The most common words babies mispronounce
I spoke to Felicity Hannah at Yahoo Lifestyle about speech development in children. Read the article here.
March 21st, 2012
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
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
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!
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
February 23rd, 2011
Hello, Giving Voice! What does communication mean to you?
Did you know that 2011 is the National Year of Speech, Language and Communication? Possibly not, but that’s probably because you think it doesn’t concern you, or does it?
If you are a:
Parent - poor language is linked to poor behaviour. 2/3 of language delayed 3 year olds have behaviour problems.
Tax payer - speech and language therapy delivers an estimated net benefit to the UK economy of £765 million.
Teacher - in some parts of the UK, up to 50% of children are starting school with poor language skills. That means more than 15 children in some classrooms.
If you are someone’s child - Every year, around 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke. That’s one person every five minutes. Stroke is the third most common cause of death in the UK. After a stroke, many people may experience difficulties with talking and/or swallowing.
But don’t worry - help is at hand! In the form of the Hello and Giving Voice campaigns!
Hello is The Communication Trust’s campaign for the National Year of Speech, Language and Communication. The campaign aims to increase understanding of how important it is for children and young people to develop good communication skills and to make communication for all children and young people a priority in homes and schools across the UK so that they can live life to the full.
The campaign has monthly themes, for example:
Early chatter matters - from bump to birth and beyond!
Giving Voice is the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists’ campaign. The campaign aims to demonstrate how speech and language therapy makes a difference to people with speech, language and communication needs, their families, and the wider society. Giving Voice will also demonstrate that this unique and vital service is cost-effective and value for money.
So now you know, you can help spread the word too!
Get involved with the campaigns, go to their websites and follow them on twitter too:
www.twitter.com/GivingVoiceUK and www.twitter.com/Hello_2011
