Government must match words with action for children with speech and language challenges
Responding to the Government’s Spending Review
Jane Harris, Chief Executive of Speech and Language UK, said:
“Speech and Language UK acknowledges the Government’s financial commitments to SEND Reform in the Spending Review but we hope this is not the only funding available as more is needed to match the scale of the crisis and the years of under-investment and lack of strategic thinking, which is failing hundreds of thousands of children with speech and language challenges.
We await the promised Schools White Paper in Autumn with the hope of seeing detailed, ambitious plans to create a system where every child can achieve their full potential.
We also welcome the planned Mental Health Support Teams in every school. But these teams will fail many children unless they receive training to recognise and respond to speech and language challenges — which are often deeply linked with poor mental health. Without proper training, hundreds of thousands of children will continue to be misidentified, mislabelled and misunderstood, and will fall through the cracks.
The plan to expand the early years entitlement is welcome but without a parallel investment in training the professionals who support our children, its hard to see how this will benefit children who most need early years support. Speech, language and communication skills are the bedrock of a child’s learning, yet today’s announcement leaves a critical skills gap that will be felt acutely by our youngest as they prepare for starting school without the right support. We hope government talks to us about how to address this because the previous national programme was so successful.
Failing to invest properly in the speech, language and communication skills of our children is a false economy that will have long-term consequences. We strongly urge the Government to listen to the evidence and work with us to build a strategic plan that ensures every child is understood and has the support they need to learn and thrive in education and beyond.”
ENDS
