Find Support for Your Child’s Communication Concerns
You don’t need to know the name of your child’s difficulty before asking for help. Start with what you’re noticing and explore the concerns that sound most like your child.
Your child may:
- Speak freely at home but not in nursery, school or public places
- Speak to some people but not others
- Freeze or go silent when asked a question
- Avoid situations where they may be expected to speak
- Whisper, nod, point or use gestures instead of speaking
- Become anxious when attention is on them
- Find everyday situations difficult, such as saying hello, answering the register, shopping or speaking in front of others
- ‘s’ and ‘z’ sounds are pronounced differently from expected
- ‘s’ may sound more like ‘th’
- The tongue may come forward between or against the teeth when making ‘s’ or ‘z’
- Speech may have a ‘slushy’ or wet quality if air escapes at the sides of the tongue
- Speech may otherwise be clear and easy to understand
- Your child or teenager may avoid certain words or sounds because they are self-conscious
- Confidence may be affected in class, socially, during presentations or later in situations such as college, university or job interviews
- The speech sound has persisted as your child has become older
- The speech sound may be linked to an underlying congenital or structural condition present at birth, even if this has since been repaired or treated
Your child may:
- Use fewer words than others their age
- Find it difficult to put words together into sentences
- Struggle to explain what they want, need or how they feel
- Give short answers when you know they have more to say
- Avoid talking when finding the right words feels difficult
- Become frustrated when they can’t get their message across
Your child may:
- Be understood by close family, but not by other people
- Leave sounds out of words
- Replace one sound with another
- Say words differently each time
- Become upset when people ask them to repeat themselves
- Avoid talking because it feels too effortful to be understood
Your child may:
- Know what they mean but struggle to put it into words
- Use vague words like “thingy”, “that one” or “you know”
- Talk around an idea because they cannot find the exact word
- Give short answers or say “I don’t know” when they do know
- Talk a lot but still leave you unsure what they mean
- Struggle to explain events clearly or in the right order
- Become frustrated because they cannot get their thoughts across clearly
Your child may:
- Need instructions repeated several times
- Seem to “not listen” or appear distracted
- Misunderstand questions
- Struggle with longer sentences or explanations
- Rely on gestures, routines or watching others to know what to do
- Find it hard to follow conversations, especially in busy settings
Your child may:
- Seem unsure, quiet or withdrawn in class
- Try hard but still struggle to keep up
- Copy what others are doing instead of understanding the task
- Avoid tasks that involve listening, talking, reading or explaining
- Say “I don’t know” or “I don’t care” when work feels difficult
- Seem well behaved at school but become exhausted or upset afterwards
- Act silly, distract others or become the “class clown” to cover up difficulty
- Get told they are not listening, not trying or not concentrating
- Seem capable in some situations but overwhelmed in others
Your child may:
- Prefer to spend time alone or avoid joining in with others
- Prefer certain people who feel more predictable
- Find conversations or group situations difficult
- Misunderstand jokes, sarcasm or social rules
- Take language very literally
- Find it hard to read facial expressions, body language or tone of voice
- Become upset when interactions feel unpredictable
Your child may:
- Avoid speaking up in groups
- Let others answer for them
- Speak quietly or give very short answers
- Avoid asking for help when they do not understand
- Seem more confident at home than in school or unfamiliar settings
- Become anxious when attention is on them
Your child may:
- Be overly trusting or very eager to please others
- Struggle to recognise when someone is being unkind or taking advantage
- Find it hard to tell the difference between joking, teasing and bullying
- Be easily influenced by peers
- Struggle to say no or set boundaries
- Misread other people’s intentions
- Find it difficult to explain what happened after a social problem
Your child may:
- Sound hoarse, husky, croaky, breathy or strained
- Lose their voice often
- Speak much louder or quieter than expected
- Have a voice that sounds unusually high or low
- Seem tired after talking
- Have a voice quality that has changed and not returned to normal
Not sure which concern fits?
Children do not always fit neatly into one category, and several areas of communication may overlap.
If you are considering online Speech and Language Therapy, you can book a free 15-minute consultation with me, Rosemin Abdeen, Specialist Children’s Speech and Language Therapist. This is an opportunity to briefly discuss your child, ask questions and find out whether my online service may be suitable for them.
If you already know that you would like to proceed, you can request an initial assessment. I will review the information you provide before confirming whether I am able to offer your child an appropriate online service.
Not sure which option to choose?
Start with the free consultation. There is no obligation to proceed with an assessment afterwards.