At least 1.9 million primary and secondary aged children are now estimated to be behind with speaking and understanding words.
According to a new report from Speech and Language UK, one in five school-aged children now have speech and language challenges, the highest number ever recorded.
Key findings from ‘Listening to unheard children’, which is based upon a YouGov survey of just over 1,000 adults, include:
- The number of children estimated to be behind with talking and understanding words has increased from 1.7 million last year to at least 1.9 million this year.
- 80 per cent of teachers surveyed think children in their classroom are behind with their talking and/or understanding of words.
- 73 per cent of teachers think that children’s speech and language is not prioritised by the Government.
- 53 per cent of teachers surveyed don’t believe they have sufficient training to support pupils’ speech and language in the classroom.
