Communication: Parents of children with communication difficulties can now avail of a new private Dublin-based service offering group training to parents of children in need of speech and language therapy.
By focusing on empowering parents to help their own children, and by working in groups, Release Speech Therapy aims to give those on lengthy health board waiting lists a choice of a cheaper and more extensive service than is currently privately available.
"Irish speech language therapists have done an amazing job with the resources available to them and the massive case loads they have to manage," said company founder, Ms Tara Liston.
"I am hoping that Release will begin to ease some of this pressure and start to make an impact on the waiting lists they deal with on a daily basis."
There are unacceptably long waiting lists for speech and language therapy services, according to Ms Anne Geraghty, chairperson of the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists (IASLT).
"At the moment there are 500 speech and language therapists in the country but only about 400 are working," said Ms Geraghty, adding that the Bacon Report recommends a need for 1285 therapists by 2015, a figure which the IASLT considers an under-estimate.
Given the lack of resources a development such as Release Speech Therapy is inevitable, she said.
The company will focus in particular on children up to 16 years-of-age with Downs Syndrome and autism, although any child with communication difficulties will be catered for.
The National Association for Intellectual Disability welcomed the establishment of Release. "Initially I was sceptical, now however after examining the model further I think it is excellent, particularly given the terrible shortage of speech and language therapists in Ireland," said Ms Deirdre Carroll, secretary general the association.
"Release is a very good, innovative idea to bridge the gap, it offers hope to families who may have had to go down the private route or wait up to three years for screening. The model is very innovative, it will give parents a great support infrastructure, providing children from an early age with good language acquisition tools."
"We will certainly be making all of the parents involved in our organisation aware of Release. I don't know of any other service like this in Ireland and certainly anything that can effectively bridge the gap here is welcome," Ms Carroll added.
Ms Liston, who comes from a marketing background, first became aware of the massive shortage in speech and language therapy services when she worked as a fundraiser for Down Syndrome Ireland.
"Every place I went parents were begging for speech and language therapy," she told The Irish Times. Parents were also looking for occupational therapy but wanted their children's communications difficulties tackled first, she said.
"If lucky children were getting six hours a year, when they needed at least an hour per week," Ms Liston said.
In an effort to prevent much-needed therapists from leaving Health Boards, she is focusing initially on bringing in speech and language therapists from the US.
In a few years there will be annually be 75 more Irish qualified therapists coming into the system than previously, now that there are now four Irish universities offering graduate and post-graduate speech and language therapy courses. Prior to 2003 only Trinity College Dublin offered such training.
Once there are more Irish therapists available Release hopes to recruit from amongst them, said Ms Liston. Release's service will cost E33 per hour, following an initial registration fee of €125 and an assessment of €200.
"The Health Boards have been extremely positive towards Release but for the moment the costs for us to run the service will unfortunately rest with parents. We are continuing our negotiations with the Health Boards and are hoping for a positive outcome," Ms Liston said.