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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
4 training days have been arranged with Maggie Johnson, a Specialist Speech & Language Therapist. Two dates have been arranged in North Wales on 9th and 10th September 2008 and a further 2 dates in South Wales on 8th and 9th October 2008.
Further details and booking forms in English and Welsh are available on our Training page.
You may be aware that we now have a new North Wales Development Officer – Yvonne Brookes who is busy working for Afasic Cymru in North Wales.
(posted May 2008) [top of page]
AFASIC CYMRU 4TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Afasic Cymru held their 4th Annual Conference in Cardiff in November 2007. The conference explored a range of issues, concerns and opportunities experienced by children and young people attending secondary schools in Wales.
Clare Moyle, Director of Afasic Cymru was delighted to invite speakers and workshop leaders from across the UK, and welcomed Afasic Chief Executive Linda Lascelles and Afasic Directors from other parts of the UK along with Afasic Trustee Board members.
The day started with an excellent presentation from Professor Amanda Kirby, followed by workshop sessions, and the AGM (see below). There were more workshops after lunch and the day was rounded off by another interesting and thought provoking presentation from Dr Victoria Joffe.
Cliff Warwick, Principal of Trinity Fields Resource and Special School heroically chaired the day with his leg in plaster!
Evaluations recorded ‘a successful day with lots of information’ which made all the hard work worthwhile and Afasic Cymru are looking forward to next years conference!
(posted December 2007) [top of page]
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The 2007 Annual General Meeting was held in Cardiff.
The three honorary officers all stood for re-election, no other nominations were received and all were re-elected as follows:
· Chair – Mike Clifford
· Vice-Chair – Bryony Walker
· Treasurer – John Larkin
Trustees Jim McIntosh, Caron Atwood and Carolyn Arthurs were all re-elected for another three years and it was confirmed that Ann Rannard will be co-opted
for a further year on the Board.
A special resolution, approved by the Charity Commission, was passed by members to amend the wording of the constitution. This allows Afasic Scotland to register as a charity in Scotland.
The audited accounts were accepted by the meeting and the auditors confirmed for another year. It was also agreed to keep membership fees at the same level for 2008.
Copies of the minutes of the meeting together with the accounts are available from Afasic Central Office on 020 7490 9410 on request.
(posted December 2007) [top of page]
AFASIC CYMRU 3RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Afasic Cymru were delighted to host their 3rd conference at the Marriott
Hotel in Cardiff in November. Linda Lascelles, Chief Executive and Clare
Moyle, Director were pleased to welcome the Minister for Education and Lifelong
Learning who opened the event (read
speaker notes).
Parents, teachers and therapists were able to enjoy presentations from Dr.
Courteney Norbury of Oxford University and Sally Rees North Wales Development
Officer. The delegates also enjoyed a number of workshops covering a range
of subjects. Huw Roberts of Bangor University kept everyone entertained
throughout the day!
A big thank you to all the speakers, Afasic Cymru staff and of course the
parents, teaching staff and therapists that regularly support our events.
(posted November 2006) [top of page]
BIG LOTTERY FUND CHEQUE
As you can see this photo shows a very happy Afasic Cymru team accepting
a cheque from the Big Lottery Fund for almost £132, 000. This grant will
be directed towards children and young people of the 11+ age group, a previous
successful grant from the Welsh Assembly should enable Afasic Cymru to continue
its support to the younger age group for the next three years.
Congratulations! (posted April 2006) [top of
page]
WALES PRIMARY SCHOOL INFORMATION PACK
Afasic Cymru, with funding assistance from the Wales Assembly Government
and the Big Lottery Fund has issued all 2000 primary schools in Wales with
a bilingual school information pack. In line with £3 million to be invested
into speech and language joint working services from the Wales Assembly
Government, this pack should be used to raise awareness, and help to identify
and support children who may have speech, language and communication difficulties.
The bilingual pack includes:
- A full set of Afasic Cymru Glossary Sheets
- 'How to identify & support children with speech and language difficulties'
- Early Years Poster
- Classroom awareness poster
- Lost for Words Introduction Leaflet
- Helpful hints for parents at Y6 Transition time (photocopiable)
The Director of Afasic Cymru, Clare Moyle hopes that schools will find this
information pack a useful addition to resources. (posted February 2006)
[top of page]
WALES YOUTH INFORMATION PACK
 Careers
Wales have agreed to distribute this bilingual information booklet at 14+
Transition reviews, with support from SEN advisors. The pack consists of
local contacts and useful information for teenagers.
