Children entering school in the year after the first Lockdown are showing a big increase in speech, language and communication (SLC) needs, according to analysis of DfE data.
On the Isle of Wight the number of children needing support for speech, language and communication in Year 1 dropped from 99 in 2015/16 to 98 in 2021/22.
Overall rise
However, during the intervening years the numbers had dropped as low as 70 children in 2019/20 and 73 in 2018/19, meaning the number of children needing support for speech, language and communication in Year 1 in 2021/22 rose by 15.29 per cent compared to the previous academic year.
This is higher than the national rise of 9.81 per cent leading to the Isle of Wight ranking seventh in the region out of 19 authorities.
The research was carried out by the BBC Shared Data Unit.
Image: tabor-roeder under CC BY 2.0
