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I'm grateful for the way govt has applied science to NZ's Covid response & I hope that when the dust settles they'll apply science to speech language therapy (SLT) provision. SLT services in NZ are patchy. Some populations can access them, some can't e.g. children get access 1/6
But youth & adults in justice settings and others don't. Our service delivery models are designed to suit particular demographics. They don't work for everyone who needs them. We need models that reflect other worldviews and lived experiences. 2/6
People who can get speech language therapy often don't get enough to make a real difference. There seems to be a perception in NZ that everyone grows out of their communication diffs. That is not true. If you have significant diffs as a child you will still have them as 3/6
an adolescent & as a parent unless you get enough support in the right way. NZ has brilliant SLTs who (along with whānau) could make a BIG difference to the lives of people with comm diffs if they weren't hampered by service delivery models that are not all fit for purpose. 4/6
Language skills are protective - they enable you to regulate, thrive in school, have healthy relationships, get a job. SLTs can really help with this stuff if given the chance. The sad thing is that we've known all this for 20+ years but not applied the research well. 5/6
Think about what we've done with the research we've done around things like cancer interventions for 20 yrs... What if we hadn't done anything with that info. That would be unforgiveable. So why is it ok to ignore SLT research? Unforgiveable too. Let's do better in future6/6
