Did you know that, according to Speech Pathology Australia, 95% of what your five year old says should be able to be understood by an unfamiliar adult?
Good spoken language skills are vital for your child’s school readiness.
Socially, your child will need to be able to say sounds and words properly so that he or she can make (and keep) new friends.
Academically, speech sound errors such as lisps and mispronunciations can also affect your child’s early reading, spelling and writing skills.
As parents, we are often able to ‘translate’ what our children say when others don’t understand them, but if you find yourself doing this quite a lot, it’s a bit of a ‘red flag’ and having your child’s speech checked by a speech pathologist before school begins may be valuable.
If you’re not sure if your child’s speech development is typical for their age, watch the 3 minute video below and then download the free fact sheet at the bottom of this page.
In these free resources, I share important guidelines that every parent of a child starting school needs to know.
I hope that this information will help your child to thrive at school next year.