Guest slot, Jean Gross CBE

It’s been a busy week, publishing a final report on my work as Communication Champion and talking to journalists and on the radio about my findings. As always, some of the media picked up on the less important messages and were less interested in the very serious issues of cuts to front-line services - but not all. I hope the publicity will do a little good.

It’s time, then, for me to ‘sign off’ as Champion. It has been a wonderful two years. I have seen fantastic practice in everything from baby groups to schools to young offender institutions. I’ve seen people everywhere get behind the Hello campaign with energy and creativity that no-one could have expected, given that many of those involved were uncertain whether they would still have a job in the future.

Highlights for me in the last weeks were the Hello Heroes event at BT Tower, a weekend with AAC users in Derbyshire, a visit to a language unit at Little Ridge School and visits to some really communication-friendly schools in Sheffield. And then , of course, there was being awarded a CBE in the New Year’s Honours list.

Getting an honour is a pretty random process and I have met so many people who deserve it a lot more than I do. But I was very pleased, especially with all the kind messages I got from people I have worked with. Thanks to you all for taking the time to write, and all those who sent the Trust a message to put in the big black memories book I was given as a leaving present. I will treasure that for ever.

People ask me what will happen now that I have stepped down. The answer is that the championing of SLCN will continue just as it did before the time-limited Champion role existed, through the highly effective lobbying work of The Communication Trust and the RCSLT. You can feel absolutely confident that a strong voice for children’s communication skills is still working hard to support all those children and young people everywhere whose needs still often remain unmet.

So good luck to the Trust for its future, vital work- and I wish all of you the very best for 2012 and beyond.

Could the Minister please read the report now? - Anita Kerwin-Nye, Director

Jean Gross last report as the Communication Champion was released this week, please click here to view.

Full of excellent intelligence on the state of services on the ground and bursting with sensible recommendations for improving outcomes for over a million children, you would have thought that this would be on the must read list for relevant Ministers – or at least their special advisors – or I’d settle for their junior civil servant.

However, the Minister for Public Health - Anne Milton – press response to the report is very telling, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16548559. Repeating the now ubiquitous quote that GP commissioning will solve all shows a total lack of understanding of how children’s community health services operate in practice and frankly leaves me in doubt as to whether anyone in her department has even read the report.

Jean Gross’ report is clear on the risks of leaving services for children with SLCN to GPs and clinical commissioning groups. In London, for example, only 9% of referrals to speech and language therapists go through GPs.

And Milton’s reference to GPs working with paediatricians and nurses on this issue shows a significant gap in knowledge about the realities of supporting children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). While community paediatricians have a valuable role in supporting children whose communication needs are part of more complex impairments most children with SLCN do not see (or need to see) a paediatrician or nurse. Their needs are met through speech and language therapists and appropriate targeted support from teachers and staff within early years and schools.

It could just be of course that this is the response from an uninterested Department of Health press officer. But sadly I suspect it is part of a wider malaise affecting the Department when it comes to children. I received an email yesterday inviting me to the launch of an ‘exciting’ new initiative in children’s health and well being to be unveiled by the Secretary of State (at least he hopes to be there) in Liverpool next week. I think most of us would settle less for exciting and more on functional. And the Trust are no nay sayers – we work hard to inform and to respond to government policy trying to ensure that it works in practice. But even we are stretched in understanding where Health places the needs of children who struggle to communicate.

This is at odds with the efforts of their government colleagues within Department for Education who have made such strides in work to identify and support children with SLCN. Maybe it is time for the entire responsibility (and budget) for this work to move across? It is this significant disparity in both understanding and in approach between these health and education nationally and locally that is of such grave ongoing concern with so much of Jean’s report highlighting the risks of these children falling between the gaps at a local level between the NHS and local authorities/schools.

The government’s communication champion has written a report with so many of the answers – just about time somebody read it!

From the report

38. I have met no one outside government who believe that commissioning by Clinical Commissioning Groups led by GPs will change this fundamental problem. All say it will make it
worse. I have found that in London, for example, only 9% of referrals for speech and language
therapy go though GPs. Most come from schools and health visitors. Most disabled children are dealt with by community paediatricians not GPs. Most referrals to CAMHs services do not go through GPs. Children requiring community health services are largely invisible to GPs, so it seems unlikely they will be a commissioning priority.

