The communicative competence includes a broad scale of partial skills and abilities which, in an age-appropriate manner, allow the child to exchange information with their surroundings. The need for communication is deeply rooted in the human psyche. Failures to fulfill this need, or its suppression, can lead to serious mental disorders and problems in interpersonal relationships. Part of the communicative competence is that the child learns to understand written text, and acquires the ability to turn what they hear into writing.

Age-appropriate development of speech, and the ability to use speech in interaction with peers and adults is, therefore, one of the most significant factors that affect the course and results of education in kindergarten and elementary school. Deficiencies in this area also have an impact on the emotional experience of the child. The inability to express one’s needs so that others can understand them is a significant source of frustration. If this frustration lasts for a long time, it may be reflected in the behavior of the child. The child can, in reaction to experienced stress (which they cannot eliminate on their own), turn to non-standard behavior – fits of anger, increased aggressiveness, withdrawal, reluctance to communicate verbally, etc. It is important to realize that these reactions are natural, but that a child’s problems with relationships to other children and to adults can deteriorate further. For this reason, maximum effort must be exerted to resolve the causes of this situation. In the text below, we will therefore focus on the possibilities of pedagogical diagnostics of communication problems, as well as on the possibilities of supporting the development of the skills and abilities grouped in the Framework Education Program for Pre-School Education under the term communicative competence.