Communicate In Print

November 20th, 2012

A quick intro to Solution Focused Brief Therapy

I went on a 2 day training course on Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) at the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children, and I was facinated! It’s a great approach to use with anyone of any age to talk about any conerns.

This is a presentation I gave to my department on using SFBT. I decided to use Prezi (rather than powerpoint) to make it more interesting. See what you think!

The main unique selling point with SFBT is that it focuses on solutions and not problems! How refreshing!

Click on the link to find out more! http://prezi.com/usktzbwi7s7p/a-quick-intro-to-sfbt/

March 21st, 2012

The most common words babies mispronounce

I spoke to Felicity Hannah at Yahoo Lifestyle about speech development in children. Read the article here.

March 5th, 2012

Article - Worried about your child's speech?

I was recently contacted for advice by Keith Kendrick, aka ‘The Reluctant Housedad’, regarding an article he wanted to write for Tesco Magazine Kids’ Book Club about what parents can do for their children with speech needs.

Read my advice here.

January 2nd, 2012

Therapy Ideas Live is a free CPD and networking event for SLTs. Set up by Rhiannan Walton, it’s an inspiring event in which guest speakers present using the Ignite Talks format, whose motto is ‘enlighten us, but make it quick’!

Each presenter is given 5 minutes to speak (on any chosen SLT related topic) in which they must use 20 slides that move forward automatically every 15 seconds, it’s simple but it’s not easy!

Watch me giving it a go at the last event.

January 1st, 2012

The Giving Voice Awards

The Giving Voice Campaign held an awards ceremony after the mass mobilisation event at Westminster on 18th October 2011.

The awards recognise the work of our most outstanding campaigners and never before has the phrase ‘it’s the taking part that counts’ been more true. We launched Giving Voice to raise the profile of Speech and Language Therapists (and service users) and to equip and inspire you to communicate your life-transforming role to decision makers.

The event showcased some amazing work being carried out by SLTs across the country. Gareth Gates won the Celebrity Ambassador of the Year Award and gave a very moving speech about how speech and language therapy has transformed his life.

I was awarded the Social Media Campaigner of the Year award, by John Bercow!

The evening was a great success, enjoy the pictures!

The Giving Voice Rally and Lobby

On 18th October 2011, the Giving Voice Campaign urged Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) from across the country to join in a mass mobilisation event at Westminster.

SLTs arranged meetings with their local MPs to talk to them about the importance of Speech and Language Therapy and to stress the impact public sector cuts are having on services and their users across the country.

We met with Glenda Jackson to do just that and were subsequently featured in the Ham & High! Read about it here.

August 17th, 2011

A few weeks ago the Daily Mail ran a news story stating that “children start school without knowing their own name”.

In response to this LBC radio station led a discussion, asking people their views on the topic. So I called in to give them the Speech and Language Therapist’s perspective… and used the opportunity to plug the National Year of Communication’s Hello campaign!

Listen to the clip to find out what I said!

May 4th, 2011

What's in a word?

I discovered this blog for the first time the other day when it came up on my Twitter feed.

By the end of the first sentence I was already hooked; this is the blog for me (and you)!

Language, linguistics and its effect on everyone and everything that we do!

What’s in a word? Enough to blog about and thanks to Samuel Johnson we’ll always know :)

Click here to go to the blog http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson

March 13th, 2011

Recently I attended a training session led by the fantastic Gina Davies, the focus of which was how to develop attention and listening skills in children with autism. The key message was that in any room, we, the adults are the most interesting thing to a child, and depending on the way we use the tools around us, we can inspire and motivate children to communicate.

Gina showcased many simple (and cheap) toys and tools that can be used to develop these skills. One that really spoke to me was ‘the bucket’! The bucket is full of weird and wonderful little gadgets that demand attention and may lead to engagement also.

So, to the pound shops of Dalston I went, to set out on a journey to create my own bucket…

For the princely sum of £9 I now have toys for children to listen to, see and interact with, and I for one can’t wait to use them!

www.attentionautism.com
www.autism.org.uk
www.poundland.co.uk

February 25th, 2011

Stammer School

Five per cent of British children will suffer from a stammer at some point in their lives. For some it can become a very real problem they cannot cure, but can learn to control. Narrated by Blue Peter’s Andy Akinwolere, this uplifting documentary follows six children as they take part in an intensive two-week course at the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children, which could change their lives.

On BBC2 Saturday 26 February 11.15-11.45am

Watch it here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00z88ks