Supporting Late Talkers and Unclear Speech in the Classroom
In early years settings and schools, some children use fewer spoken words than their peers, or their speech is less easy for unfamiliar listeners to understand. Both are common in early development, and both can be supported through responsive, low-pressure communication strategies built into what you are already doing.
This article is written for teachers, early years practitioners, teaching assistants and SENCos. If you are a parent looking for what to do at home, our companion article, my child is late to talk, what can I do?, is the one to read, and it is a useful thing to share with families.
Supporting children who are using fewer spoken words
For children who are communicating with limited spoken language, the aim is to support opportunities for communication without increasing pressure or expectation.
Create natural opportunities to communicate:
Build in moments where the child may need to communicate a choice or request within everyday routines and play. Snack time, resource trays and getting ready for outdoor play are the obvious ones. Place preferred items within sight but not immediately accessible, or pause during a familiar routine and wait, giving the child time to initiate in their own way.
Expand language in a supportive way:
When a child uses a word or short phrase, respond by gently expanding it. If the child says “car”, model “red car” or “car going fast”, without expecting repetition. This provides a richer language model in context.
Follow the child’s lead in play:
Join the child’s play at their level and use simple, meaningful language to describe what is happening. In a busy setting this is often the first thing to go, so it is worth protecting a short, planned slot rather than hoping it happens.
Reduce communication pressure:
Avoid over-questioning or prompting a child to “say” specific words. Whole-class question and answer, the register and show and tell are the moments where this pressure concentrates, so plan an alternative in advance: a non-verbal response, a rehearsed turn, or a partner.
Supporting children whose speech is harder to understand
When a child’s speech is not always clear to unfamiliar listeners, support should focus on communication confidence and understanding, not correction.
Use face-to-face interaction:
Position yourself so the child can see your face and gestures clearly, which supports both listening and understanding.
Model rather than correct:
If a child says a word in a way that is unclear, repeat it back clearly and naturally. There is no need to ask the child to repeat it; consistent modelling is supportive in itself.
Reduce background noise where possible:
A quieter environment makes it easier for children to hear and process speech models. Classroom acoustics are rarely within your control, but seating, group size and where an activity happens usually are.
Support successful communication in other ways:
If a child is not understood, encourage other ways to carry the meaning: pointing, showing, gesture, drawing, or saying it a different way. This reinforces that the message is valued even when the speech is unclear.
Things that only a setting can do
Some of the most useful support is not a strategy with one child, but a decision about how the room works.
- Brief every adult who works with the child. Strategies that only the teaching assistant knows about will only work when the teaching assistant is there.
- Think about the peer group. Children take their lead from adults. If you respond calmly to unclear speech and give the child time, the class will too.
- Write down what you notice. A few dated notes on what the child says, in which situations, and who understood them is far more useful to a therapist than a general impression, and it makes a referral much stronger.
- Talk to your SENCo early. Waiting for a pattern to become undeniable usually means waiting a term longer than necessary.
- Keep families in the loop. Parents often see something different at home, and the picture only makes sense with both halves.
When to seek further advice
Children’s speech and language skills develop at different rates, and variation in early speech development is very common. If there are ongoing concerns about a child’s speech clarity, or their communication development feels significantly different from expected patterns, it is worth seeking advice from a Speech and Language Therapist for further support and assessment.
We work in partnership with schools across London, Kent and Essex. Details of how that works, including in-setting assessment, therapy and staff training, are on our speech and language therapy in schools page, and our training covers early language and speech sound development for whole staff teams.
To talk to us, email enquiries@londonspeechtherapy.co.uk or call 020 3475 2189.
