North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has highlighted the risks if speech and language communication is underdeveloped and urged the Welsh Government to recognise the essential need for speech and language therapy for a wide range of children in the school environment.
Questioning the Education Minister in the Welsh Parliament yesterday, Mr Isherwood, spoke of his own battle to get interventions for one of his own children two decades ago and expressed concern that parents are still battling.
He said:
“At the beginning of this month, all Members received an e-mail from the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists highlighting the risks if speech and language communication is underdeveloped.
“I'll mention a couple of things they did, where, for example, without effective help, one in three children with speech, language and communication difficulties will need treatment for mental health; 88 per cent of long-term unemployed young men have speech, language and communication needs; and up to 60 per cent of young people in the youth justice estate have similar speech, language and communication needs.
“It's nearly two decades since I fought this battle on behalf of one of my children to get interventions that he was otherwise being denied, and two decades later, we're still receiving e-mails with these horrifying statistics.
“Beyond the ALN Act (Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act), what specific action can you take with your colleagues - because this is a cross-departmental issue - to recognise the essential need for speech and language therapy for a wide range of children in the school environment, also recognising Welsh data on the economic value of Speech and Language Therapy, that every £1 invested in enhanced speech and language therapy generates £6.43 through increased lifetime earnings, because it enables access to the curriculum and creates opportunities for individuals, and that every £1 invested in enhanced speech and language therapy for Autistic pupils generates £1.46 through lifetime cost savings created by improved communication?”
Responding, the Education Minister, Kirsty Williams AM, said: “You say that, apart from the ALN programme, what else is going on, but the ALN Transformation Programme is absolutely crucial to driving forward better interdepartmental working between education and healthcare professionals, ensuring earlier identification of additional learning needs for every child and creating the expectation, and delivering on that expectation, that those services will be available. I continue to have discussions with colleagues in health about how we can ensure, when a school identifies a healthcare need for a particular child, that that support will be there at the appropriate time to influence positive outcomes in terms of learning for that child.”
