Ms Nicola Hart:

Ms Whitmarsh has given us a good yet extreme example of what happens if a child is unable to communicate. We are not providing early intervention speech and language therapy. We know from research that even delaying therapy for three months has a negative impact on outcomes yet we have children on waiting lists for two and three years. We have children who were born during Covid who did not get the benefit of mother and toddler groups so missed early interaction. Now, as we emerge from Covid, there is no therapy in sight and these children are already at a disadvantage. Such situations simply store up problems for the future. If one has a child who cannot communicate in any other way than through behaviour then that is going to cause problems in education, social integration etc. Not providing early services when needed will result in problems being stored up and they will be more costly to solve in the long-term.