Special Educational Needs: Speech and Language Disorders
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with speech and language (a) organisations and (b) specialists on their views on (i) SEND reforms and (ii) the support available to children with speech and language challenges within schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould
The government consultation, special educational needs and disabilities reform: putting children and young people first, revealed the critical role that speech and language therapy plays in supporting children with speech, language and communication needs.
Our reforms will ensure every child gets the right support at the right time. We are investing £1.8 billion in the new Experts at Hand offer, through which education settings will be able to access support from speech and language therapists (SaLTs). These experts will work directly with staff in education settings to equip them with the skills and strategies to better meet needs.
We are also investing £15 million to establish new SaLT advanced practitioners in every integrated care board area to support more SaLTs to work with educational settings, upskill speech and language support workers.
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