The British Stammering Association is the UK’s national association on all aspects of stammering. Founded over thirty years ago, we are the place where adults who stammer, parent of stammering children and anyone else interested in the subject join forces to provide information, campaign for changes in services and raise awareness of the problems affecting people who stammer of all ages. Stammering affects about 5-7% of pre-school children, and about 1% of the school-age and adult population – that is about 720,000 people in the UK.
Our Information and Support Service is operating a telephone helpline, 0845 603 2001, and our website http://www.stammering.org/ is the most comprehensive web-based source of information on all aspects of stammering. The helpline sends out 2,500 information packs each year, and the website is accessed by 14,000 individual users every month. We have recently started Facebook and twitter campaigns as well.
We have developed detailed strategies for supporting children who stammer in the school setting – something which will be shortly freely available on a dedicated website at http://www.stammeringineducation.net/.
Our pre-school projects and campaigns are based on the recognition that early intervention can prevent a lifetime of stammering – and that far too many children still slip through the net when a brief, therapeutic intervention at the age of 3 or 4 might have resolved the problem of stammering completely. We have recently developed criteria for a model of service delivery for pre-school dysfluency and have tested this successfully in six pilot trusts – more children were referred, they were referred at a younger age, but successful intervention was quicker so they were discharged more quickly and thus there was no detrimental impact on the services for other children with SLCN; we are hoping to be able to roll this out across the country, possibly with some input from the Better Communication Research Programme.
So why “a tardis in reverse”, though? We are a relatively small charity, led by people who stammer, with a modest income and a small staff team. This was the phrase one of our members once used to describe us – we are “much bigger on the outside than on the inside”.
Monday, 19 April 2010
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Saving time, money and avoiding disaster - guest slot
This week's blog is by Cara Evans, Deputy Director at The Communication Trust:
I started at the Trust almost at inception and with my most esteemed colleagues I have developed the governance, working principles and structure at the Trust. Through this blog I want to explain the values and impact of good project management. Now I know if I had included that as my title I would have turned you off at the first hurdle. I ask you to bear with me so that you too can save time and avoid disaster in all that you do!
Someone recently almost referred to me as JUST a project manager and quickly corrected herself. I will be bold in my next statement but very confident it is correct. The Trust would not have been as successful in such a short space of time without good project management principles at its very core. Simply we make sure that everything the Trust does is delivered on time, on budget and to an agreed quality. It is all very good having creative ideas but they need to be delivered. It is essentially very simple, but requires a certain skill set and knowledge to do this with charm and finesse. Good project managers are in short supply and seriously undervalued in the third sector in my experience (having worked for 15 years for 10 charities).
Let me ask a question would you ask a project manager to assess a child with speech, language and communication needs and suggest ways to support that child and their family. I think not, so why are we asking these experts to manage a project.
So what is project management and why is it so important. Essentially you follow a simple path ; you decide what you want to do, why, you agree how it can be delivered, who is involved and why, when does it needs to be done and how much will it cost. You plan and monitor, you get on with it, job done! Ok there are a few more things you need to consider and this is a very short list but you get the idea.
I say to all you project managers out there don’t let anyone call you JUST a project manager, stand proud of your skills and expertise and show them how it’s done!
I started at the Trust almost at inception and with my most esteemed colleagues I have developed the governance, working principles and structure at the Trust. Through this blog I want to explain the values and impact of good project management. Now I know if I had included that as my title I would have turned you off at the first hurdle. I ask you to bear with me so that you too can save time and avoid disaster in all that you do!Someone recently almost referred to me as JUST a project manager and quickly corrected herself. I will be bold in my next statement but very confident it is correct. The Trust would not have been as successful in such a short space of time without good project management principles at its very core. Simply we make sure that everything the Trust does is delivered on time, on budget and to an agreed quality. It is all very good having creative ideas but they need to be delivered. It is essentially very simple, but requires a certain skill set and knowledge to do this with charm and finesse. Good project managers are in short supply and seriously undervalued in the third sector in my experience (having worked for 15 years for 10 charities).
Let me ask a question would you ask a project manager to assess a child with speech, language and communication needs and suggest ways to support that child and their family. I think not, so why are we asking these experts to manage a project.
So what is project management and why is it so important. Essentially you follow a simple path ; you decide what you want to do, why, you agree how it can be delivered, who is involved and why, when does it needs to be done and how much will it cost. You plan and monitor, you get on with it, job done! Ok there are a few more things you need to consider and this is a very short list but you get the idea.
