According to the BBC, the number of five and six year olds who need speech and language support at school has risen by 10% in England over the past year
The increase, which is substantially greater than previous years, is partly due to lockdown limiting social interactions, experts say.
The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists says the profession is struggling to cope with the demand.
The government says it is investing £180m in early years development.
The BBC’s Shared Data Unit’s analysis found that the number of children in Year One who needed help with their language use increased more than most other areas of special educational needs.
A total of 42,341 children required extra support in 2021/22, up from 38,560 in 2020/21.
This is the year group who started reception after the first lockdown and had considerable disruption to their early years learning.
Previous rises in speech and language needs have been put down to larger student numbers and better detection in schools but the latest increase is much bigger.
Charity Speech and Language UK told the BBC that Covid restrictions affected some children’s development by limiting socialising and new experiences, which helps them learn new words.
At Northwood Community Primary School in Knowsley, Merseyside, there is a higher number of children experiencing language issues than previous years. Out of 500 pupils, around 80 now require extra support.
The children attend small group sessions with trained staff and speech and language therapists and through play, music and talking exercises, develop the skills they need.
Chief executive of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, Kamini Gadhok, says the BBC’s research confirms what she had been told anecdotally.
“It is a real worry. Our members have been telling us that they’ve been seeing a huge increase in the number of children referred to them,” she says.
“We’ve hit a crisis point with services, where services are not able to meet the level of demand.”
More than 100 charities and parent and carer organisations have written to the government to say long-term investment is needed to plug gaps in the specialist workforce supporting children in schools – including speech and language therapists.
Jane Harris, chief executive of Speech and Language UK, is calling for schools to be given free access to a screening tool to help them spot problems early.
She says children struggling with speech and language otherwise end up being incorrectly “labelled” with having mental health or behavioural problems.
There have been similar rises in Scotland, with children needing communication support increasing by 20% in the last two years. In Wales there was a slight decrease overall, but some councils have seen rises. Relevant data for Northern Ireland is not available, however the number of children with special educational needs is steadily rising.
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