Commenting on the report IASLT Chairperson Áine Lawlor said:
“Speech and Language disorders often overlap with social, emotional and behavioural challenges in childhood. Language is involved in every aspect of mental health assessment and treatment. Research has evidenced an association between a young person’s communicative competence and their mental health. Many referrals to CAMHS have unidentified communication difficulties. Timely access to Speech and Language therapy is urgently needed. SLTs need to be recognised as core members of the team and identified by the Mental Health Commission as such. We thank Dr Finnerty for her work on this report and the opportunity to meet with her as part of this review to represent IASLT’s views”.