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We contacted Swindon Down's Syndrome Group and asked them what they would like us to raise money for and they replied with "speech and Language Therapy for children/young people with Down’s syndrome" and this is why....

One of the main areas of need for our children is in the area of communication.  All children/young people with Down’s syndrome will have some level of learning disability and some difficulty with speech and language. All children with Down’s syndrome are given the opportunity and positively encouraged to attend mainstream school. In this environment, they receive varying levels of support, but all get, at best, 30 minutes of speech and language therapy per term.

20 years ago, the group were concerned at the amount of therapy offered that we entered into a Service Level Agreement with the local authority, to set up weekly speech and language therapy groups with a specialist therapist for our children and young people.

The difference this has made to them all has been astounding. We insist that a parent/carer attends with the child/young person and we encourage the child’s teaching assistant from school to attend too.  This ensures that any work done in the group session can be carried on at home and school.  

Speech therapy needs to become part of their everyday routine and brought into everyday situations. It’s about making it fun and normal, not different. The ability to communicate is such a basic need, it enables our young people to communicate choice, feelings, needs and allows them to socialise and in turn speak for themselves.

For all of us, being able to communicate is a fundamental part of our ability to be a part of our communities, workplaces and families.  Regular speech and language therapy gives our young people the opportunity to further develop their speech and comprehension skills, enabling them to go on to achieve far more than might otherwise have been possible for them, and to become much better integrated into our community.

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