The booklet also contains a laminated credit card style identity card to
give information about speech and language difficulties which a young person
could produce if in difficulties.
Some packs may be available on request while stocks last via the Wales office
~ note the Millennium Stadium in the background! (posted February 2006)
[top of page]
LOST FOR WORDS
One of Afasic Cymru's objectives, as set by the Community Fund now
known as BIG Lottery Fund, was to provide training for it's beneficiaries.
We have previously arranged training days with Maggie Johnson - a specialist
speech & language therapist, and from the evaluation of the attendees, the
courses were of a very high standard & well received by both professionals
and parents alike.
Maggie gave
us two consecutive dates for training in South Wales; the first was booked
in Cardiff, at the Marriott Hotel on Wednesday 25th May and the second in
Swansea, at the Marriott Hotel on Thursday 26th May 2005.
We wanted to provide a course suitable for teachers, LSA's, SENCO's, S&L
Therapists and parents, so chose a course on vocabulary development for
speaking & listening. We entitled the course "Lost for words".
Vocabulary provides the building blocks for learning, communication and
social interaction. Consequently, children with a limited range of vocabulary
at their disposal are at a serious disadvantage both in their personal relationships
and in accessing the curriculum. Conversely, children with a large vocabulary
are not always able to use it effectively for problem solving and social
communication. Maggie looked at the mechanisms involved in vocabulary acquisition,
concept development and word recall, and considered those children who appear
to use the language fluently but actually have limited understanding of
the words they are using. A framework was provided for analysing children's
language samples and planning appropriate intervention, with strategies
involving both oral and written activities.
We distributed approx. 750 booking forms with a view to fill 47 places at
each venue. Places were limited to enable an effective interaction between
the speaker and her audience and also for housekeeping reasons i.e. the
amount of time allocated to provide lunch for each attendee. Application
forms were returned promptly and we needed to set up reserve lists for each
venue. Applications were dealt with on a first come, first served basis
giving no preference to the applicants' status of professional or parent,
even though the majority of attendees were in fact professionals.
Maggie Johnson is held in high esteem with many professionals and we have
no doubt that she was the great selling point for these courses. Maggie
insisted that these courses would be suitable for both parents & professionals
alike.
The days were a great success and both days enjoyed a relaxed and happy
atmosphere and all attendees interacted well with each other and the speaker
(posted September 2005) [top of page]
AFASIC CYMRU 2ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE REPORT
Afasic Cymru were delighted to host their 2nd conference on July 7th
at the Marriott Hotel in Cardiff. Clare Moyle, Director of Afasic Cymru
, writes " Speech and Language services within Wales have been given a huge
profile during the last three years and it has been wonderful to invite
such dedicated and enthusiastic speakers from across the UK to share information
with parents and professionals in Wales."
The event was attended by delegates from across the whole of Wales - all
enjoying presentations from Dr Gilly Baird, Margo Sharp and Linda Lascelles,
Chief Executive of Afasic. Opportunities for two workshop presentations
per delegate were available during the day, and again , positive feedback
from the workshops indicate a useful day and informative day was had by
all.
Sadly, the whole day was affected by the dreadful events in London, most
especially as many of our speakers were from London and unable to get home.
However, I have to say that the Chair, John Parrott (NAPLIC) did a fantastic
job of keeping everyone on task!
We hope to continue the conferences as an annual event and we thank you
for your support once again. In addition to this, it would be remiss of
me to not thank the rest of the staff at Afasic Cymru. As you will know,
Jeannette and Sally work wonders with the resources and time available to
them- and we are looking forward to seeing you all at our next annual conference
or further events in Wales.
