Charity shares that children with speech and language difficulties are at greater risk of developing mental health issues.
In the UK alone, 2 million children and young people struggle with their speech and language. 1 They could experience difficulties with a variety of different aspects of speech and language such as learning and remembering new words, expressing their feelings, stammering, answering questions or understanding and using non-verbal cues like facial expressions. For example, 7.6% of all children in the UK have a Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) diagnosis. People with DLD ‘have life-long difficulties with talking and understanding words’. 2
It can be difficult for children who struggle to communicate or to understand what others are communicating to them – they may become upset, stressed and frustrated trying to be understood and to make sense of what is being said to them.
Jane Harris, Chief Executive at Speech and Language UK, explains, “Everyone uses words to identify how they’re feeling. If you’re struggling with language, you can’t say to yourself, ‘I’m sad, I’m angry.’ You can’t categorise how you’re feeling.”
These difficulties can impact on mental health, in fact, according to the charity’s report, ‘45% of all young people referred to mental health services are also dealing with mental health challenges’. This is a huge percentage, especially when coupled with that 2 million statistic and other data such as the fact that 1 in 5 children and young people between 8 and 25 had a mental health problem in 2023. 1
What is the charity suggesting are the next steps to supporting these children and young people?
- Mandatory training for mental health teams in schools in spotting speech and language issues.
- Better training in speech and language for teachers, support staff and mental health professionals.
- Improved information sharing between schools and mental health teams.
- Support to spot language issues earlier.
- A stop on the reliance to provide talk-based therapies (for mental health support) – alternatives should be offered as appropriate, such as art therapy.
References
- McGough, K. (2025) ‘Children with speech issues risk poor mental health, charity warns’. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9w15jrj5xxo (Accessed: 25th June 2025)
- Speech and Language UK (2025) ‘Support for Children and Young People with DLD’. Available at: https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/educators-and-professionals/dld-educational-support/ (Accessed: 25th June 20250
