Childrens communication skills

Perhaps some teachers are being over zealous in identifying problems with young children's communication skills. My grandson started school when he had just turned 4. I believe he was at some disadvantage compared to much older children who were intellectually and emotionally further along developmentally. He also has an older sister who is quite close in age and who tends to dominate conversations so, in order to get a word in edgeways, he has had to speak very quickly and without too much forethought, often repeating himself to get his thoughts in order. Initially his parents were told that he might require speech therapy but, as he has matured, this no longer seems to be such an issue.

grandtante You don't say which country you live in but there have been a lot of newspaper articles referring to various pieces of research which seem to indicate that Scandinavian education is superior to the education of many other countries. A quick perusal of the topic "Scandinavian Education" yields:

Why Scandinavian Schools are Superior (eSchoolNews)
Can Sweden teach our schools a lesson? (Independent)
Why is the Finnish school system so good? (Left Foot Forward)
How Finnish schools shine (Teacher Network)
Finland's education system best in world (Business Insider)
A lesson in Scandinavian education (BBC News)

Some extracts from an article re the Finnish education system:

"Finland's comprehensive school system has sat at the top of Europe’s rankings for the past 16 years..... There has been intense worldwide interest in how they manage it .....

"Central to early years education in Finland is a “late” start to schooling. .....In all Finnish daycare centres, the emphasis is not on maths, reading or writing but creative play.....

"Indeed the main aim of early years education is not explicitly “education” in the formal sense but the promotion of the health and wellbeing of every child, to help them develop good social habits, learn how to make friends and respect others, dress themselves competently. etc ...

"Importantly, early years care in Finland is designed and funded to ensure high take-up: every child has a legal right to high-quality pre-school care. .....

"Behind its stellar education ranking is a comprehensive social security and public health system that ensures one of the lowest child poverty rates in Europe, and some of the highest levels of wellbeing."

You seem to have a particular issue regarding immigrant children, suggesting that they have had a negative effect on the education system in your country. I have lived in a multi-ethnic area of London for 30 years and it is my experience that immigrant children are usually very quick to learn the language and often do very well at school - as I believe the statistics demonstrate.

One thing I learned when trying to discover why Finland's education system is so consistently successful is that all teachers are trained to MA level, and are held in the same high regard as lawyers and doctors.
Because of their extensive training they are familiar with many different methods of teaching, and able to apply them if a child is failing in a particular area. All support work is done by trained teachers, working in conjunction with the class teacher.
Difficult to compare two different countries, but I feel high level training and well qualified teachers are an important factor in Finland's success.

Spaniel Nanny, oh how I agree with you. As I read all these judgemental and ignorantly painful criticisms of modern Mums I'm just glad I'm part of that generation where we Mums were all so perfect. Hey ho.

Erm I disagree! I well remember older ladies commenting on how I was with my children when they were young. Apparently I spoilt them! The older generation has always criticised the younger one.

J10, I suspect I should have added an exclamation mark after 'perfect'. Sorry! I'm grinning now.

And did it not hurt you Jane10? Or irritate you, or make you wish they’d mind their business? Maybe remembering how those unjust criticisms made you feel would serve you well before dishing them out to others.

Nope. I just wrote it off as old people who didn't know any better. My children came first last and always. They still do and are far more important than mobile phones.

Jane10. My dgs was asleep, my dil was using her phone. How was she putting him second to it? And how did it warrant the woman commenting that she ‘shouldn’t be allowed children’??

And has it occurred to you, that perhaps now we’re the ‘old people who don’t know any better?’

Duh yes!!