Why doesn't Singapore have SLTs in our public schools??? I get so irritated by it, I feel like screaming. It does not help to tell a parent whose child needs speech language intervention to go to the hospital, because it makes it into a medical issue, which it isn't, most of the time. God, I feel so irritated, really. Only a fraction of speech and language difficulties are syndromic or medically-rooted; the rest just need a different kind of attention and teaching for language.
I've been giving feedback to parents of my research participants. When parents start unloading about their kids' difficulties and I realise that, hey, it sounds like there may be an issue, and I want to suggest, maybe you want to look into specialist help? and I mention hospital, parents get like this O.O !!! It's only understandable. I've been telling you my child has some trouble getting out a sentence and you want me to send him to the hospital? And then they start telling me, Errr, I don't think it's that bad...
It isn't that bad. And precisely because it isn't bad, that all the more reason, therapy will help so much and things will skyrocket and improve. But no -- we only get terrible, mostly intractable communication issues at hospitals, and all those who we can help, don't receive it. Ridiculous system that allows potentially successful children fall through our cracks. Stupid! SLT's should be in schools and help these kids.
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