Types of speech and language difficulty

There are lots of different sorts of speech and language difficulties. Those listed here occur the most frequently.

Speech.
Your child may find it hard to say all the letter sounds in words. For example children often have difficulties saying k or s. They may say "tea" for key, or "no" for snow.

Spoken Language
Your child might be very late to start saying first words, or he/she may be having problems putting words together into a sentence. You might be thinking "He just doesn't talk as well as his friends" , or "I can't have a proper conversation with him".

Understanding Language
Your child can struggle to do what you ask, even though you know he/she is listening, and seems to be trying to do what you say. Always have your child's hearing checked first, if you suspect understanding problems. Your Health Visitor can help you with this.

Social
Your child may not look people in the eye, or talk to them easily. Maybe your child avoids contact with other people when he can, preferring to be "doing his own thing".