Speech Difficulties: Just the facts

Your communication skills continue to develop right through your teenage years.

Communication skills include listening, understanding, talking and interacting with others.

At school you’ll be asked to use communication skills to help you complete tasks, for example, asking questions, explaining your thoughts, negotiating, problem solving and even giving presentations in front of others. There will be a lot of new words (vocabulary) to learn in each subject.

Some young people find this difficult and need some extra help to:

• Understand instructions in class
• Answer questions in class
• Join in discussions
• Learn new words

A speech and language therapist may visit school to advise teaching staff.

Different types of communication difficulties

Some young people may have experienced difficulties from a young age and continue to need support. For example they may have:

• A word finding difficulty, when you know what you want to say but the right word doesn’t come out.
• A stammer or stutter
• Difficulty saying sounds correctly or clearly
• A voice difficulty

If you’re worried about your talking or communication skills and would like some advice, talk to your school nurse, GP or your tutor at school.

How to get help

If you have any more questions about communication difficulties or would like to speak to somebody about this, look at the links below or search for local services in the blue box below. You can always contact your school nurse.

• w: I Can
  
• w: A Voice for Life