In the past 12months, there has been a ten per cent increase in the number of 5 and 6 year-old children who need speech and language support in schools.
According to the BBC:
The increase, which is substantially greater than previous years, is partly due to lockdown limiting social interactions, experts say.
The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists says the profession is struggling to cope with the demand.
The government says it is investing £180m in early years development.
The BBC’s Shared Data Unit’s analysis found that the number of children in Year 1 who needed help with their language use increased more than most other areas of special educational needs.
A total of 42,341 children required extra support in 2021/22, up from 38,560 in 2020/21.
This is the year group who started reception after the first lockdown and had considerable disruption to their early years learning.
Previous rises in speech and language needs have been put down to larger student numbers and better detection in schools but the latest increase is much bigger.
At Northwood Community Primary School in Knowsley, Merseyside, there is a higher number of children experiencing language issues than previous years. Out of 500 pupils, around 80 now require extra support.
When Lewis, who is seven, first arrived, his teachers noticed he was withdrawn, finding it hard to make friends, and struggling to express himself.
“You couldn’t hold a full conversation with Lewis,” his mum Christine Williams explains.
“He would point for a cup because he was too nervous to tell me what he wanted in case I didn’t understand. It was a real struggle.”
Christine said it was particularly hard during the pandemic when he was no longer seeing friends in person.
His headteacher, Sarah Murphy, believes the pandemic has affected children’s natural communication and interaction skills, particularly for those who started school in September 2020 after the first lockdown.
She said the BBC’s analysis reflected her own experience as a teacher. She has found students who had experienced disrupted early years learning – Pre-School to Reception – struggled once they reached Year 1 as they had missed opportunities for play-based learning.