I say to all you project managers out there don’t let anyone call you JUST a project manager, stand proud of your skills and expertise and show them how it’s done!
Monday, 18 January 2010
Start of a social movement?...
I like this. Not because it is a particularly good joke (I am more of a Clare in the Community girl myself) but because it shows the issue has arrived. Well, at least that the issue has left the station.
The Communication Trust has, as a core strategic objective, the development of social movement to claim communication as a right. Social movement is a grand term, much written upon (Google Tily to get a sense of the theory). But in essence a social movement is a major vehicle for ordinary people's participation in public politics. For recent examples ‘think green’ or ‘drop the debt’. Ordinary people mobilised, often by the third sector, to take action and become ‘we’ rather than ‘they’. When communication skills becomes the ‘third pint in the pub’ issue; when Jeremy Kyle invites parents of children with SLCN onto his show; when 10 000 turn up outside Westminster with ‘communicate by right’ banners then we will know we are getting there. Bad comic strips jokes are a good start.
Seeing communication as the 21st century life skill, and knowing as we do how many children do not have the skills or support that they need, how could we want anything less than a movement to make change. Social movement brings policy change and funding and changes attitudes. And we need all three – now. The National Year should help give us a push but the work of the Trust, Trust members and now the Champion have certainly created the media interest that will help form the basis of such of the movement that we aspire to.
Not all of this media coverage has been helpful. Little upset to find out that my desire for materials things (handbags in my case) and working motherhood is apparently the reason for my daughter’s challenges with phonics (thank you Guardian - really the Guardian??!!). And SLTs as elocutionists for the middle classes? (Evening Standard – slightly less surprise there). But some has been wonderful. The recent Times and Independent pieces really outline well the challenges some children face. And the emerging debate is one to be captured and developed (read for example the Observer piece in defence of computer games).
So. A good start. Let’s keep up the momentum. And if my view of emerging the issue is an Eastenders character with specific language impairment falling in love with their speech and language therapist (yes I know it is unprofessional but it is Eastenders right) then what is yours?
Monday, 4 January 2010
New Year's Resolution
I love New Year. A chance to make lots of new promises to be a better and improved person. I have been told that, apparently, resolving to buy myself one new handbag a month is not an appropriate resolution so have settled instead for another gym membership (this time one that I intend to use because I have also been told that buying a gym membership in January and only going once in September is, apparently, a very expensive way to do one step class).
More importantly two resolutions that might actually matter.
1) To blog weekly and not require my team to beat me over head to write something
2) To champion the third sector as a significant force for change in children’s lives
In my defence 1 has sometimes not happened because I have been busy doing 2.
Some of you have commented on the recent Third Sector debate that I took part in which looked at whether, given the recession, the sector should be more professional (implicit in this that we should be more like corporate institutions like, say, banks).
This reminded me of a recent ceremony I attended at a top rated London business school where the Dean expressed his pleasure that the students who were studying for their Masters in Voluntary Sector management had so many opportunities to learn about ‘real life’ (seriously that is what he said) from fellow post graduates undertaking study in banking, finance and corporate administration who, after all, have the expertise and business skills that charities so desperately need (seriously he said that too!).
It is also true that some charities could do with say, more support with commercial skills or with finance and legal matters. But, hey, is that not true of some corporate and public sector bodies too (or did I misunderstand the stories that dominated the press in 2009?).
The third sector is professional. We are complicit sometimes in defining professional in terms that private, and sometimes public sector, bodies value e.g. slick branding; reducing costs; increasing profit; efficiencies, market domination, staff with letters after their name etc. Not that these things do not matter to charities (indeed as anyone who has run a successful charity on a shoe string and no cash flow knows points 2 and 3 are core skills for any successful charity CEO). But when we define professionalism it should be in terms of our outcomes for our beneficiaries. It should be about our effectiveness and our values.
The Communication Trust's membership is full of organisations bursting with clever, able professionals delivering excellent services to some of the most vulnerable children and young people in society. Trust members employ some of the most qualified and experienced speech and language therapists and specialist teachers in the country (putting to rest another common misconception that the third sector has limited expertise – a regular challenge from public sector unions in recent months).
Trust members drove the campaigning that led to the Bercow Review and the Better Communication Action Plan. The third sector can lobby for improved public sector services and for more resources to flow to local provision in a way that front line public sector staff will always be challenged to (as one PCT employed SLT told me recently – “we know that the provision is not good enough post-11 but if we say so we criticise our employer but if you say it they might not cut posts”).
