Devon speaks up for speech, language and communication needs
Devon is part of raising awareness that communication is everyone’s business.
‘The ability to communicate is fundamental to learning, to relationships and to life chances. More than 10% of all children and young people, over 1.4 million in the UK, have communication difficulties’ Bercow 10 years on (2018).
Research has shown that:
- Language at age 2 predicts reading, writing and maths skills when a child starts school
- Vocabulary at age 5 is the most important factor affecting literacy at age 11
- 81% of children and young people with social and emotional difficulties have unidentified language difficulties
- Children with poor vocabulary at age 5 are more than twice as likely to be unemployed at age 34
- 66-90% of young offenders have low language skills
- As many as 65% of all children and young people in the care system have SLCN
To help raise awareness of the impact SLCN can have on life chances and to celebrate the joint commitment to address this need Devon have put together this video.
The video sits within the wider social media campaign that will be taking place in October alongside the SEMH/SLCN workshop and other events being held by organisations across the voluntary and commissioned sector.
October is a significant month for many reasons:
- World Mental Health Day – don’t forget to sign up for the RCSLT webinar exploring the links between SEMH and SLCN
- It is International Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) awareness month. The goal is to raise awareness of AAC and to inform the public about the many different ways in which people communicate. The theme for this year is Bridging the Silence through Solidarity.
- Developmental Language Disorder Day (DLD) takes place on 16th October. DLD is sometimes called a ‘hidden condition’ because you cannot tell by looking at someone if they have it. This means it is easier to overlook. Approximately 7.6% of our population have DLD.
- The National Autistic Society are working with TheAutismShow to deliver a 6 day online webinar: 12th – 17th October 2020