Follow on from the year of communication......

Following on from the National Year of Communication, 2012 proves to be just as exciting with new events and new information guides for parents. Afasic England, in association The Communication Trust, is running three free events, bringing together parents, professionals and children with speech, language and communication needs. These will include seminars, workshops, exhibitions and fun activities for pupils with SLCN. Many of the workshops are being run by members of the Trust's Communication Consortium. With over thirty workshops per event to choose from, including one-to-one advice sessions available throughout the day, these events will provide information as well as a chance to talk to local providers, professionals and other parents. The events will take place in... The Rose Bowl, Southampton on Thursday 8th March 2012 Leicester University on Thursday 15th March 2012 Durham University at Stockton-on-Tees on 22nd March 2012 For further details and to book please click here.

"Despite progress, still too many gaps in support for 10% of children with communication difficulties"

I CAN, the children’s communication charity, this week expressed concern that there are still many gaps in the support available for more than a million children across the UK with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), despite recent advances.

Responding to the report of the outgoing Communication Champion for Children, Jean Gross CBE, the charity welcomed evidence of improved awareness amongst parents, policy makers and professionals about children’s communication. Her report, Two Years On: Final Report of the Communication Champion for Children also highlights good practice for children with SLCN. However, it makes it clear that this is the exception rather than the rule: joint commissioning of integrated approaches across health and education, is still not happening in 70% of local areas.

I CAN backs the report’s 30 major recommendations. In particular, it supports Jean Gross’s proposal for the Health and Social Care Bill to be amended to make joint commissioning of children’s community health services compulsory to improve services for children with SLCN. The charity also called for better support for school-aged children with communication difficulties. Without continued focus and investment, there remains a long way to go before every child with SLCN receives integrated support, particularly once they get to primary and secondary school. Virginia Beardshaw, I CAN CEO said: "This report, coming at the end of the 2011 National Year of Communication, tells us what works best for children with communication needs and how far we’ve come, both on the ground and at government level in recognising the importance of this issue.

Despite this progress, children and young people are still not getting the help they need when they need it. I’m deeply saddened that joint commissioning, which is the cornerstone of good services, is still a ‘minority sport’ across the NHS and local government. And we know from the families who contact I CAN every day, parents face real barriers to finding information and practical help which meets their children’s needs. 

Speech, language and communication skills are essential for children to start school ready to read, learn, form friendships and grow into thriving adults. Without early intervention SLCN impacts on all aspects of a child’s development - unsupported, around one-third of young people with SLCN will go on to develop mental health problems.

Jean’s report shows the benefits for children’s communication when communities, parents, health, education and social care professionals combine efforts to identify and support those who are struggling. Integrated, area-wide approaches and focus on workforce development is illustrated by I CAN’s work with early years staff, settings and local authorities. But we need to expand this approach from the 30% of local areas identified in Jean’s report and plug the gaps in support for school –aged children. 

Much has been achieved since the 2008 review by John Bercow of children’s speech language and communication. We need a continued focus on this issue to ensure that our gains are not lost and that the 1 million plus children and young people with speech, language and communication needs can go on to fulfil their potential."

I would agree that we are making progress in both the identification and acknowledgment but we are not moving forwards with what happens next. Small Talk Independent SLT has been inundated with referrals in 2012 already. Unfortunately most of these parents are at the end of their tether having being massively let down  by the system in place. These are not referrals of minor difficulties such as lisps or the like but serious language problems which are having a major impact on the child's life, relationships and progress. We need to keep up the momentum!!


www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk

Communication consortium expresses concern about Phonics Screening Check

The Communication Trust, a consortium of nearly 50 leading voluntary sector organisations specialising in speech, language and communication in children and young people, has expressed its concern over plans to roll out the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check. The results from the first round of screening were published recently   by the Department for  Education.  The Phonics Screening Check is a short, light-touch assessment to confirm whether pupils have learned phonic decoding to an appropriate standard. It also identifies children who need extra help so they can receive extra support to improve their reading skills. They can then retake the check so schools can track them until they can decode. But independent evaluation undertaken by Sheffield Hallam University showed most teachers still had difficulties in judging whether a word was read correctly, including in children who were good readers but had speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). Anita Kerwin-Nye, director of The Communication Trust, said: “We fully support the Government’s ambition to improve literacy standards in English schools, and welcome the Department for Education’s support for communication, language and literacy in the Early 

Years Foundation stage. “However we are very concerned about the impact the Year 1 Phonics Screen, and the wider emphasis on phonics, on children with speech, language and communication needs. 