39. I would like to see the Health and Social Care Bill recognise this, and explicitly require Clinical Commissioning Groups to delegate the commissioning of these services to an expert joint local authority and NHS children’s commissioning team, managing pooled budgets.

Every year a year of communication? Anita Kerwin-Nye, Director

As we move on from the National Year of Communication The Communication Trust team are working hard to make sure that legacy of Hello is a strong one. While evaluation is starting in earnest on the impact of Hello it is clear that the work of the wonderful local champions, the efforts of the staff team, input from our funders and supporters and work across the Trust’s voluntary members have all combined in creating a wonderful focus on the importance of speech, language and communication skills for all children.

The Shine A Light Awards, Hello Heroes event and meetings between local co-ordinators and the Minister highlighted the inspiring work that has happened on the ground and the year was topped off by a CBE for Jean Gross as our wonderful Communication Champion. The Hello Journey showcases some of the year’s best bits!

The Year itself, the Champion, the progress we have seen in OFSTED, in early years and with the national curriculum were all proposals made 5 years ago by the Trust and as we look back at our original strategy we can be rightly proud – particularly of the way we have pulled together such an amazing cohort of talent and enthusiasm from the local to the national, across health, early years and education, across professionals, parents, children, young people and families and from the public, private and voluntary sector. Because, to quote Janet Cooper from Stoke Speaks Out , “communication is everybody’s business” and it is the Trust’s job to make sure everybody knows it!

But there is more to do.

As the Trust develops our next five year strategy we are ever mindful of the risks posed by cuts to services and system restructuring. We know that while policy may have moved forward, commissioning practice and the prioritisation of children’s speech, language and communication still need much work.

With education policy and school structures rapidly changing, The Communication Trust will be launching a schools campaign in 2012 to ensure that all schools are encouraged and supported to ensure that all children can reach their full potential. The work of the Hello heroes is not over yet and 2012 (and 2013, 14, 15 .....) will be another year of communication. And, to quote Mr Milliband, – bring it on!

The Hello journey - by Lynne Milford, Trust Press Officer

What a year it’s been! Hello, the national year of communication, has exceeded all our expectations.

Run by The Communication Trust in partnership with Jean Gross, the Government’s Communication Champion, Hello set out to make children and young people’s communication development a priority in homes and schools across the country.

A particular focus has been on supporting children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). It was John Bercow MPs Review of Services for Children and Young People (0-19) with Speech, Language and Communication Needs in 2008, which originally sparked off the national year.

Highlights of the year have included creating a network of 200 Hello local coordinators, smashing a Guinness World record book with I CAN’s Chatterbox Challenge event, disseminating to date 310,000 Hello resources and supporting the launch of a brand new CBeebies TV programme, Raa Raa the Noisy Lion.

In addition to this, 800 schools registered to take part in our No Pens Day Wednesday initiative, a brand new qualification was launched in conjunction with City and Guilds and the winners of the Shine a Light Hello awards were recently announced at a glitzy award ceremony hosted by TV and radio presenter, Vanessa Feltz.

From January to March 2012, the evaluation of the impact of Hello will take place. Information, resources and updates will continue to be available on our website. And we still want to find out about your excellent events and innovative practice by emailing enquiries@thecommunicationtrust.org.uk

A special thanks goes to BT and Pearson Assessment for their sponsorship of Hello and long term commitment to the cause. And thank to you for your contribution however big or small it might have been. We simply couldn’t have made the year such a success without your input.

For more information, download our Hello journey document here (http://www.hello.org.uk/media/9374/hello_journey_-_december_2011.pdf)

For information on the qualification click here (http://www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/qualifications )

Make TV time, talk time! - by Lynne Milford, Press Officer

According to an article in the Daily Mail today (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054950/Passive-TV-watching-harm-babies-speech.html), ‘passive’ television watching – leaving the television playing when you’re not really watching - is as dangerous for children as passive smoking.

Experts at the American Academy of Paediatrics said parents are more likely to use television or a computer to keep children occupied, but they revealed watching TV interferes with the amount of time children and parents spend interacting and can also interfere with a child’s ability to learn from play. The Communication Trust strongly believe that spending time speaking and listening to your child is vital for developing their communication skills. However, that does not mean that you cannot turn TV and other forms of technology into communication opportunities.

