If you're concerned about your child's speech, language or communication talk to your Health Visitor or look here for advice.

If your child under 5 years and not at school you please see Ready STEADI Chat for how to book an appointment with a Speech and Language Therapist.

If your child is at school, please talk to your Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) who can share your worries with the school’s Link SLT and agree next steps of support.

Educational settings in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole follow a Graduated Response to ensure they are providing the right level of support for children and young people with special educational needs, including communication and interaction needs.

Details of the approach taken to support children and young people can be found in the Graduated Response and Toolkit.

The BCP Council Early Help Programmes Team provide a range of programmes to support families with under five year old, including those focused on communication, language and literacy. You can find details of the programmes here. Contact your local Family Hub to find out more.

If you're at the early stages of finding out about speech, language and communication needs, you might find the document titled Information about Speech Language and Communication Needs listed under Helpful Publications useful.

Speech and Language UK have also produced a number of resources for parents including a guide entitled Misunderstood which can be found in the Downloads section.  They offer an enquiry service which is free and gives parents, carers and practitioners the chance to discuss questions and concerns about a child's speech, language and communication development with a speech and language therapist.

The Balanced System Pathway Tool provides local and national information and support for babies, children and young people where there are concerns about speech, language and communication needs.

STAMMA provide support and information on stammering.

AFASIC have a range of resources and a parent helpline.

NHS Learning to talk has a range of fun activities to help develop communication skills in children aged 0 to 5.

The National Literacy Trust also have resources for families and teachers.

The BBC's Tiny Happy People has tips, advice and activities for developing language and communication skills.

Raa Raa The Noisy Lion are television programmes designed for 2-4-year-olds. The series explores children's communication skills using Raa Raa's 4 Rs - repetition, rhyme, rhythm and retelling.

LuCiD - The ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development is a research collaboration working with partners from across the world to transform our understanding of how children learn to communicate with language.

Useful YouTube clips:

Let’s Get moving with Action Words
Supporting Early Interaction and Communication
Helping your child understand language: one information carrying word
Visual supports