This concern is backed up by the findings of the evaluation carried out by Sheffield Hallam University. This showed that nearly 29 per cent of schools felt the experience of the Phonics Screening Check was negative for children with SLCN and that only 35 per cent felt the check accurately assessed the decoding abilities of children with speech difficulties. “These figures alone suggest significant changes need to be made to the way the Screen is implemented and I have urgently requested a meeting with Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State 
for Education to discuss the precise details. Phonics is a valid approach to teaching reading but it is essential that it is delivered as part of a well-rounded approach to communication and literacy skills.”  

Hello Tool Kit

This month sees the launch of a new downloadable toolkit Celebrate Good Times with information and activities that will help you celebrate communication milestones big and small.

The toolkit includes information on:

• Celebrating Special Moments – ideas on how to celebrate special moments in your child’s life, plus questions to help celebratory conversations flow
• Celebrate Festivities – help your children learn signs linked to Christmas and see if you can learn them too
• Celebrating Success – ideas on how to hold a mini-awards ceremony at home, in nursery or school settings, plus certificate templates to amend
• Celebrating Diversity – a ‘Show and Tell’ activity to celebrate different cultures and languages

Celebrate Good Times also includes background information and advice on supporting children with English as an Additional Language along with a signposting section with helpful links.

A number of partners have kindly inputted their ideas and local activities into this toolkit including Leicestershire County Council, The Makaton Charity, London SIG Bilingualism, Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust and Speech and Language Therapy Service and Plymouth City Council.

To download a copy of Celebrate Good Times http://www.hello.org.uk/resources/resources/resources-for-practitioners/celebrate-good-times.aspx

