7 RECOMMENDATIONS
Taking into account the recommendations published in the Rafferty Report (2014) and the SPECS report ‘A New Way of Working’ (2018) ten areas of work have been highlighted to sustain the successful collaboration between the HSE and SPECS to continue to effectively improve outcomes for children in relation to Speech, Language and Communication Needs in the Bray area.
1
Continue to work towards a mainstream approach to prevention and early intervention response to Speech Language and Communication Needs underpinned by collaboration
Investment to date both from the HSE and SPECS has provided positive outcomes directly for children who have received interventions as well as future children attending EYS and schools in the area. To ensure sustained systems change and additionality the need for a long term buy-in and commitment from funders is necessary and must be prioritised, even in an environment of increasing financial pressures.
2
Focus on increasing universal and targeted services for oral language development to compliment specialist clinical supports
Based on a consultation with services locally further capacity building opportunities for working with children with identified SLCN in addition to the universal supports was identified. Continuing to develop the repertoire of language development tools and the skills of EYS/school staff is important. Much of the training to date has focused on universal service provision but expanding into more targeted approaches to meet the needs of children with identified speech and language needs is needed. Implementing an approach like this will not only allow the children to benefit from speech and language intervention in their education setting, it will also have a positive impact on the waiting lists in the local clinic allowing the speech and language therapists there to focus on those children needing higher level, specialist interventions. The Languageland programme has had a positive impact on the children and staff of the services that it has been implemented in. This is reflected in the positive changes in scores achieved by children and the positive feedback from the staff. However, the changes in the children’s expressive vocabularies were not as marked as the changes in their receptive vocabularies. This suggests that going forward emphasis on expressive vocabulary will be required.
3
Develop and deliver training to empower EYS/schools to screen for language development difficulties and refer to the appropriate service, supporting an effective prevention and early intervention approach to SLCN
EYS/school staff have expressed a lack of confidence in knowing when to refer a child for speech and language therapy assessment, what service is most appropriate and talking to parents about why they are considering making a referral. As a result, SLT receives few referrals from EYS or schools for young children. Developing workshops that focus on increasing knowledge around speech and language development and how to use tools to help identify needs should be considered. Information about local services and ways to engage with parents as part of the process should be included as part of these workshops.
SUSTAINABIL ITY THROUGH COL L ABORATI O N
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