Speech and Language Therapy team inspires young voices in Parliament
Three young people from Lewisham schools have represented their peers at a national parliamentary event, sharing their experiences and raising awareness of speech, language and communication needs.
Our Community Children and Young People’s (CYP) Speech and Language Therapy school-aged team has been working with national charity Speech and Language UK, supporting young people to provide feedback on the charity’s website and social media.
The young people’s fantastic contributions led to three young people being invited to attend the Speech, Language and Communication Alliance Young People’s Parliamentary Committee event at the Houses of Parliament.
The event brought together 11 young people from across the country. Each participant had the opportunity to ask MPs questions about SEND policy and share their experiences of living with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).
Katie Levy, Advanced Speech and Language Therapist said: “It has been so rewarding working with these incredible young people at school and seeing them grow in confidence as they’ve gained a better understanding of DLD, how it impacts them, and what helps them to learn.
“I felt SO proud watching them all introduce themselves to the MPs and ask their questions. They were all nervous but they did a truly incredible job of advocating for themselves and other young people with DLD, and raising awareness of the condition. Definite highlight of my career so far.”
The young people also shared their experiences of the event:
Sienna said: “It was really exciting to see everything, it felt really good. The MPs made you feel comfortable.”
Tyrelle said: “Working with speech and language therapy helped me to understand I have to take things slow and understand myself. That meant I could express my feelings about learning with DLD. I liked the whole thing. Everything was new to me, I’ve never done that before. Parliament was cool, lots of art and I liked it. I enjoyed meeting the MPs and voicing my opinions.”