40 STRONG COALITION DEMONSTRATES BENEFITS OF UNITING TO SAY HELLO

Sarah Teather, Minister of State for Children and Families, joined The Communication Trust’s
parliamentary event to celebrate anniversary of national year of communication launch.
The Communication Trust, a 40‐strong coalition of voluntary and community sector organisations with expertise in children’s speech, language and communication, this week marked ‘one
year on’ since the launch of the Hello campaign (national year of communication) at a celebration event at the House of Commons, London.
Over 200 Hello supporters, including sponsors BT and Pearson Assessment, gathered with MPs and Ministers at The Communication Trust event – sponsored by Annette Brooke MP  ‐  to celebrate the achievements of the national year to date and to unite efforts to ensure that children and young people’s communication development remains a national priority.   
Attendees were praised for their efforts in raising the profile of Hello – a campaign, run in partnership with Communication Champion, Jean Gross, to make children and young people’s communication development a priority in homes and schools across the country. A particular emphasis has been on creating tangible improvements for the 1 million children and young people living in the UK today with some form of speech, language and communication need (SLCN) that can affect them early, severely and for life.  
Highlights at the event included a speech from 18‐year old, Ben Morfey, a remarkable young man who uses alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) to express himself. Ben, who attends the Dame Hannah Rogers School for children with physical and learning disability, used his cheek to activate his
electronic voice output communication aid (VOCA), which allows him to communicate his thoughts. Ben has quadriplegic cerebral palsy (affecting four limbs), dystonia and a moderate learning disability. Ben’s speech was timely as the Hello theme for October is ‘Not just Words’ coinciding with International AAC month.  
Bronwen Hewitt, Chief Executive of the Dame Hannah Rogers Trust, said; “We are all incredibly proud of Ben and honoured The Communication Trust has recognised him to support them at that notable event. Ben has mastered his communication and just by clicking a button with his cheek he is able to develop sentences, send text messages and tell jokes! Ben is testament to our mission at Hannahs of empowering, advocating and enriching the lives of people with disabilities.”
Anita Kerwin‐Nye, Director of The Communication Trust, said; “Today, we are one year on since the launch of the Hello campaign, which built directly on John Bercow’s landmark review. We have worked with voluntary, corporate and public sector bodies to improve understanding of what ‘typical’ communication2
development looks like, how to identify if children are struggling and where to turn for help and support.
So far, this collaboration has produced fantastic results. 300,000 resources have been distributed, a new ‘good communication’ best practice awards scheme has been developed and over 200 Hello co‐ordinators
are supporting the campaign locally.  “We also have a new City & Guilds Level 3 Award in place enabling the current and future children’s workforce to support the speech, language and communication development of all our children. The focus of Hello is now centred on the legacy programme into 2012. We are continuing our work around multi‐ agency commissioning and supporting strategic planning between primary care trusts and local authorities.
It is vital that this work is not lost as we go into a phase of public service restructuring.    
“On behalf of everyone involved in Hello, heartfelt thanks go to our Communication Champion, Jean Gross, who has worked tirelessly to support the national year and to directly influence changes in policy and local
practice. We are hugely grateful to our sponsors, BT and Pearson Assessment, for their long standing commitment to this area and for working with us to develop a portfolio of resources and initiatives that will exist for many years to come. Finally, our on‐going appreciation goes the Minister, Sarah Teather for
her commitment to improve services for children and young people with SLCN. Hello embodies in practice the success that comes with The Communication Trust’s effective model of third sector collaboration.”
Jean Gross, Communication Champion, said; “Hello, the national year of communication, seeks to make children’s language development everybody’s business. I feel we are really beginning to achieve this when I hear about the range of people getting involved. Two recent examples to highlight are the North Yorkshire school meals service, where staff have been using signs, symbols and pictures to help them communicate with the children and the Hertfordshire’s school travel service. They are running a Buggy Buddies scheme
in ‘walk to school week’ that involves parents and children in fun talking and listening activities. Everyone from schools and nurseries to museum services, midwives and Mayors are coming on board with the Hello campaign.
“It is starting to become much more widely known that children’s communication is the core life skill for success at school and future wellbeing. This is new, and will be key to improving outcomes for children and
young people in the future. The parliamentary reception has been an important opportunity to acknowledge the vital work of The Communication Trust – representing 40 organisations that lead in the field of children’s speech, language and communication. The Trust’s leadership of Hello, and the
enthusiasm, creativity and tenacity of our local Hello champions has been incredible. In the coming months, I look forward to working with The Communication Trust on embedding the success and learning from Hello into future work plans.”   
In addition to Ben, other speeches were given by Children and Families Minister, Sarah Teather; Annette Brooke MP, Jean Gross; the Government’s Communication Champion for children and Gillian Gaskell – Speech and Language Therapist at Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust and Hello local  co‐ordinator.    
Communication is a skill that anyone can learn and improve. It underpins everything we do in life. to help thousands of children and young people across the UK to improve their communication skills so they can live life to the full.  Please visit www.hello.org.uk for further information.

More than words:Hello October

The Hello theme for October is 'more than just words'. Often people don't realise that Speech and language therapists work with people who don't talk or have little speech.  Check out  http://www.communicationmatters.org.uk/ where you will find  information on methods of communication which can be used to supplement the more usual methodsof speech and writing. These methods are called Augmentative and Alternative Communication, or AAC for short.

Communication Matters is a UK wide organisation and helps people of all ages and ability who need to use AAC.

They are supporting a range of exciting AAC events and activities across the UK, linked to the 'Hello'campaign in the National Year of Communication.

Communication Matters is leading a groundbreaking research project to gather evidence about theneed and provision of AAC, and is also involved in developing and publishing National Standards for AAC services. We have been in touch with the project co-ordinator and will be featuring the conclusions of this project in a future edition of S & L World:the global bulletin for SLT/SLP