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Social Skills

Social Skills These are the invisibles of communication and we don’t really learn them in formal lessons, we just pick them up as we go…but sometimes we don’t so here are a few tips… Aims – To improve eye contact, rate of speech, topic maintenance, turn-taking, interpretation of facial expression, body language and listening skills. Activity 1 – Say Hello to the Group Go round the group. Each person says …Read More

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by Lisa McGowan

Top Tips for Communication Communication is all about sending and receiving messages, usually in the form of conversations or requests etc.  If someone has a communication difficulty, we need some extra help to get those messages across. This will need a bit more effort and thought from those involved, but if communication is improved, it will be worth it! Try the following: always have a pen and paper with you …Read More

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by Lisa McGowan

Great schools…

We are lucky enough to work with some great schools.  They have made the commitment to support their students with speech, language and communication needs and follow it through on a weekly basis. A TA has been allocated as a contact person and we work together to identify students needs and co-ordinate assessment and therapy.  Alongside this, we have set up small groups to enhance literacy, grammar, writing and social …Read More

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by Lisa McGowan

Communication for Parkinson’s

I was listening to a programme on DBS on Radio 4 last week then found the BBC article from the spring about difficulties faced by those with Parkinson’s http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22121686 We are hoping to develop an app to support communication for Parkinson’s people, but here are a few strategies that will help speech: Good posture and breathing will help to manage the volume of the voice Keep background noise at a …Read More

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by Lisa McGowan

Worrying times ahead for service provision…..

Budget cuts are beginning to show worrying delays for children and families trying to access support to help with speech, language and communication needs. The Government-funded Better Communication Research Programme, has emphasised the need for early intervention to support these children. However a recent survey by The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) has found that waiting times are increasing – many children wait between 18 and 42 …Read More

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by Sharon Henderson

Dementia Champions

Dementia is in the news regularly now and affects many people either directly or as a family member or carer. It is so important that society is open about the problems faced by those with dementia and tries to understand how small things can make a difference.  Tavistock is one of several towns in Devon with a Dementia Alliance and LTL are part of this.  Sharon and I have just …Read More

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by Lisa McGowan