Speech therapy for kids - what is communication?

Communication is a set of skills that starts developing in the womb. We are constantly utilising these skills for a variety of reasons; to build personal relationships, to learn, and to express our feelings are just a few examples. To be a confident and effective communicator there are several skills that need to be in place.

The tower below shows the basic building blocks of communication. As a Speech and Language Therapist, these are the skills I assess and support children to develop. Children need the communication skills at the bottom of the tower to be in place before they can develop skills further up. For example, in typical development children need to understand what words mean before they will start to say them. Research has shown that these skills are interconnected and when children have difficulties in one area there is a greater likelihood of having difficulties in another. An example of this is children with delays in their understanding and talking, are more likely to have delayed play skills. As a therapist I often need to support not only a child’s talking but the skills below it for a child to make progress and become a more effective communicator.

I hope you have found this blog helpful. Next week I will discuss in a bit more detail about the different skills in the communication tower. If you have you any concerns about your child’s communication skills, please do not hesitate to contact me. Please click on the link below to arrange a free 15-minute consultation.