Useful links for home resources, videos and activities to boost your child’s communication and language at home.
How to Support your Child’s Early Communication and Language
Would you like to find tips and activities by age group?
The National Literacy Trust’s ‘Words for Life’ website groups activities and resources by age.
Would you like to watch an online workshop on how to support your child’s social communication?
This NHS webpage includes an Early Interaction workshop on how to support your child’s interaction skills.
Do you want your child to be a super communicator?
The ‘Talking Together’ booklet explains how everyday chats, games and routines can help your child learn to talk and understand from a very early age.
Do you want some simple communication and language games to play with children under the age of 5?
This video from the BBC explains how spending face-to-face time with babies and young children helps them to learn language and connect with you through eye contact, facial expressions and mouth movements.
Do you want to help your child to focus on and take part in a conversation?
This video from the BBC shows how noticing and talking about your child’s favourite toys and interests helps them to listen and learn.
Do you want to help your child to say longer sentences?
This video from the BBC explains how responding to your child’s early words and building short phrases around them helps them to make longer sentences.
Do you want to know the best way to help your child if they say words or phrases incorrectly?
This video from the BBC shows you how “recasting” – repeating a child’s phrase back to them correctly rather than pointing out mistakes – helps them learn words and sentences more naturally.
Would you like to find out about Makaton?
Makaton is a way to help people communicate using talking, hand signs, and pictures. It is made for children and adults who find speaking hard, including those with learning difficulties, autism, or speech problems. Visit the Makaton website for more information, including free resources.
How to Support your Child’s Speech Sounds
Do you want to learn more about speech sounds?
This page from Speech and Language UK offers families clear information about speech sounds — how children learn them, when sounds typically develop and simple ways you can help improve your child’s pronunciation at home.
Does your child often say words that are almost right but not quite there?
This video from the BBC explains ‘recasting’, a way to subtly correct words with your child to show the correct way to say them.
How to Support your Bilingual Child
Did you know that the earlier you start speaking additional languages with your child, the easier they’ll find it to learn them?
This article from the BBC explores the benefits of speaking more than one language with toddlers and gives some top tips for talking more than one language as a family.
Do you want to know how to develop language in a bilingual household?
In this video from the BBC, a Speech and language therapist explains why it’s best to speak in whichever languages you’re most comfortable with at home.
How to Support your Child’s Selective Mutism
Would you like to find out more about selective mutism?
This video from the NHS gives an introduction to selective mutism, including how to recognise it, why it can occur and strategies to use.