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Service launches to improve speech therapy access

Friday 11th September 2015
A new online service has launched to help parents find the best speech therapists for their child. Image Credit: Izabela Habur
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A new initiative, which helps parents find the best speech therapist services locally for their child, has now launched.

The US-based programme could spark other similar projects if it proves to be an effective way of accessing speech therapy. 

Speech Buddies Connect is the first service of its kind and enables parents to book appointments with professionals. Initially starting in Brooklyn, the company hopes the marketplace will be available in multiple cities across the US in 2016.

The service is an efficient way of helping match families to speech therapists that can deal with their unique requirements. For example, some children need help starting to talk, while others need support growing up in a bilingual home. Others may go to a speech therapist because they have special needs, which makes speaking or eating more difficult.

Once parents have found a match for their child, parents schedule an appointment for the speech therapist to come to the family home to work with them. Speech Buddies Connect ensures all professionals are qualified and screened by the company itself.

This could be a scheme that would work well in the UK if the US pilot proves to be effective as around one in ten children suffer with a speech problem of some sort. If not properly managed this can lead to other social problems that can be an issue in later life.

Although there are thousands of children that need the unique support that speech professionals can offer, parents often struggle when it comes to finding the right therapist.

Adrienne Penake, chief executive of Speech Buddies, said the programme was created to change how people access speech therapy.

"We continually hear that finding the right speech therapist is confusing and parents often spend months on waiting lists before being seen. Our goal is to provide better access to care and to get children into and out of therapy as quickly and effectively as possible,” she added.

Written by James Puckle

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