Listening and understanding
Learn more about listening and understanding as part of the early years foundation stage [EYFS] including advice from experts and suggested activities.
The importance of language development
Speech, language and communication skills are crucial to young children’s overall development. Being able to speak clearly and process speech sounds, to understand others, to express ideas and interact with others are fundamental building blocks for a child’s development. Research suggests that good communication, language and literacy at a young age have the highest correlation with outcomes at school.
Speech and language skills underpin many other areas of children’s development by:
providing a strong foundation for other areas of learning, such as reading and writing and enabling access to the whole curriculum
supporting communication skills
promoting social skills and forming friendships
building confidence and self-esteem
supporting emotional and behavioural development
helping children to make sense of the world around them.