Speech & Language Development Australia (SALDA) is passionate about educating, supporting and advocating for children and young people with speech, language and related disorders, enabling them to find their voice. We are unapologetically ambitious in striving to ensure extraordinary outcomes, beyond what anyone imagined possible, for children and young people with language disorder.
We know that Language Disorder does not need to be a barrier to achievement and success, but it does require deliberate, connected and focused support and intervention. Our diverse and experienced professional team at SALDA is committed to doing this through our constantly evolving portfolio of services. These include The Glenleighden School, School Support Services, Allied Health Assessment and Therapy Services, Professional Learning, and Research and Advocacy.
Our work is crucial not only for the children and young people we directly serve, but also for their families and for society as a whole. Developmental Language Disorder, a hidden disability, impacts more than 1 in 14 children, that’s on average 2 in every classroom. This statistic does not include those children and young people who have Language Disorder coexisting with another biomedical condition such Hearing Impairment, Autism, Intellectual Disability and Down Syndrome.
Students with Developmental Language Disorder do not easily obtain funding for support, often leading to inequity of service access through programs such as NDIS and government funding for in-school support. Students with Language Disorder are more often able to access government funding based on their primary diagnosis, say of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Ensuring recognition, funding, support and intervention for children and young people with Language Disorder is an important educational, health, social and economic issue. With early intervention and ongoing well-defined and structured support, we can begin to address the all too prevalent issues relating to educational underachievement, unemployment, poor mental health and involvement in the youth justice system, all of which disproportionally effect the large number of people in our society with Language Disorder.
Whether you are a parent seeking support for your child, a teacher looking to better understand how to support your students, or simply interested in helping to ensure extraordinary outcomes for children and young people with Language Disorder, we would love to connect with you. You can be part of the solution and join us in helping more children and young people to find their voice.
Mark Yeowell
CEO – Speech & Language Development Australia