My child has language difficulties affecting school and academic progress

Some children struggle most when communication demands increase in the classroom. This can happen even when a child is bright, well behaved or trying very hard.

Your child may seem quiet, distracted, tired, unsure, silly, avoidant or overwhelmed, especially when instructions are long, lessons move quickly or there is a lot of background noise.

Sometimes communication difficulties are obvious. Other times, they can be hidden beneath confidence, behaviour, attention, effort or emotional wellbeing.

This can affect learning, relationships, confidence and how your child feels about school.

What this can look like

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• seem unsure, quiet or withdrawn in class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
• misunderstand what another person meant or intended
• find it difficult to explain clearly what happened after an incident
• become frustrated when they cannot explain themselves or resolve a problem
• appear to understand a situation at the time, but later show that they interpreted it differently
• struggle to recognise how their words or actions may affect other people
• seem capable in some situations but overwhelmed in others

What may be going on

These difficulties may be linked to language needs, Developmental Language Disorder, attention and listening difficulties, auditory memory difficulties, social communication differences or learning needs.

Sometimes children appear to be coping because they watch others, follow routines or copy what their classmates are doing. Other children may use humour, avoidance or behaviour to take attention away from something they find difficult.

A child or young person may also be able to hold a conversation and speak in sentences, but still find it difficult to understand another person’s meaning, explain an event clearly, organise their thoughts, solve communication problems or express themselves effectively when something goes wrong.

This does not mean every school difficulty is caused by a communication need, but it is important to consider whether your child is struggling to understand, process, interpret, explain or keep up with the language demands of learning and everyday life.

When language affects academic progress

As children get older, the language demands of education become increasingly complex. Older children and teenagers who may previously have appeared to cope can begin to struggle when they are expected to interpret information, explain their reasoning and work more independently.

Your child may:

• misinterpret the wording of exam questions
• struggle to make inferences but be okay with literal information
• understand a topic but find it hard to explain an answer clearly
• have difficulty identifying what a question is really asking
• struggle to organise ideas into a coherent spoken or written response
• know vocabulary in isolation but struggle with more complex curriculum language or applying it to nuanced situtations
• find comprehension harder as GCSE or A-level language demands increase

These difficulties can sometimes be mistaken for poor attention, lack of effort or weak subject knowledge when underlying language or social communication skills may be contributing.

How assessment helps

A speech and language assessment looks beyond whether a child can simply talk.

It explores how your child understands and uses language and how this affects communication in learning and everyday situations. Depending on their needs, this may include looking at how they:

• understand spoken language and instructions
• answer questions
• understand vocabulary and more complex language
• organise and explain their ideas
• interpret implied or non-literal information
• understand different perspectives and intentions
• communicate during problem-solving situations
• explain what has happened when something goes wrong
• use communication to participate confidently and independently

Assessment can help identify whether communication is contributing to your child’s difficulties at school and what support may be needed.

It can also help identify useful therapy targets, classroom strategies, parent and school recommendations, as well as the child or young person’s own goals, motivations and aspirations.

How I can help

I provide online assessment, therapy and practical recommendations to support your child’s communication and learning.

Following assessment, support may include structured therapy targets and home and school recommendations within an individualised treatment plan, written reports where required (such as for Annual Reviews) and direct therapy.

Depending on your child’s individual profile, therapy may focus on areas such as:

• comprehension and understanding complex language
• specialised and curriculum vocabulary
• sentence structure
• following instructions
• organising and explaining ideas
• explaining knowledge clearly
• inferencing
• interpreting exam-style question wording
• understanding different perspectives and intentions
• working through misunderstandings
• communication problem-solving
• expressing needs or concerns clearly
• self-advocacy
• communicating more confidently and independently

This is not subject tuition. Therapy focuses on the underlying speech, language and communication skills needed to access learning, demonstrate what the young person knows and navigate everyday situations with increasing independence.

The aim is to help your child understand others, express themselves more clearly, access learning with greater confidence and develop communication skills that will support them beyond school.

Why online therapy can work particularly well for older children and teenagers

Online therapy can work particularly well for older children and teenagers because they are often increasingly able to understand what they are working towards, reflect on their own communication and practise strategies between sessions.

Sessions are usually 45 minutes once a week, with activities individually tailored to the child or young person’s age, abilities, interests and motivations to support engagement.

Therapy is functional and designed around real-life communication. We can work through situations that matter to the young person – for example, understanding a difficult question, explaining an event clearly, working through a misunderstanding, asking for help, considering another person’s perspective or practising how to communicate in a challenging situation.

Sessions may include interactive activities, discussion, problem-solving and role play, with opportunities to practise skills between sessions in ways that fit naturally into an already busy school, social and family routine rather than feeling like additional homework.

Regular practice supports the development of self-awareness, self-monitoring and independent problem-solving skills, so that over time the young person becomes increasingly able to recognise when communication has broken down and use strategies to help themselves.

Online sessions also remove many of the practical demands of attending therapy. There is no travelling to a clinic, no waiting around and no need to prepare your home for a therapist to visit. Your child can simply join from a familiar space, complete their session and then return straight to homework, revision, dinner, rest, family time or other activities.

I particularly enjoy supporting older children and teenagers who would like to understand their communication better, become more independent and feel more confident expressing themselves.

Therapy is delivered during school term time, with a planned break during Ramadan and school holidays. I am currently accepting new referrals over the summer period, allowing assessment and planning to take place in preparation for therapy beginning in September.

Not sure if this sounds like your child?

That’s okay. You do not need to know the reason for your child’s difficulties before asking for help.

Book a free 15-minute consultation and we can talk through your concerns together.