19th December 2024
Back l-r Dr Jill Titterington, The Speech Doctor, Geraldine Teague, Public Health Agency, Linda Mulgrew, Clinical Lead SLT, Southern Trust, Tracey Monaghan, SLT, Hilary McFaul, Professional Lead for SLT, Julie McConville, Assistant Director, Specialist Child Health and Disability, Charlotte-Anne Wells, Assistant Director, AHPs, Ruth Sedgewick, Royal College Speech and Language Therapists. Front l-r Nichola McDonald, Luca’s Voice, Becca Hoy, mum, Rob Lynas, Non Executive Director, Southern Trust, Alison Keys, AHP Lead, Department of Health, Justine Smyth Specialist SLT and Colette Curran, mum, with children Luca, Caoimhin and Savannah.
The Southern Trust and Luca’s Voice Charity have teamed up to launch two new books for children with severe speech sound disorders.
Developed by Nichola McDonald from the charity, in partnership with the Community Paediatric Speech and Language Therapy team, the books, “Luca’s Speechie Squad and the search for the Squabble Lever” and “p”, “b”, “m” sounds workbook provide parents with additional resources to support home practice in a fun and engaging way. They include innovative, accessible, and effective strategies for helping children overcome speech challenges and achieve communication milestones.
Speech sound disorders affect up to 25% of children resident in the UK, and can impact on communication, relationships, school progression and overall wellbeing. Evidence shows that more intensive support than the current UK standard practice is much more effective for children with the condition.
The Southern Trust developed a more intensive, therapeutic programme for children with speech sound disorder, by increasing the frequency and intensity of sessions. The programme is having significant positive results for children like Luca who was one of the first young people to benefit from this innovative approach.
Inspired by Luca’s success with the programme, his mum Nichola, set up Luca’s Voice to support other families. With professional guidance from specialist speech and language therapist Justine Smyth, Nichola developed the imaginative books and resources to help other families on their speech sound disorder journey with the characters named after Luca and other children who used the service.
“Luca’s Speechie Squad and the search for the Squabble Lever” was designed for children working on the ‘skw’ sounds in a fun way. Parents and caregivers can read as a bedtime story, whilst reinforcing the work the child has been doing in clinic. The p,b,m workbook supports children learning these new sounds by looking for them in highly colourful pictures. It is intended to continue the series with books for other sounds.
Speaking a the book launch, Hilary McFaul, Professional Lead for Speech and Language Therapy for the Southern Trust said: “Our paediatric team are hugely committed to continually developing their service and finding innovative ways of helping children to reach their full potential. We are very grateful to Nichola who has generously dedicated so much of her own time to work with us, sharing her own experience and such creative ideas to support other children and families. These books are not only a therapeutic tool but also a celebration of the power of communication and the joy that comes with seeing children gain confidence in their speech abilities.”
“We are absolutely delighted be part of this collaboration,” said Nichola. “Luca was diagnosed with a speech sound disorder when he was five years old. It was at times isolating. I had never heard of speech sound disorders and would have loved easy access to suitable resources for my child and information I could understand as a parent. We hope to be able to help other parents with these child friendly resources and an information hub to navigate to appropriate information. This is only the beginning of a very special project with Luca’s therapist and we hope these resources help other parents and children to find their voice too.”