To help understand what level your child is working at and what their next steps might be, it is important to understand the development of communication skills.
There are two parts to communication. The ability to understanding what is being communicated (receptive language) and the ability to communicate what we are thinking/feeling and want to say (expressive language). It is possible for a young person to be more advanced in one of these skills than the other. For example, a young person may be able to express themselves very well and talk confidently to others about things they are interested in but may lack skills in receptive language, finding it difficult to process language, following instructions and understand what is being asked of them.
I have broken up below, the main developmental steps in receptive and expressive language. Click on the links to find out more about each stage and what it may mean if a child is struggling at this level.
Content will follow in due course – this labour of love will take me some time and I hope it will be of use when it is completed!