More than half of all parents in Britain wrongly point a finger of blame at other parents when children have speech issues or other language and communication problems, a new survey indicates.

Out of 3,000 parents polled by the Government-backed Communication Trust, more than half blamed speech, language and communication difficulties on other parents not talking to their children enough.

Jean Gross (pictured), the Government-appointed Communication Champion for England, was disappointed at the finding. “Public understanding of children’s communication difficulties remains worryingly low,” she said.

The survey also found that one in six British parents believe that the most common cause of speech issues or other language and communication difficulties among children is the time they spend on computers and watching television.

Jean Gross added that the public’s “automatic response seems to be to blame parents or technology. This just isn’t right.

“We need to clear up the confusion and myths that exist around this subject. Ten per cent of children – that’s two to three in every UK classroom – have some form of long-term communication difficulty that can affect them early, severely and for life. Their brains don’t process language in quite the same way that other children’s brains do.”

According to the Trust, biological rather than environmental factors are likely to lie behind speech, language and communication difficulties.

The survey questioned a total of 6,000 people, half of whom were parents. It was commissioned by the Communication Trust to launch its Hello campaign, which aims to make children and young people’s communication development a priority in homes, nurseries and schools across the country.

Published: 1 February 2011