“When you talk with me, you light up my mind and help my brain to grow…”

Your child’s brain is amazing!

It’s constantly growing and making new connections. When you play, listen and talk with your little one, you help them learn to talk and give them the best start in life. We have lots of tools, tips and advice to help you get your little one talking.

The little things you do with them will make a big difference, now and in their future.

Talk with me website is a gov.uk site to help parents to develop children's speech and language. Please visit the website for facts, strategies and top tips that can have a positive impact on children. 

https://www.gov.wales/talk-with-me

Parents and caregivers are the most important teachers during a child’s early years. Children learn language by listening to others speak and by practicing. Even young babies notice when others repeat and respond to the noises and sounds they make. Children’s language and brain skills get stronger if they hear many different words. Parents can help their child learn in many different ways, such as :

• Responding to the first sounds, gurgles, and gestures a baby makes.
• Repeating what the child says and adding to it.
• Talking about the things that a child sees.
• Asking questions and listening to the answers.
• Looking at or reading books.
• Telling stories.
• Singing songs and sharing rhymes.

Some children struggle with understanding and speaking and they need help. They may not master the language milestones at the same time as other children, and it may be a sign of a language or speech delay or disorder.

Language development has different parts, and children might have problems with one or more of the following:

• Understanding what others say (receptive language). This could be due to
  • Not hearing the words (hearing loss).
  • Not understanding the meaning of the words.
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• Communicating thoughts using language (expressive language). This could be due to
  • Not knowing the words to use.
  • Not knowing how to put words together.
  • Knowing the words to use but not being able to express them.
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Language and speech disorders can exist together or by themselves. Examples of problems with language and speech development include the following:

• Speech disorders
  • Difficulty with forming specific words or sounds correctly.
  • Difficulty with making words or sentences flow smoothly, like stuttering or stammering.
• Language delay – the ability to understand and speak develops more slowly than is typical
• Language disorders
  • Aphasia (difficulty understanding or speaking parts of language due to a brain injury or how the brain works).
  • Auditory processing disorder (difficulty understanding the meaning of the sounds that the ear sends to the brain)

If a child has a problem with language or speech development, talk to a healthcare provider about an evaluation. An important first step is to find out if the child may have a hearing loss. Hearing loss may be difficult to notice particularly if a child has hearing loss only in one ear or has partial hearing loss, which means they can hear some sounds but not others