ABSTRACT
Some of the statistics about the links between language skills and life chances are startling. For example:
● early spoken language skills are the most significant predictor of literacy levels at age 11 (Moss and Washbrook, 2016);
● language at age three is a key element in a composite ‘brain health’ measure that accur - ately predicts which individuals will be of very high cost to society 35 years later (Caspi et al., 2016);
● vocabulary at age five is one of the most significant predictors of the qualifications pupils achieve when they leave school (Feinstein and Duckworth, 2006);
● more than half of children starting school in socially disadvantaged areas of England have delayed language (Read On. Get On., 2014, 2015); and
● two-thirds of seven-to fourteen-year-olds with serious behaviour problems have lang - uage impairment (Cohen et al., 1998).
