In order for a child to be fully supported with their speech language and communication issues it may necessary to involve multi agency teams. For the team to have the best chance of success early detection and assessment is vital. These teams would have to co-ordinate with the school, parent and child. They need to give access to any specialist equipment and include regular monitoring for real development to take place.
These teams would include agencies such as Speech and language therapists, psychologists and SEN Co-ordinators.
An example of how effective intervention would work in practice can be seen in the case below:
A child aged 4 has a profound hearing loss. After the birth the child’s mother had concerns surrounding his hearing but the child was not screened until he was 9 months old. These tests were found to be inconclusive. The child wore digital hearing aids for a year and had cochlear implants fitted but still there were no big improvements. At 17 months he took an auditory brainstem response test which showed he was profoundly deaf.
During this time the family were in contact with a teacher from the deaf who was new and there was no support from the speech and language therapist as they were on maternity leave.
When the child was 2 years and 9 months the mother and grandmother joined a charitable organisation which took a parent centred approach to teaching children to talk through listening. They identified that the child could hear across frequencies meaning he was able to understand speech but hadn’t learned to make sense of the sounds.
The charitable organisation was able to close the language gap between the child and other children through regular therapy sessions. The child’s mother and grandmother received specialist training to help them teach the child at home so that the therapy could become part of everyday life. They built a relationship to improve parental engagement with the child’s mother which meant she was willing to take 4 hour round trips so that she could attend ongoing training sessions. Finally, they helped to liaised with the local team to share their goals and assessment results and rebuild a relationship with the family.
As this was a charitable programme they were able to provide the family with additional finance to help attend training sessions and have been able to meet the cost incurred by the Speech and Language Therapy Service when meeting with the family.
The main problem with this case is that there is a distinct lack of appropriate intervention. There needed to be earlier interventions with people like health visitors and social workers so that the family would know what their options were and where they would find support. The family could have benefitted from advice on finances, respite, or sign language.
For parents of children with developmental issues it can seem like a mine field. It can be intimidating for them and put them well outside their comfort zone. It can also feel to them like they are being passed from pillar to post as they often see different people depending on the educational status of the child. On top of the day to day parenting which comes with all children they may need to attend specialist training to support their child. This can mean that their time is swallowed up with searching for funding or bureaucracy and there is very little ‘me’ time for the parent or for the parent to enjoy being with their child. Some interventions do not cross over from one age group to another and can also be too short an intervention. This is why communication and liaison between the agencies is key. If everyone has access to the same information then the transition should be smooth.
As an educator one may not always have the right answers or training to help a child and will need to refer to a specialist. Often agencies will offer training tips to teaching staff to give them support or show how new equipment works. If working with a child on 1 to 1 basis then on occasions the agency may be able share some of the day to day demands.
The more general drawbacks of a multi agency approach means that there are a lot of demands on time for a lot of people due to the high number of people involved. There is also a financial burden as there needs to be money spent on specialist equipment and decisions have to be made as to where that money is coming from. In some cases additional funding needs to be applied for and people are needed to ensure that happens. Occasionally schools have to take on children they simply don’t have the funding to support.
AM Osmond
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