Trust members run outstanding (OFSTED says so) non maintained special schools. Thousands of parents get their first, and sometimes only, advice, information and support from voluntary organisations.
And, for so many children with the most severe and complex speech, language and communication needs it is often Trust members who provide the vital lifeline when working through the maze of public sector provision. This often draws on the experiences and expertise of, often voluntary and ‘unqualified’, parents who have been there themselves (which makes a lie of the common myth that professional only means paid staff and that expert can only mean a degree).
Are the third sector better than corporate providers? Yes sometimes. Are we better than public sector provision? Yes sometimes. Could we learn from both the corporate and public sector? Yes and we should strive to do so.
Celebrating the strengths, expertise and professionalism of the third sector should not be seen as putting down corporate and public sector colleagues. No sector, private, public or third, has the monopoly on good work or effective outcomes and it will take collaboration to get the best possible results for children and their families.
I believe that the third sector has something special to give so for 2010 I resolve to be the sector’s biggest cheerleader.
Something slightly easier to do than a weekly trip to the gym.
More importantly two resolutions that might actually matter.
1) To blog weekly and not require my team to beat me over head to write something
2) To champion the third sector as a significant force for change in children’s lives
In my defence 1 has sometimes not happened because I have been busy doing 2.
Some of you have commented on the recent Third Sector debate that I took part in which looked at whether, given the recession, the sector should be more professional (implicit in this that we should be more like corporate institutions like, say, banks).
This reminded me of a recent ceremony I attended at a top rated London business school where the Dean expressed his pleasure that the students who were studying for their Masters in Voluntary Sector management had so many opportunities to learn about ‘real life’ (seriously that is what he said) from fellow post graduates undertaking study in banking, finance and corporate administration who, after all, have the expertise and business skills that charities so desperately need (seriously he said that too!).
It is also true that some charities could do with say, more support with commercial skills or with finance and legal matters. But, hey, is that not true of some corporate and public sector bodies too (or did I misunderstand the stories that dominated the press in 2009?).
The third sector is professional. We are complicit sometimes in defining professional in terms that private, and sometimes public sector, bodies value e.g. slick branding; reducing costs; increasing profit; efficiencies, market domination, staff with letters after their name etc. Not that these things do not matter to charities (indeed as anyone who has run a successful charity on a shoe string and no cash flow knows points 2 and 3 are core skills for any successful charity CEO). But when we define professionalism it should be in terms of our outcomes for our beneficiaries. It should be about our effectiveness and our values.
The Communication Trust's membership is full of organisations bursting with clever, able professionals delivering excellent services to some of the most vulnerable children and young people in society. Trust members employ some of the most qualified and experienced speech and language therapists and specialist teachers in the country (putting to rest another common misconception that the third sector has limited expertise – a regular challenge from public sector unions in recent months).
Trust members drove the campaigning that led to the Bercow Review and the Better Communication Action Plan. The third sector can lobby for improved public sector services and for more resources to flow to local provision in a way that front line public sector staff will always be challenged to (as one PCT employed SLT told me recently – “we know that the provision is not good enough post-11 but if we say so we criticise our employer but if you say it they might not cut posts”).
Trust members run outstanding (OFSTED says so) non maintained special schools. Thousands of parents get their first, and sometimes only, advice, information and support from voluntary organisations.
And, for so many children with the most severe and complex speech, language and communication needs it is often Trust members who provide the vital lifeline when working through the maze of public sector provision. This often draws on the experiences and expertise of, often voluntary and ‘unqualified’, parents who have been there themselves (which makes a lie of the common myth that professional only means paid staff and that expert can only mean a degree).
Are the third sector better than corporate providers? Yes sometimes. Are we better than public sector provision? Yes sometimes. Could we learn from both the corporate and public sector? Yes and we should strive to do so.
Celebrating the strengths, expertise and professionalism of the third sector should not be seen as putting down corporate and public sector colleagues. No sector, private, public or third, has the monopoly on good work or effective outcomes and it will take collaboration to get the best possible results for children and their families.
I believe that the third sector has something special to give so for 2010 I resolve to be the sector’s biggest cheerleader.
Something slightly easier to do than a weekly trip to the gym.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Ok – so good intentions but it has now been two weeks since my last blog. In my defence it was my birthday last week. Not that I was off partying – instead I was in Southport delivering a session at the Youth Justice Board Convention.
