Communication

Many children successfully learn more than one language at home before they go to nursery or school. Others will learn one language at home and then go on to learn English as an additional language when they start nursery or school. Here are some tips and information to help you if your child is exposed to more than one language:

• Speak your strongest or first language at home so that your child hears a good language model.
• Sometimes if more than one language is used in a home, people will switch from one to the other. This will not impact on your child's language but try to be consistent with vocabulary. If you use the word 'roti' try not to call it a 'chapati' at another time.
• To learn any language a child has to hear it often. Talk to your child every day during everyday activities like bath time, meal times and in social situations.
• Encourage all attempts to communicate in any way or in any language whether they are using words, gesture or facial expression. Show them you are interested in them.
• Children learning more than one language often go through a silent period. Don't worry they might not say anything for several months in the new environment. This is a natural process.
• An environment which exposes children to more than one language should not bring difficulties or cause delay in learning language. There is lots of evidence that learning to speak and use more than one language can benefit a child's overall academic and intellectual progress.

For more information and advice have a look at the Bilingual section on CBeebies Parenting.

When children are learning to talk, they are learning new words and how to pronounce them. They will not have developed all their speech sounds at the same time. This happens gradually. For some children, learning new sounds can take longer than others.  Some children with neurodevelopmental differences (such as autism and or learning differences) may not develop all skills in the way you expect them to. Find out more about your child's speech sound development on CBeebies Parenting. The following is a general guide as to when certain speech sounds develop.

 

th r - these sounds are tricky and I might be 7 before I have got them just right

 

sh - usually I can say these sounds by the time I am 6

 

ch j - usually I can say these sounds after I am about 5

 

w l y - usually I can say these sounds when I am between 4 and 5

 

p b, t d k g, m n ng, f v s z h - usually I can say these sounds when I am between 3 and 4

 

 

 

Common Speech Mix Ups

When I am learning to speak, I will use easier sounds in place of trickier ones. Sometimes, I will miss sounds out in some words and use them in others. I will get better with this as I grow and develop.

3-4 years

• I might not always use long blowing, sounds like ‘s’ and ‘f’ so ‘sun’ might sound like ‘tun’ . I might also use ‘t’ or ‘d’ for ‘ch’ and ‘j’ so ‘jam’ might sound like ‘dam’.
• I may mix up ‘k’ and ‘g’ for ‘t’ and ‘d’ so I might say ‘tea’ for ‘key’.
• If there is a group of sounds at the beginning of a word like ‘stair’, I will make this easier for myself by missing out sounds and say ‘tair’ instead.
• I might miss out parts in longer words so ‘elephant’ might sound like ‘efant’.
• Its common for me to mix up ‘l’, ‘w’ and ‘y’ for ‘r’ so ‘red’ might sound like ‘wed’ or ‘led’.

4-5 years

• I often still mix up ‘l’, ‘w’ and ‘y’ for ‘r’ in my talking.
• I am starting to manage more than one sound at the beginning of words so ’spoon’ is easier but more complex words like ‘string’ might still be difficult.

5-7 years

• I can manage most sounds although I might say ‘f’ for ‘th’.
• Sometimes ‘l’, ‘w’ and ‘r’ are still mixed up in my words.

 

Dummies and Speech Development

Many parents use a dummy to help soothe their child. This is understandable. Most babies have a strong sucking reflex and often a dummy can help settle a child. Dummies can be a great support to parents and babies in the early months of development.

Long-term dummy use can impact on the development of speech, language and teeth.

If your child has neurodevelopmental differences such as autism, they may be using a dummy to meet a sensory need. If this is the case, it might be helpful to try alternatives (“chewellry”, chew toys, chew buddy, crunchy or chewy snack) to meet this need.

For essentials tips, benefits and risks of using dummies look at the dummies page on Cbeebies Parenting.

Stammering is also known as stuttering. Stammering is a different way of talking. It is when words and/or sounds are repeated or stretched and sometimes difficult to get out altogether. It’s when the flow of speech is interrupted and it’s difficult for you to say what you want to say.

For more information look at our I'm Concerned About Stammering page.