Speechmag

Off We Go! with Signed Stories

ITV's Signed Stories have signed up Avril Webster, author of the Off We Go! series. You can see 'Going to Buy Clothes' being signed here.

Avril's inspiration for the series came from her son Stephen's love of books. Stephen has intellectual disabilities and found everyday experiences overwhelming. Looking at her books about going to the hairdresser, supermarket, a restaurant, the doctor, the dentist and the swimming pool helped him deal with these situations.

Since I interviewed Avril in 2007, she has introduced more stories: Going to Buy Shoes, Going to Buy Clothes, Going to a Birthday Party, Going to the Optician, Going on a Plane and Going to the Cinema. These were reviewed very positively in the Summer 10 issue by Helen Burnford who said, "They are a useful resource to be used as part of preparation for daily living or by therapists in narrative therapy groups or as part of topic based literacy or language groups in schools."

As well as the website, Off We Go! is also on facebook.

SpeechQuest takes speech and language therapy online

The internet is now an integral part of our everyday lives. We take it for granted that if we want answers we will get them online. But virtual speech and language therapy as a form of service delivery? Could that help ensure children with communication difficulties get the right help at the right time?

Speech and language therapists Rosy Bostock and Suki Ahsam clearly believe this is possible. They have launched SpeechQuest, a web-based venture aimed at giving parents, carers and early years practitioners a new level of access to assessment and advice.

As their website explains, the SpeechQuest user selects and completes a short online multiple choice questionnaire, then receives an immediate summary of results along with activity ideas and any recommendations for referral. The user can return to the online questionnaires at regular intervals to check on progress, with new activities provided according to the age and stage of the child suggested by their responses.

SpeechQuest is aimed at carers of children from 3 months to 5 years and costs £19.95 per child. The developers believe that it "complements existing NHS and Independent Sector services, empowering parents and practitioners to get involved in supporting the child without delay." A free month's trial is currently available. I will be interested to hear what readers think.

SpeechQuest will also be reviewed in a future issue of Speech & Language Therapy in Practice.

Circle time opportunities for speech and language therapists

My sons' primary school had Circle Time guru Jenny Mosley running their in-service today. When volunteers were sought from the primary sixes and sevens I persuaded my older son to go in, albeit reluctantly. (He looked a bit skeptical when I said, "You know, she's really famous!") I was lucky enough to get to observe the circle time demonstration.

Jenny has developed the Quality Circle Time model over the past twenty five years. It is "a whole-school approach to enhancing self-esteem and building positive relationships". This afternoon she demonstrated how to encourage and give feedback on good thinking, good listening, good looking and good concentrating. The children were also given the opportunity to ask for help with aspects of behaviour, and to appreciate the suggestions and support of their peers. Active learning using games and a parachute was included, and Jenny also showed how puppets can facilitate discussions around difficult issues without anyone having to feel under the spotlight.

Speech and language therapists writing for Speech & Language Therapy in Practice often mention circle time as one of the opportunities for working with teachers to raise awareness of support strategies for children with speech, language and communication needs. In one short demonstration Jenny could not hope to begin to cover all the nuances of the approach. However, I did find myself wondering how the children that we see would cope with the speed of speaking and level of language comprehension and expressive vocabulary required without significant modification.

The book 'Language Development - Circle Time Sessions to Improve Communication Skills' was written in 2003, and one of the co-authors is speech and language therapist Jackie Lowe. Having looked over Jenny's website, I don't see specific Quality Circle Time resources beyond this, yet there are questions on the discussion forum about including children with severe learning disabilities and autism, as well as those who are bilingual. Perhaps there is an opportunity here for enterprising speech and language therapists?

Creating creativity - Bible Stories in Cockney Rhyming Slang

Readers of Keith Park's article 'Extra! Extra! Read all about it!' in the Winter 09 issue will enjoy this video about his work:

Keith tells me that further performances are planned at Canterbury Cathedral (January 20th and April 28th 2010), Westminster Abbey (February 10th 2010), Rochester Cathedral (March 3rd 2010). Anyone is welcome, but should contact Keith first ([email protected]).  

CPD courses for speech and language therapists

The CLaSS unit at University College London has added new titles to its range of continuing professional development courses for speech and language therapists.

Among them is a two level course on supervision with Sam Simpson and Cathy Sparkes of intandem called 'Are You Getting Enough?' This was also the title of a series of four articles the duo wrote about supervision for Speech & Language Therapy in Practice in 2008. As a speech and language therapy and counselling partnership, they are also offering a new two level course to help therapists develop their counselling skills.

Myra Kersner, one of the authors of A Career in Speech and Language Therapy, is running a new course with Ann Parker aimed at speech and language therapy assistants and teaching assistants. This will include "the practical development of interpersonal communication skills with children and adults who have communication difficulties, with parents and carers, and with other colleagues." Another intriguing and topical option is 'Getting the most out of interagency meetings'.

The full programme also covers dysphagia, mutism, dyspraxia, autism, goal setting, voice, storysharing, psycholinguistics and analysis of sign language.

Listen to Stuttering Stan as he Takes a Stand

Artie Knapp tells me that his children's book 'Stuttering Stan Takes a Stand' is now available as a free audio book.

The book was reviewed positively in the Winter 09 issue of Speech & Language Therapy in Practice by Sandra Unsworth, with the help of two teenage clients and a class of primary children. Sandra said, "The issues arising from the story are: learning to share, not to tease / bully, to stand up for yourself without being a bully yourself, being kind to others and accepting that others have difficulties with different things."

Readers may also be interested in Artie's 'Getting to Know Ronnie: A Story About Autism' , which was published in the magazine California Kids (September issue, p.22).