NHS Forth Valley’s Speech and Language Therapists are supporting a campaign designed to ‘give a voice’ to people with speech, language and communication needs.

The ‘Giving Voice’ campaign aims to ensure the needs of patients, carers and families are met, while highlighting that communication difficulty can lead to poor educational achievement, which can ultimately prevent people lifting themselves out of poverty.

In order to highlight the unique, life-transforming and cost saving work that Speech and Language Therapists do, the team in Forth Valley are holding two all-day events in May 2014 – one at the information area at Forth Valley Royal Hospital on Tuesday 27^th May, and one at the main entrance of Clackmannanshire Community Healthcare Centre on Wednesday 28^th May 2014.

The team hope these events will showcase the positive impact Speech and Language Therapy Services can have, not only to people who have communication difficulties, but to their families and wider society.

NHS Forth Valley Speech and Language Therapy co-ordinator for Children’s Services, Helen Jones, said: “Speech and language problems are the most common developmental difficulty in children. In some areas up to 50% of children are entering Primary 1 with delayed communication skills. We know that overall seven per cent of children – which is the equivalent of two or three in each class – will need support from a Speech and Language Therapist at some stage.”

Speech and Language Therapists who support adults with communication difficulties are also helping to reduce health inequalities and promote independent living. An independent economic evaluation also demonstrated that Speech and Language Therapy Services can deliver an annual net benefit of at least £2.4 million per year in adult stroke services alone.