Inspiring the young

Recently the SLT Society were asked to host a stall at "Children's University Family Learning Festival".  It was intended for Children between 7-14 years of age and their parents to learn about the University, what courses it offers and inspire career choices.  In fact, the turn out for the day even included much younger children and it was an opportunity to talk to both children and their parents.

 

 

 The SLT Society hosted a big stall, containing both communication and dysphagia aspects of the vocation.  For the Communication aspect, we had AAC - including Go Talk's, Big Buttons, Symbols and PECS.  We also had many posters about the impact of communication difficulties and the range of which SLTs work in, and many leaflets from the HELLO campaign.  Then there was a communication game for children and their parents to get involved in, the children were asked to say a sentence to their sibling, parent, or friend without speaking.  This brought on some giggles.  Some children even got involved in filling in a speech bubble with what they thought communication was and some extremely pictorial images of communication difficulties and how people communicate were drawn!

 

"What Is Communication?" A 6 year old's definition.

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 




However, the dysphagia aspect of the stall got the most attention - though what 7 year old isn't tempted by chocolate mouse or digestive biscuits! We had a taste test, "which is the easiest to eat" game, and put out sliced banana, chocolate mouse and digestive biscuits.  Nearly all of the children were able to identify that the mouse was easiest! Then we discussed with them why we as SLTs were interested in eating, drinking and swallowing, and had lots of plastic models to demonstrate swallowing techniques.  We even had Videofluroscopy videos to teach the children and their parents how we investigate swallowing and show them where their food and drink goes! Then we had thickener, and created thickened water to stages 1, 2 and 3 consistency.  Many of the children wanted to try the thickened fluids, and big spoonful's of stage 3 were spooned into their mouths before contorted faces were pulled!

 

Overall, the children and their parents learnt a lot, many were intrigued in the job role and stated that they didn't know what SLTs did until the day, and many parents even recalled their children having SLT input.  It was also a great learning experience for us SLT Students, who developed our ability to talk about communication and dysphagia completely jargon free, a lesson in how to train people in our complex role in a simpler fashion.  We all learnt lots, enjoyed our time, and promoted the wonderful profession!

 

The highlight of the day was when one mother stated "I hope one of my children becomes a speech therapist after today" - Mission Complete!