Ms Deirdre Kenny:

If we are looking purely at a speech and language therapy difficulty as opposed to a complex disability, if a child has a primary speech and language difficulty, or if that is what is picked up first, and the public health nurse refers or the parents pick up the phone, ring the speech and language therapy team and put their child on the referral list, as they usually can, it then depends on geography. In some areas a child will be seen for assessment within four months. In the majority of areas, the aim is to see children within 52 weeks. It takes longer than that in a small percentage of areas. In one area, people will wait three or four months, while in another area people will wait for a year. After that assessment, if a child requires therapy it again depends on geography. In one area, the intervention may take place within six weeks of the assessment, while the waiting time may differ in another area. The health statistics show that more than 90% of children are seen for their first therapy session within 52 weeks but approximately 10% of referrals are waiting longer than that, including some who are waiting for up to two years. Again, that intervention depends on where one lives.

The way speech and language therapists often work with families on these types of difficulties means that it is not a matter of a one-off intervention. It is not the case that a child comes once, we give the answer, and we never have to see the child again. Some of these children are coming for long periods of time. The way the system and the waiting list operate means that, in those areas where resources are stretched, a child might wait 12 months for assessment, a further 12 months for therapy and then he or she might only get six or eight sessions. The child then goes back on the waiting list for another year. It is very much based on geography. In some areas, a child will be seen very quickly, whereas a child living elsewhere may wait much longer.