Sad thought it may be it was indeed a birthday treat. Delivered in conjunction with RCSLT the session launched ‘Sentence Trouble’ – a logo fest of a publication, developed by The Communication Trust with support from too may partners to list without offending someone by missing them off. Remember I am on a word count limit!
My birthday was doubly blessed by a present from Ed Balls. Much as I would love to say that the Secretary of State sent me a personal card and thoughtful gift the truth is actually even more exciting. In the Lords last week the government announced that The Communication Trust will be funded to roll out screening and training to every setting within the secure estate and all YOTs.
This is great news and reflects the work that many have been doing to raise awareness of the disproportionate numbers of young people with SEN amongst those young people who offend. Jenny Talbot, Jane McKenzie, Diz Minnitt, Professor Karen Bryan, Professor John Rack – and so many more have led the way and I am delighted that they will all be informing the rollout of our 2010 programme.
Sentence Trouble (a project ably managed by the Trust’s Andrew Ball – who also won the internal competition to come up with the best name and, yes, I am still bitter about that) includes the sad but enlightening story of a young man given an ASBO which stated that he could not travel on a ‘motorised vehicle’. He had ridden an electric scooter not realising that this was what motorised meant. When you consider that the Home Secretary recently called for a greater focus on ensuring that those breaching anti-social behaviour orders be prosecuted the need for ensuring that a young person actually understands their ASBO becomes even clearer.
Copies of Sentence Trouble are now winging their way out to front line staff (I am assuming that there is no postal strike this week) and the Trust is gearing up for next steps.
And as for birthday presents Mr Secretary of State – I’ll forgive the lack of a card if next year you give me a three year funding contract!
Sad thought it may be it was indeed a birthday treat. Delivered in conjunction with RCSLT the session launched ‘Sentence Trouble’ – a logo fest of a publication, developed by The Communication Trust with support from too may partners to list without offending someone by missing them off. Remember I am on a word count limit!
My birthday was doubly blessed by a present from Ed Balls. Much as I would love to say that the Secretary of State sent me a personal card and thoughtful gift the truth is actually even more exciting. In the Lords last week the government announced that The Communication Trust will be funded to roll out screening and training to every setting within the secure estate and all YOTs.
This is great news and reflects the work that many have been doing to raise awareness of the disproportionate numbers of young people with SEN amongst those young people who offend. Jenny Talbot, Jane McKenzie, Diz Minnitt, Professor Karen Bryan, Professor John Rack – and so many more have led the way and I am delighted that they will all be informing the rollout of our 2010 programme.
Sentence Trouble (a project ably managed by the Trust’s Andrew Ball – who also won the internal competition to come up with the best name and, yes, I am still bitter about that) includes the sad but enlightening story of a young man given an ASBO which stated that he could not travel on a ‘motorised vehicle’. He had ridden an electric scooter not realising that this was what motorised meant. When you consider that the Home Secretary recently called for a greater focus on ensuring that those breaching anti-social behaviour orders be prosecuted the need for ensuring that a young person actually understands their ASBO becomes even clearer.
Copies of Sentence Trouble are now winging their way out to front line staff (I am assuming that there is no postal strike this week) and the Trust is gearing up for next steps.
And as for birthday presents Mr Secretary of State – I’ll forgive the lack of a card if next year you give me a three year funding contract!
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
We are the Champions
Slapped wrist for me. Blogs are supposed to be contemporary and it’s been 3 weeks since my last one. Must try harder!
Big news in the world of The Communication Trust is the announcement of the Communication Champion. Jean Gross is a terrific appointment to the post and is well known to the Trust through her role as Director of Every Child A Chance Trust.
To champion the cause is a massive task. To balance the all children component with the SEN aspects. To reach the general public and the specialist commissioners of services. Where should the Communication Champion focus their efforts? Worth remembering that the voluntary sector proposed the role as a route to having someone ‘on the inside’ who could join up health, education and children’s services (and justice, social services etc.) both at central and local government level. While Jean is independent of government she is nevertheless a government appointment and I suspect that the third sector will be, like me, hoping that she uses that to ensure that we get the same drive for this work from the rest of government that we have seen from DCSF.
Jean though is not alone in her task. She may hold the formal Champion title but the sector has been championing the cause for years and will do so as long as it takes to ensure all children get the services and support that they need. I am regularly struck by how dedicated and focused people are in their pursuit of the cause and our own champions do us proud.
Linda Lascelles, CEO of Afasic, was recently recognised by RCSLT with an Honorary Fellowship for her work championing both the cause and SLTs. As was Katie Clarke, founder and Chair of 1 Voice who has championed the cause of isolated families across the UK who use AAC.
