A new little guy, aged 3, ran up to me this morning, beaming and very enthusiastic. He had something important that he needed to tell me.  He “spoke” for several seconds, the “words” tumbling out, his facial expressions very earnest.

Although English is his mother tongue, I could not understand a single thing he said. There were no recognisable words, just a stream of sound which rose and fell in intonation, in an attempt at language and communication.

I tried in vain to decode these sounds and to engage with him but it is difficult when there are no clues and reassurance can only be managed using facial expressions to show him that I was listening to him, but there was no way I could show him that I understood.

Thus his ability to communicate was completely cut off. I could understand how this would be incredibly frustrating.

Sadly, this is not an uncommon situation and it brings home to me how important it is that we continue to work on speech and language to build these skills into these children.

Otherwise, they are effectively cut off from friends, activities, empathy, support  and understanding.