SLCo's Spring Message
It seems that the last few months have flown past. A slightly different landscape is emerging as we start to get an idea of how things look after the constraints of Covid begin to relax.
Families need to learn how to navigate their way around a changed system, particularly for statutory services, which are still not back to providing full services. Parents who contact us tell us very similar stories. They need help with getting children get back into school routines, especially those who have transitioned to high school.
For those needing SLC help at the early years stages, many children have simply not had the opportunity to socialise, or been assessed, and parents have muddled through, just waiting. Which can result in disastrous consequences for kids who have essentially lost out on building their language and social communication.
On top of the need for myriad of appointments for kids who perhaps haven't acquired language in the expected way, stress increases due to the impact of all the other concerns that we're experiencing. Financial budgets, large increases in bills, managing homes and family needs pile on the pressure. Our time is limited and the focus on some of the essentials that children need to help support them at home can often, understandably, get lost in the mix.
Children who experience language delays and who haven't had the opportunity of building social connections over the last couple of years clearly experience a disadvantage. They have not had the opportunity to be exposed to a community to build friendships, to experience and understand how relationships with people that are outside their family actually work.
For kids who have missed out on social skills building and learning at nursery, we are acutely aware that there is a negative impact and that's something that we are planning to help address over the next year. We have extended some of our provision for children who will have the option to join in our Story clubs, to help build their language and literacy.
We are about to set up new Mrs Pop-ins drop-ins days to plan a series of parent coaching sessions designed to help busy mums/dads/carers who would like some extra support to help them build their children speech and language skills at home.
Be sure to contact us with questions and support in relation to your child’s speech, language, or communication. Speech and language are complex issues that can't be covered with a one size fit all approach, but we have trained and experienced staff ready to help. A friendly voice on our Helpline can often make a real difference. Parents benefit from someone to talk to that understands what it’s like parenting children who struggle to communicate!