NDCS pulled off the most amazing piece of campaigning through their ‘Sounds Good’ campaign and have ensured that new schools will have good acoustics. Their championing of this cause will support all children who struggle with communication (and those teachers who struggle to get heard in class – reports this week that that there has been a substantial rise in teachers who have ‘industrial injuries’ to their voices!).
And we have lots of celebs who champion the cause for us too. Michael Palin has long championed the cause of stammering with the centre that bears his name. Pictured here with the Trust’s own Cara Evans (a big fan who would not leave the event until she had a picture with Michael even if that meant pushing me pushing in front of Secretary of State to get the shot!) Michael draws on the experiences of his father to speak with a passion and humour about the challenges faced by young people who stammer.
Paul McCartney recently bought a word on I CANs Adopt A Word site and Stephen Fry caused a Twitter storm when he tweeted about his word adoption and championed the cause of young people who struggle to find their own words.
Most of all though I think the best champions that we have, the most powerful advocates for the cause, are the young people themselves. I was moved to tears by the Michael Palin Centre’s DVD. Aimed at teachers this DVD is delivered by and through the stories and experiences of young people who stammer. The tears were not of sympathy or through the ‘aaah’ factor – though the main narrator is a star of children’s tv waiting to happen. But rather the lump in my throat was a reflection of the power and impact of a young person being supported and empowered to tell it how it is.
So we welcome our Communication Champion and look forward to working with her. And as a sector we will continue to champion the cause and rope in celebrities to help us (is it wrong to want David Tenant to take an interest in speech and language??) But most of all, my vision, 11 million young champions with an almighty voice – with that we could change the world.
Slapped wrist for me. Blogs are supposed to be contemporary and it’s been 3 weeks since my last one. Must try harder!
Big news in the world of The Communication Trust is the announcement of the Communication Champion. Jean Gross is a terrific appointment to the post and is well known to the Trust through her role as Director of Every Child A Chance Trust.
To champion the cause is a massive task. To balance the all children component with the SEN aspects. To reach the general public and the specialist commissioners of services. Where should the Communication Champion focus their efforts? Worth remembering that the voluntary sector proposed the role as a route to having someone ‘on the inside’ who could join up health, education and children’s services (and justice, social services etc.) both at central and local government level. While Jean is independent of government she is nevertheless a government appointment and I suspect that the third sector will be, like me, hoping that she uses that to ensure that we get the same drive for this work from the rest of government that we have seen from DCSF.
Jean though is not alone in her task. She may hold the formal Champion title but the sector has been championing the cause for years and will do so as long as it takes to ensure all children get the services and support that they need. I am regularly struck by how dedicated and focused people are in their pursuit of the cause and our own champions do us proud.
Linda Lascelles, CEO of Afasic, was recently recognised by RCSLT with an Honorary Fellowship for her work championing both the cause and SLTs. As was Katie Clarke, founder and Chair of 1 Voice who has championed the cause of isolated families across the UK who use AAC.
NDCS pulled off the most amazing piece of campaigning through their ‘Sounds Good’ campaign and have ensured that new schools will have good acoustics. Their championing of this cause will support all children who struggle with communication (and those teachers who struggle to get heard in class – reports this week that that there has been a substantial rise in teachers who have ‘industrial injuries’ to their voices!).
And we have lots of celebs who champion the cause for us too. Michael Palin has long championed the cause of stammering with the centre that bears his name. Pictured here with the Trust’s own Cara Evans (a big fan who would not leave the event until she had a picture with Michael even if that meant pushing me pushing in front of Secretary of State to get the shot!) Michael draws on the experiences of his father to speak with a passion and humour about the challenges faced by young people who stammer.
Paul McCartney recently bought a word on I CANs Adopt A Word site and Stephen Fry caused a Twitter storm when he tweeted about his word adoption and championed the cause of young people who struggle to find their own words.
Most of all though I think the best champions that we have, the most powerful advocates for the cause, are the young people themselves. I was moved to tears by the Michael Palin Centre’s DVD. Aimed at teachers this DVD is delivered by and through the stories and experiences of young people who stammer. The tears were not of sympathy or through the ‘aaah’ factor – though the main narrator is a star of children’s tv waiting to happen. But rather the lump in my throat was a reflection of the power and impact of a young person being supported and empowered to tell it how it is.
So we welcome our Communication Champion and look forward to working with her. And as a sector we will continue to champion the cause and rope in celebrities to help us (is it wrong to want David Tenant to take an interest in speech and language??) But most of all, my vision, 11 million young champions with an almighty voice – with that we could change the world.
