"He never listens, he can’t sit still, he’s disruptive, inattentive and has no eye contact.” These are frequent behaviours witnessed in the key stage 1 classroom. In these situations, are we too quick to suspect conditions such as ADD/ADHD, development co-ordination disorder (DCD) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD)? Or might these poor behaviours be due to speech, language and communication needs (SLCN)?
In some areas, 50 per cent of children begin school with speech, language and communication difficulties and 10 per cent of these children will continue to have problems well into adulthood.
These causes of SLCN are wide and varied. The child may already have a diagnosis such as ASD, ADD, DCD or ADHD. There may have been a lack of exposure to spoken language and books in the child’s pre-school years, or the child may have had limited life experiences that delayed language acquisition.
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