Help Kids Talk is a project within Early Intervention Lisburn (EIL) which is led by the Resurgam Community Development Trust, the SEHSCT Speech and Language Therapy Team, Barnardos NI, and Early Intervention Lisburn partnership. The Help Kids Talk vision is that “everyone will work together to help kids talk”.
The project is a community-wide initiative and aims to ensure everyone who has any responsibility for a child prioritises speech, language, and communication development. This project will result in a positive impact across all areas of a child’s life including educational attainment, mental health and wellbeing, social relationships, and employability later in life.
In some of the most disadvantaged areas of Northern Ireland, research has shown that a high proportion of children are starting pre-school with language needs and difficulties. In 2016 the SEHSCT carried out research in on 172 children in socio-economically deprived areas of the SEHSCT and found that 26% of these children had difficulty in at least 1 area of language.
Research carried out by Early Intervention Lisburn in 2013 in 9 Lisburn primary schools highlighted that 32% of children entering Primary 1 in September 2013 had a mild to severe speech and language difficulty. 76% of these children were male, from more disadvantaged communities in Lisburn.
Similar statistics in Northern Ireland have shown that in some of the most disadvantaged communities in Northern Ireland over 40% of children are starting pre-school with language delay or difficulty. We know that children with speech, language, and communication issues are at high risk of experiencing difficulties with reading, writing, and spelling.
We also know that the range of a child’s vocabulary at age 5 is a very strong predictor of qualifications at school leaving age, and without support, over 1/3 of children with speech, language, and communication issues go on to have support from mental health services later in life.
Help Kids Talk is a community wide partnership. Our steering group is comprised of representatives from across community, voluntary, statutory and private sectors including; BarnardosNI, Surestart, Home-Start, Northern Ireland Childminding Association, Public Health Agency, South Eastern HSC Trust (Speech and Language Therapy Team, Health Visiting and Health Improvement) LibrariesNI, Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy, principals from local nurseries and schools, local church leaders and a grandmother. We also have a parent representative group and involve local children and young people too. Everyone works together to collectively plan and make shared decisions to improve outcomes for children and young people.
Sarah is the Help Kids Talk co-ordinator and a qualified Speech and Language Therapist with 15 years’ experience. Sarah has previously worked for Autism Initiatives and Alder Hey Children’s Foundation Trust where she was the Lead Speech and Language Therapist for provision within specialist school settings and also developed and delivered training to parents and practitioners. Sarah is passionate about partnership-working and strongly believes that when working with children and young people we need to equip them with the skills needed for the future.
Mabel Scullion is the Early Intervention Lisburn manager since 2012. She jointly manages the Help Kids Talk project with the SEHSCT speech and language team on behalf of the Resurgam Trust. She has a health visiting background and has a passion for speech, language, and communication. The opportunity to make a difference began during her time working in the Public Health Agency in 2012 following a meeting with Lorraine Coulter, Lead for speech, language, and communication in the SEHSCT, when Help Kids Talk project was borne.
Lisa joined the Resurgam Trust in January 2021 as the administrator for Early Intervention Lisburn, Help Kids Talk project and Connected Minds Mental Health and Wellbeing project. Lisa is passionate about mental health and about making a difference for children and young people in Lisburn. She previously worked for Lisburn Surestart where she built strong alliances with partners across the community, voluntary and statutory agencies. Lisa is also a qualified swimming instructor for babies and toddlers, and provides aqua natal yoga for pregnant women from 16 weeks.
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