Earlier in the year, as part of the Hello campaign (national year of communication), we were involved in the development and launch of Raa Raa The Noisy Lion. Raa Raa is a show on CBeebies that supports the development of speech and language through rhyme and rhythm. We developed some top tips for making the most of your television time. These include making sure children watch programmes that are age appropriate, encouraging your child to ask and answer questions relating to the programme and if you let your children watch TV, watch it with them as much as possible.

To see Raa Raa’s top ten telly tips, click here (http://www.hello.org.uk/media/2946/raa_raa_top_tips_for_tv.pdf)

To find out more about Raa Raa, click here (http://www.raaraathenoisylion.com/) and you can also download Raa Raa resources for parents and practitioners here (http://www.hello.org.uk/resources/resources/resources-for-parents/raa-raa-the-noisy-lion.aspx)

Charity praises supporters for successful campaign - Lynne Milford, Press Officer

For the 200 delegates, it was a chance to network, meet old friends and make new connections in the world of speech and language therapy.

For the visiting MPs and Ministers, it was a chance to see what the Hello campaign is all about and to meet people who work with children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

But most importantly, it was a chance for The Communication Trust to say a huge thank you to everyone who had supported the event, produced resources and generally raised the profile of the issue.

Event sponsor Annette Brooke MP hit the nail on the head when she said the purpose of the event was celebration. She said: “I was excited by what would happen during the year and the Hello campaign has been an amazing success. So many children were missing out on achieving their full potential in life for a host of reasons. We are here to highlight and celebrate the amazing work that has gone on and I would like to congratulate all the people involved in that.”

The highlight of the event was a presentation by 18-year-old Ben Morfey from Plymouth. Ben has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and cannot speak, but gave his presentation with the aid of the electronic communication aid which he uses to speak. He explained about his life, how he enjoys sending text messages to his family and attending Dame Hannah Rogers School for children with physical and learning difficulties.

Communication Champion Jean Gross spoke about the events she has toured the country to visit. This began in February when she found herself in Sheffield city centre with the Lord Mayor, Director of Children’s Services, the elected member for Children, children and their parents doing ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ for the Chatterbox Challenge World Record attempt.

Children and Families Minister Sarah Teather MP told the gathering she had tried to make speech, language and communication needs a core policy. She said: “An enormous amount has been achieved by people in this room, laying the building blocks for work we can do in future.”
There are just two months left in the national year of communication but many changes have been made in the world of speech, language and communication and the Trust will be planning how to make Hello’s legacy long-lasting.

For more information about the remaining themes of Hello visit our website www.hello.org.uk

In the right place at the right time! - Lynne Milford, Press and PR Officer

I’ve managed to join The Communication Trust at a very exciting time. I’m the new press officer and I’ve arrived the week of a big parliamentary event to celebrate Hello, the National Year of Communication. There may only be two months left until the campaign ends, but there’s still plenty to do in evaluating its success and preparing its legacy for next year. This is where I hope to be heavily involved. It would be totally pointless to have had such a fantastic year encouraging parents, schools and children to focus on communication and raising awareness of children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), and not to build on it for the future. I’ve always been the kind of person who likes to look to the future and move things forward.

For me, communicating has never been a problem. Some people would say I talk too much, others say they love to hear my north-eastern accent (I’m from Durham), but I’ve never really had a problem getting my point across. Communicating, whether in speaking, writing or reading, has always comes as second nature to me. I find it baffling that some children grow up in a world where there are unable to communicate properly and cannot get the help they need. It must be incredibly frustrating for them. I take it for granted that I will be able to find the right words to express my point, and on the rare occasions I can’t it is annoying. Imagine what it must be like to never be able to find the right words? Or not to be able to say them even if you do know them?

So, that’s why I’m delighted to have joined The Communication Trust at a point where it is so able to influence the agenda. Yes, it’s going to be hard work, but with the help of our consortium, MPs, local co-ordinators, teachers and parents all working together we can keep this issue in a prominent place on the local and national agenda and we can make it easier to identify and help those children who so desperately need it. I’m looking forward to using my communication skills to make sure that no child ever has to struggle along unable to understand the world around them, that parents are fully equipped to know if their child has problems and how they can help, and that teachers and healthcare professionals are able to provide the help and support which is required.

Hopefully I can use my communication skills – my ability to speak, write and most importantly to listen – to make sure that children and parents can get whatever help they need. So for once in my life, I feel like I’ve arrived in the right place at the right time, somewhere I can really make a difference. So watch this space...