I& #39;m grateful for the way govt has applied science to NZ& #39;s Covid response & I hope that when the dust settles they& #39;ll apply science to speech language therapy (SLT) provision. SLT services in NZ are patchy. Some populations can access them, some can& #39;t e.g. children get access 1/6

But youth & adults in justice settings and others don& #39;t. Our service delivery models are designed to suit particular demographics. They don& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;ve known all this for 20+ years but not applied the research well. 5/6

Think about what we& #39;ve done with the research we& #39;ve done around things like cancer interventions for 20 yrs... What if we hadn& #39;t done anything with that info. That would be unforgiveable. So why is it ok to ignore SLT research? Unforgiveable too. Let& #39;s do better in future6/6