We know that, shockingly, children who struggle with talking and understanding words are six times more likely to fall behind in English and eleven times more likely to be behind in Maths by age 11. These challenges don’t stop at school—they follow children throughout their lives.
Today, countless families face an exhausting battle to secure adequate support for their children in school. Early intervention has been proven to literally change lives. However, for too many families, this support remains out of reach. With resources stretched thin, children with speech and language challenges continue to fall through the cracks.
Successive governments have failed to prioritise this group of children and yesterday, a taskforce on neurodiversity once again failed to include representation of the 1 million children with lifelong speech and language challenges. We must ask: why, despite the overwhelming evidence, is support for children with speech and language challenges still not a priority in our education system?