Best wishes to you all! Clare Moyle Director Afasic Cymru (posted September
2005) [top of page]
SHARING GOOD PRACTICE: JOINT TRAINING, INFORMATION
& NETWORKING IN SPEECH AND LANGUAGE
A joint event, hosted by Afasic Cymru, will take place on Monday 4th
July to share good practice in speech and language, and will bring together
the GELP (Gwent Early Years Programme) and SPEC (Special Parents of Exceptional
Children) to look at early years intervention and working in partnership
with parents. The event is applicable to both specialist and mainstream
teaching staff, Speech & Language Therapists SENCOs, Nursery staff and well
as officers of LEAs, NHS Trust and LHBs. The event will be chaired by Karen
Allen (Head of Speech & Language Therapy North East Wales NHS Trust), with
speakers from both Wrexham & Flintshire LEAs and presentations from GELP
& SPEC. (posted May 2005) [top of page]
STORYTELLING - STORIES, SONGS AND RYHMES
One special school and two language resources will benefit from a
visit by a specialist travelling storyteller in July. Polly Howat, experienced
in working in various settings and with a diverse age range, will be visiting
the following venues:
12th July - Ysgol Gogarth, Llandudno
13th July - Mynydd Isa Junior School Language Centre
Acton Park Infant School Language Resource
Polly will be providing a programme of stories and songs, some of which
are based on myths and legends. The focus of each session will be to promote
re-count, turn-taking and repetition using the flow of rhyme to encourage
the children attending each session to join as well as parents who will
also be taking part in the fun. Each session will be lively and colourful,
with Polly using puppets to support each performance. (posted May 2005)
[top of page]
NATIONAL LIAISON OFFICERS FOR WELSH MEDIUM SPEECH AND LANGUAGE
SERVICES:
The Children's NSF which has just finished its final consultation
phase will be formally launch in the summer of 2005. There are over 200
standards of which just over 60 have been flagged for action by March 2006.
In the first instance there is one flagged standard, which is also a target
set for Local Health Boards to met by March 2005 which may be of interest
to the parent/carers of children and young people with assessed complex
needs who receive services from 2 or more agencies.
Standard 5.4 states:
'A hand held record is provided for all disabled children with complex
needs that complements the Personal Child Health Care Record (the
red book), in line with the Welsh Assembly Government guidance to
be issued in 2004'.
The hand held record, commonly known, as the 'Orange Book' will be
issued to all children who meet the assessed criteria. This hand held
record is an attempt to include all information pertinent to the child
and family, and to the professionals they are in contact with. One
of the main aims of the 'Orange Book' is to cut down on the number
of times the child and or family has to recount their 'story'. The
record has the capacity to include details of, for example, a child
likes or dislikes, his or her medication or the form of communication
used by the child. The 'Orange Book will be begin to be distributed
in Spring 2005. If you would like to find out more about the 'Orange
Book' and the Children's NSF take a look at www.wales.nhs.uk/sites
click on Children's National Services Framework and scroll down to
'Hand held record for disabled children'.
Another standard, which is of interest to Afasic Cymru, is Standard
5.26, which states that:
'Children and young people who require therapy services receive an
assessment within 12 weeks of referral, with the appropriate resources
commissioned. Waiting times are monitored and action taken when target
waiting times have not been met'.
This standard, within the consultation document, has not been flagged as
a priority for action by March 2006. Given the current difficulties, and
the pilot projects not yet operational it is difficult to see that this
standard will be met in the foreseeable future. Afasic Cymru will be endeavouring
to keep a close watch on the progression of the Children's NSF in relationship
to children and young people with speech, language and communication difficulties.
(posted Feb 2005) [top of page]
NEW FUNDING FOR AFASIC CYMRU
Afasic Cymru, during the last days leading up to the Christmas holiday
period, heard that our organisation's bid for Section 64 Grant (Welsh Assembly
Government) funding had been successful. So, amongst the popping of festive
champagne corks we celebrated a loud pop for Afasic. This grant of £210,000
was welcome news as Afasic Cymru's Community Lottery funding for its current
work plan commitments is due to expire in September of this year. The new
funding will allow Afasic Cymru to continue to consolidate and expand the
profile of the organisation, but more importantly the services and support
provided to children and young people and their families across the whole
of Wales. (posted Feb 2005) [top of page]
AFASIC CYMRU CONFERENCE REPORT
We hosted our first conference at the Marriot in Cardiff in October
and were delighted to welcome presentations from both the Minister
for Education and the Minister for Health. A number of excellent speakers,
from across the UK also gave presentations on the latest research
and best practice to both parents with children with speech, language
and communication difficulties, and professionals who support children
who cope with such difficulties every day.
Issues regarding speech and language therapy intervention have been
a major concern for services involved with special educational needs
for some time, and Afasic Cymru has raised the profile of the issues
of identification and intervention with the Welsh Assembly Government.
The Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning and the Minister
for Health and Social Services have both agreed that children with
speech, language and communication difficulties should have their
needs addressed and a joint working group has been set up.
Speaking at the first Afasic Cymru conference, Jane Davidson reported
on the action plan, which has emerged from the WAG Speech and Language
Therapy Action Group. Details of proposals were released at the Afasic
Cymru conference, including proposals for joint working pilot projects,
a joint co-ordinator to work across health and education in Wales
and therapy support in-situ in schools.
The Minister for Education also discussed a National Communication
Strategy, '…to renew the emphasis that speech, language and communication
plays in a child's development and the need for services to work together
to resolve inequalities in service delivery and the appropriate mechanisms
to address these inequalities. Whilst we recognise that the training
of additional therapists cannot happen overnight we can in the short
term work together across agencies to improve service delivery.'
The Minister for Health added, 'we have a unique opportunity in Wales
to bring together all the available knowledge there is in this field
and to share our experiences and practices and debate how we can work
together most effectively to improve services for our children and
young people.' Evaluation of the conference has indicated that this
first conference was a successful and informative day.
Clare and the rest of the Afasic Cymru staff are already planning
the second conference in July next year!
[top of page]
INTERACTIVE CIRCUS SKILLS WORKSHOP
 Afasic
Cymru hosted a circus skills workshop facilitated by Circus Broli
on 30th October, held at The Clockhouse, Mostyn, Flintshire for children
5-11 years of ages and their parents/carers.
33 children and parents attended the event which was organised to
promote balance, co-ordination and self-esteem through utilising circus
skills and equipment. Both child and parent took part together trying
out all the activities, which included diabolo, poi, devil sticks,
juggling and not to mention pedalos which everyone managed to achieve
by the end of the day, and the tightrope!
 The
team events proved to be popular, especially the balancing relay events
where the competitive spirit of the parents emerged. But, what a fun
day was had by all involved, including the members of Circus Broli
who were truly empathic to the needs of the children and parents alike.
The workshop was exciting and colourful, and as one parent commented that
they 'had a fantasitc day and had lots of fun' and that it was lovely to
see her son 'enjoy himself so much', and as another parent commented on
departure that she 'hadn't laughed so much in ages'. Finally as one child
said it was 'just great' and that they had enjoyed 'everything'. [top
of page]
ALUN SION THOMAS RAISES MONEY FOR AFASIC
Alun Sion Thomas from Pandy Tudur, North Wales - recognising and appreciating
how important it can be to support others - has completed a 6 mile sponsored
walk, together with family members and friends to support him on along the
way in aid of Afasic Cymru.
Alun walked along the coastal cycle way on a warm and sunny day from Pensarn
near Abergele to Kinmel Bay and back. Alun, who is eight years old, has
global Dyspraxia and attends specialised resourced provision and a mainstream
school in the county of Conwy.
Alun, despite his own difficulties is full of confidence and has a
zest for life. The walk was all his own idea and he had been collecting
money earned from doing jobs around the house for his Mum Fiona before
she realised what he was planning. Alun raised over £720, which is
a great achievement for him.
Congratulations and well done Alun Sion. [top of page]
FUN AT RECENT EVENTS
Afasic Cymru Fun Day
 As
you can see in the photographs, our first Afasic Cymru Fun Day was
a great success. Parents and children from across South Wales joined
us at the Welsh National Institute of Sport for a fun day. "Ant"
from Dynamix led the children through various activities including
circus equipment, puppets and games. In fact, it was so much fun that
the parents joined in too!
 Parents
were able to enjoy a little "time out" at lunchtime while
Ant single handedly entertained the children. We were able to chat
and exchange information whilst enjoying a nice cup of tea and a sandwich.
After lunch, we all enjoyed the sunshine outside and played games
using a huge colorful parachute, which was followed by much-needed
ice lollies to cool us down.
Owain from Pontypool asked, "please can we do this every Saturday?"
Well, I don't know about every Saturday but we will certainly try
to make this an annual event.
Free t-shirts and a party bag were given to each child that attended,
so all the children were happy and all of the parents agreed it was
great to have the chance to meet and exchange phone numbers and ideas.
All in all, the day was a success and it was lovely to meet some of the
parents and children we support. [top of page]
Afasic Cymru, Titan House, Cardiff Bay Business Centre, Lewis Road, Ocean Park, Cardiff CF24 5BS
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