Communication breakdown: Too much TV and not enough talk 'leads to speech problems in children'

• Overload of distractions at home means children 'don't know how to listen'

Spending too much time in front of the TV or computer is hindering the development of children's speech, new research suggests.

One in six parents believes too much time screen time is a major contributor to increasing communication problems that affect more than a million children in the UK.

More than half (51 per cent) of those questioned think youngsters can suffer from speech problems if their parents do not talk to them enough.

Stunting: Children who spend too much time watching TV could develop communication problems

The findings are contained in a survey of 6,000 people, including 3,000 parents, conducted by the Communication Trust to mark the launch of the Hello campaign - the national year of communication.

It found that 16 per cent of adults, and 17 per cent of parents, believe too much time in front of screens is one of the most common causes of speech, language and communication needs.

One in three parents said they had been, or were concerned, about their child's communication skills.

The survey also revealed that many people know little about the talking milestones a child should reach.

Just one in four parents (25 per cent) knew that on average, babies say their first word at between 12 and 18 months, while almost a third (31 per cent) expected it to be at six to eight months.

And just a fifth (20 per cent) of parents knew that children talk in sentences of three to five words at around three years old.

Tuning out: Too many distractions at home means children find it difficult to listen

The Trust said that speech, language and communication needs affect more than a million UK children, and the main cause is genetic and biological reasons.

Jean Gross, England's Communication Champion, said: 'Ten per cent of children - that's two to three in every UK classroom - have some form of long-term communication difficulty that is biologically based.

'Their brains don't process language in quite the same way that other children's brains do.

'These results reinforce the need for the Hello campaign to radically improve understanding of speech, language and communication difficulties and the impact this has on children's lives.'

An Ofsted report published earlier this month found that young children are struggling to learn to read and write because they cannot speak or listen properly.

Delays in development of speech and language are one of the most common barriers faced by children attempting to learn literacy skills, it found.

A separate Ofsted study on how the best schools teach children to read, published in November, found young children are starting nursery school unable to speak and listen properly because of continuous noise and poor conversation at home.

Constantly switched on televisions, noisy brothers and sisters and raised voices are increasingly hampering children's language skills, it said.