Teachers receive speech therapy training

A group of teachers in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) last month received free training in speech therapy by a United States trained and well experienced Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) from Barbados, Cheryl Mapp.{{more}}

The session, which took place at Dr Rosemary Boyle’s clinic in Kingstown on June 15, was the first exposure for these teachers in the art of caring for a child with speech impairment. A recent study conducted in SVG shows that there is an alarmingly high rate of children in the country with speech/language delay or disorder.

It was duly noted by the SLP that early intervention is most beneficial for these children. Barbados has approximately five Speech-Language Pathologists and children in that country commence speech therapy sessions as early as two years old.

In SVG, although there is an absence of a resident SLP, Mapp will be visiting the country on a monthly basis over the next one-year period. Parents will therefore have the opportunity to obtain an initial assessment of their child’s speech, as well as have face-to-face speech therapy sessions.

On each visit to SVG, the SLP will conduct free training sessions to teachers, so that they are better prepared to deal with children who have a speech impairment. The next visit by the Speech-Language Pathologist will be from July 29 to 30, 2012. All sessions are scheduled to occur at Dr Rosemary Boyle’s clinic in Kingstown.