Friday, 9 October 2009
A word after a word after a word ....
Thanks for all of your positive comments on the blog. Apparently though they have been a bit long as the ideal blog length is 400 words so I am aiming to be less verbose. The painful task of limiting myself to 400 words made me consider a comment made recently by a colleague that 800 words won’t get you a job. They were reflecting on the fact that many young men do not have the range of words necessary to get a job or remain employed.
Lots of the young people served by the Trust do not have, or cannot use, the words that they need. Many may know the words but physically struggle to express them; others may not be able to apply the right words in social scenarios; some may not be able to bring the right word to mind and still others may choose not to say any words at all.[1]
This is such a loss because words are wonderful. You can shout them, whisper them, write them, sign them, enjoy them. Thanks to I CAN you can even adopt them.[2]
Some people can taste words – an article in the press this week described a man with synaesthesia, a neurological disorder in which one sense is experienced as if it were perceived by another. The word treacle tasted awful but computer tasted of popcorn. For him what his partner was called could literally be the difference between sweet things or a sour ending.
Words are constantly evolving – teenagers are at the forefront of developing new words – noob, mwah,meh[3] - and this evolution is to be celebrated. It is not just teenagers though – my daughter, struggling to remember the right word, asked if we could have the coldiator on[4]. What words have entered your family lexicon?
Words can be funny, they can be sweet, they can be rude. A colleague caused much consternation when she programmed swear words, at a young person’s request, into their ‘talk box’. Why should a teenager needing AAC not have the same range of words as his peers?
Words are powerful. They can start a revolution and end a war. The more words we have access to the better we are able to express our wants, to explain the subtleties of our opinions and to create links with others.
For me the best word is also one of the shortest. No. The ability to choose, and to be able to express that choice, is a fundamental part of being human. Imagine being trapped in a world where you literally cannot say no – the strength and importance of being able to express that simple two letter word quickly becomes apparent.
For the Communication Trust ensuring that every child can express the words that they need to be understood, and can understand the words that are said to them, is an essential part of what we do.
Because, to paraphrase my favourite saying, a word after a word after a word is not just a sentence - it is power.
[1] For an outline of all the ways that young people can be denied their words see The Communication Trust’s “Explaining SLCN”
[2] http://www.adoptaword.org.uk/
[3] A newbie, a kiss, a sound of disapproval
[4] Henceforth the name of mummy’s car air conditioning
Lots of the young people served by the Trust do not have, or cannot use, the words that they need. Many may know the words but physically struggle to express them; others may not be able to apply the right words in social scenarios; some may not be able to bring the right word to mind and still others may choose not to say any words at all.[1]
This is such a loss because words are wonderful. You can shout them, whisper them, write them, sign them, enjoy them. Thanks to I CAN you can even adopt them.[2]
Some people can taste words – an article in the press this week described a man with synaesthesia, a neurological disorder in which one sense is experienced as if it were perceived by another. The word treacle tasted awful but computer tasted of popcorn. For him what his partner was called could literally be the difference between sweet things or a sour ending.
Words are constantly evolving – teenagers are at the forefront of developing new words – noob, mwah,meh[3] - and this evolution is to be celebrated. It is not just teenagers though – my daughter, struggling to remember the right word, asked if we could have the coldiator on[4]. What words have entered your family lexicon?
Words can be funny, they can be sweet, they can be rude. A colleague caused much consternation when she programmed swear words, at a young person’s request, into their ‘talk box’. Why should a teenager needing AAC not have the same range of words as his peers?
Words are powerful. They can start a revolution and end a war. The more words we have access to the better we are able to express our wants, to explain the subtleties of our opinions and to create links with others.
For me the best word is also one of the shortest. No. The ability to choose, and to be able to express that choice, is a fundamental part of being human. Imagine being trapped in a world where you literally cannot say no – the strength and importance of being able to express that simple two letter word quickly becomes apparent.
For the Communication Trust ensuring that every child can express the words that they need to be understood, and can understand the words that are said to them, is an essential part of what we do.
Because, to paraphrase my favourite saying, a word after a word after a word is not just a sentence - it is power.
[1] For an outline of all the ways that young people can be denied their words see The Communication Trust’s “Explaining SLCN”
[2] http://www.adoptaword.org.uk/
[3] A newbie, a kiss, a sound of disapproval
[4] Henceforth the name of mummy’s car air conditioning
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