Help pre-schoolers' communication skills... urgent action required!!

Middle-class children hear 33 million words by the time they start school - 23 million more than poorer children of the same age, a Government adviser has revealed.

According to Frank Field, the Governments advisor on poverty, collapse in parenting skills in poor homes with unstable families blights a child's prospects by the time they are three-years-old.

In a report on child deprivation, he said that wealthier children from stable homes will have heard 440,000 more positive comments from their parents than children from dysfunctional families by the age of three. As speech & language therapists know, the level of communication between a parent and child has a more drastic impact on a child's future than any other factor including class, race or income.  The findings are only set to continue for future generations if action is not taken as young people brought up  in dysfunctional families have no experience of being a good parent when it comes to raising their own children.

Mr Field aims to 'break into this cycle of deprivation so the whole thing is not automatically handed on the next generation'. He is calling for a 'parenting curriculum' at schools where pupils will learn about child care as well as a formal 'rites of passage' ceremonies attended by local mayors for children not christened. 

Some of the latest research is very damning as it shows that youngsters who were behind when they started school never caught up to their peers. He blamed the situation on the low aspirations of parents trapped in poverty where no one in the family has worked for generations. These parents do not bother to play with, talk to or read to their children. Mr Field’s study warned that children’s life chances were almost entirely determined before they even got to school.

His report called for health visitors to measure children’s behaviour and communication skills from the age of two to catch youngsters who were falling behind in their development.

The reason I started Smart talkers Pre-School groups was an attempt to address some of these issues see www.smarttalkers.org.uk


What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments.

Sad but true!

I cant help but feel sad that the level of apathy in some sections of society is so bad that its debilitating. The Sure Start children's centres aim to provide quality pre-school activities to both entertain and support parents and children. They do prioritise families with needs such as sole parents, children with disabilities, travelling families, fathers or those known to social services  but everyone is welcomed.


The sessions they provide are mostly free in Staffordshire. They are sourced from the leading pre-school activity providers in the area and strive for excellent service. There's choices of messy play, yoga, Debutots drama, music with mummy, cookery club and of course our own Smart Talkers Pre-School Communication groups to name but a few. It sounds great doesn't it and in most of the centres it works really well. However, because of the level of apathy in some of the areas or in the sections of society they most want to attract, the numbers attending are limited. In one Centre I couldn't get anyone at all and after 3 weeks of twiddling my thumbs, we had to give up. I'd tried everything possible including posters in local shops and  newsagents, a newspaper article, adverts, netmums etc and contacted all the health professionals, local nurseries, pre-schools and other groups.


At these centres, I see mothers with pyjamas under their coats dropping youngsters off at the adjacent school claiming they're going back to bed, others chatting aimlessly smoking with their mates at the school gate. They usually have a pre-schooler or two in tow (complete with the essential badge..... sorry dummy). They would be welcome at the groups but they'd prefer to do nothing except press the button on the remote control for little Keesha or KayD.

Unfortunately, many of these little ones suffer from a lack of appropriate stimulation and as a result are likely to have an increased risk of delayed speech, language and communication. This will then mean that they will have problems with written language as spoken language skills are the building blocks for written language.    


Unfortunately, research shows that the gap at aged 7 years is likely to persist into adulthood. This has in turn been linked to lower expected socio-economic status in later adult by such eminent scholars as Professor James Law from City University. Another US study showed that language deprivation and teen pregnancy can be linked.It is estimated here in the UK that 75% of young offenders have speech, language and communication difficulties of some type or other.


These problems could be transient difficulties i.e. they'd develop appropriate skills with stimulation or intervention, but will be real and intrusive.  These cases are not to be confused with speech, language and communication disorders which are unavoidable and will need speech and language therapy input, these are children who are language deprived.


We're not entirely sure what is happening to the children's centres after April 1st 2011 but one thing is for certain.... we cant stop trying to engage with these families by breaking through the apathy. There's too much at stake to stop!

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Related articles

• Language intervention provides educational benefits for preschool children (scienceblog.com)
• Language intervention provides educational benefits for preschool children (eurekalert.org)

Nearly one in six children - and almost one quarter of boys - have difficulty learning to talk, research suggests.

