Lost for words.

Former teacher Angie Mason reports on the growing number of primary school children who start school barely able to talk. Focusing on Riley, age 4, the programme follows him as he undergoes speech and language therapy prior to starting Reception class. A variety of experts in child development comment on how important the early years are in the development of communication skills, meaning that much of it needs to take place in the home. New research even suggests that the use of forward-facing prams and buggies might have cut communication between mothers and small children while out and about.