these 5 children early stammering goes away but it is difficult to predict with certainty which children stammering will go away for. Early advice and help increases the likelihood of a stammer going away. What does stammering look like?  Young children who stammer can present in many different ways. For some children, parents see that their child’s talking becomes disfluent after they have developed previously fluent sp ..read more

How do we use Comic Strips to help our children learn about the world? Through Comic Strip Conversations! A comic strip conversation is a conversation between two or more people which uses simple drawings to discuss a situation. It’s very versatile and is a good way of understanding your child’s understanding of the situation and explaining your view on the situation in a way that they can understand.  It can be used with all children for praise or behaviour management, we find it works particularly well with children who have social communication difficulties such as Autism Spectrum Cond ..read more

It can be really worrying when trying to have a conversation with your child and they are not answering. There may be many reasons why this may be happening, one reason is to do with their understanding of questions.  Children typically develop understanding of questions up to 6 years old. We naturally ask questions as part of our conversations with children but it can be surprising when we don’t get an answer that makes sense. To understand why this might be, it’s helpful to know which questions are harder, we typically say that understanding of questions develops by: Choice questions ..read more

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is predicted to affect as many as 7% of young people in the young population, that is approximately 2 within every primary classroom, this makes DLD the most common childhood difficulty.  Despite the prevalence, little is known about what DLD is, and how it affects a child within everyday life. DLD was previously known as SLI (Specific Language Impairment).  DLD means that a young person has ‘significant’ and ‘persistent’ difficulties in using spoken language or understanding what has been said. DLD is a diagnosis that is given by a speech and la ..read more

What is screen time? Children are becoming more and more tech savvy meaning that at times they are more advanced using technology than the adults around them. Many children look forward to having their Ipad for their treat time every day after school. Is it as good for a child to learn and talk by using apps as in real life? Unfortunately not, but that does not mean that cannot be used to support learning and as a really motivating entertainment source.  Recent studies have found that toddlers who watch more videos said fewer words overall.  This has been surprising to lots of parent ..read more

Selective Mutism (also known as SM) is a term used when children who are able to talk comfortably to some people, usually family members and close friends, are silent or unable to talk to other people. Selective Mutism is considered a type of anxiety disorder and is not a ‘choice’ made by the child. The age of onset for Selective Mutism is between 3 and 5 years of age, which is typically when children begin playgroup, nursery, or school and the problem becomes apparent. Children can be considered as having Selective Mutism if they have not spoken in specific situations to certain people for ov ..read more

Johansen individualised auditory stimulation (IAS) therapy is a way of developing and improving an individual’s listening, it can be useful for both children and adults and guides the individual to focus on what they hear. The therapy involves listening to specially designed music that helps organise and identify auditory information. Johansen IAS therapy is particularly beneficial and effective for children with auditory processing disorder. What is auditory processing disorder? Auditory processing disorder is when an individual has difficulty processing and organising information they hear ..read more

  Indirect speech and language therapy is any form of therapy that is not directly delivered to the child or individual with the speech and language difficulty. Pointless? Well, indirect therapy is a method of therapy that is extremely useful in itself. Indirect therapy can be delivered by parents, assistants, carers, teachers, other professionals or anyone that is a regular communicator with the child with speech and language difficulties. Indirect therapy can provide those around the child with the skillset to help them develop their speech and language without the direct input of the s ..read more

Baby signing is a method of communication used in early infancy between parent and child. Baby signing uses gestures based on British Sign Language (BSL) to represent simple vocabulary, including; food, milk, yes, sleep, more. Baby signing is used with speech to enhance the baby’s language learning and is used alongside singing and visuals to make the sessions fun and interactive as well as providing as much learning support for you and your child as possible. Baby signing has become an ever growing method of communication and is now extremely popular with families across the country, but what ..read more

  Technology is constantly expanding in our everyday lives, but rather than trying to eliminate technology, it may be beneficial to utilise it. Technology can be a great way to ‘keep your child busy’ when necessary, however it is best to see technology as a facilitator (helping hand) of communication and an activity you can take time to enjoy together. For many children, computer and iPad screens are captivating, motivating and fun! There are now many apps that are widely available that claim to help your child’s speech, language and communication. I have chosen my favourite iPad apps tha ..read more