A YouGov online survey of 1,015 parents found only half of children with speech problems received expert help. The survey, for England's first "Communication Champion" Jean Gross, found some three-year-olds were unable to say a single word. Ms Gross said the proportion of children with problems is "high" and that getting help early was essential. "Our ability to communicate is fundamental and underpins everything else. Learning to talk is one of the most important skills a child can master in the 21st Century," she said. Click to play Click to play "The proportion of children who have difficulty learning to talk and understand speech is high, particularly among boys. "It is essential that all children get the help they need from skilled professionals as early as possible." Six out of 10 people questioned for the survey said the ability to talk, listen and understand was the most important skill for children to develop in the early years. This priority came ahead of the ability to interact with others (26%), reading skills (11%), numeracy skills (2%) and writing skills (1%). FIRST WORDS Dada - 15% Daddy - 13% Mama - 10% Dad - 10% Mummy 8% Mum - 7% Cat 2% No - 1% Dog - 1% All those questioned said they looked at picture books with their children, told them stories and sang nursery rhymes with them - all activities which boost language development. The survey showed that the majority of children (51%) did not enjoy looking at picture books with their parents until they were over six months old, but 18% enjoyed this at three months or younger. Children from more affluent families were reported to enjoy looking at picture books, and listening to stories and rhymes, at a younger age than children from less affluent families, researchers said. First words The most common age for children to say their first word, according to the parents surveyed, was between 10 and 11 months. More girls than boys (34% against 27%) said their first word before they reached nine months. But 4% of children had not said their first word by the age of three. There were no real social class differences in when children said their first word, the researchers said. Most parents (95%) could remember what their child's first word was. Among those surveyed, that word was most likely to be "Dadda" (15%) or "Daddy" (13%), with "Mama" (10%) and "Mummy" (8%) trailing a little behind. Speech experts generally think the "da" sound is easier for babies to say than "m". The YouGov research involved 1,015 parents of children aged one to to seven, questioned online in December. The figures have been weighted to provide a representative sample. Tweet

Grumpy old woman: sad observations of society

I know I'm rapidly approaching 50, so I probably qualify for the role of grumpy old woman but what I saw today made me not only angry but very sad. I'd taken a  break from work to have my nails done in Rugeley.  It's a small market town which is suffering more than its fair share of the recession. There is a wealth of charity shops and many boarded up pubs but the level of socio-economic well being in general is much the same as elsewhere. They had the door open because it was warm, so for an hour and a half while I was sitting in the chair 'being done', I could hear the general hum of human activity as families, teenagers and a good sample of the general population passed by on their way to the market hall or the bus station on a warm summer afternoon. Sounds peaceful, a slice of England going about its business?

NO!! It might have been a sample of society on a summer afternoon but  what I heard was most upsetting and made the whole session quite stressful. At least 3 children crying and being screamed at from a very close proximity to either 'Shut up', or 'Shut the f@&k up' in one instance to a little boy who couldn't have been more than 18 months old. One 2 year old got a smacked bottom because he dropped his dummy (yes dummy, why on earth they need dummies at that age in the middle of the afternoon!). There was a loud, heated argument between a couple in front of their bemused 3 year old with too many swear words to mention and a teenaged mum with a cigarette hanging precariously over her newborn. I could go on but I won't. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO SOCIETY? Are we so stressed, caught up in our own world of problems that we have forgotten how precious and in need of nurturing our children are.

We have a national crisis where parents are not adequately interacting with babies and children which leads to social interaction difficulties, language  and communication problems. At least 40,000 children will have started school this week without the necessary levels of spoken language ability to access the curriculum. These are NOT children with speech, language or communication disorders which they have through no-one's fault, these are victims of what is, in reality, negligence. Had they had better parenting they'd be fine. I am not condemning just families with low income, as some of my most language deprived children who I see come from very affluent families. Conversely, some people I know are struggling on very low income but are fantastic parents.

We must keep trying to spread the word about good practise but its going to take a long time. I was discussing social change with a  friend, we were discussing the fact that everyone wears a seatbelt now and we all know that we shouldn't drop litter. These were two very powerful social messages that various governments managed to sustain. We need one now, about something I think is more important than both of those put together:how we should be talking to our children, valuing them, listening to them and showing them a good example.

The Smart Talkers groups were devised because of this decline see www.smarttalkers.org