For the last 10+ years, the tiny community of speech language therapists (SLT) in Kenya have been pushing for a SLT training course. Discussions about need and complications with institutional partnership have stymied our efforts. This summer however, the questions I was getting from teachers made me wonder if perhaps we weren't jumping the gun a bit. I began to wonder if, as a profession, anyone actually knows what it is that we do..

So, in Isiolo the other week as I waited for the group of special educators to assemble for day 2 of 'Speech and Language Skills for Functional Communication' training, I put several question on the board about speech therapy. Nine people gave me their answers (each number represents a respondent).

What is a speech therapist?
1. He is a specialist who helps learners with speech problems
2. Speech therapist is a specialist who trains those with speech difficulties to overcome their speech problems through speech training, exercises etc
3. speech therapist is a specially trained person who trains people with speech problems to have one
4. A person who assists a learner to acquire language techniques in the right manner
5. Are professionals trained to assist with speech disorders
6. Is a qualified person who helps children with speech challenges (problems). He/she also identifies them
7. left blank
8. these are professionals who are trained to assist persons with speech problems
9. A person who is in charge (Change?) of children with special need e.g. deaf, stammerers making speech or describe, write or understand

What do they do?
1. Help learners with speech problems
2. They train those with speech problems how to vocalize, articulation and fluency
3. they give massage, physio therapy exercises to those with speech problems
4. They help learners to produce correct sounds when reading or speaking hence pronounce syllables correctly
5. They train the individuals to say or practice saying words after him/her
6. They train those children with speech problems
7. left blank
8. they correct speech disorders
9. they assist children with special needs either through exercises or if there is a need for medical assistance. Helps in making practice in either achieve pronouncing of putting up words

Describe speech therapy…
1. left blank
2. It’s a therapy given to those with speech problems
3. speech therapy involves checking all the organs of speech to find out if they are functional
4. In speech therapy you guide the learner to articulate sounds in their correct positions and help them to produce different sounds without the mother tongue interference of given sounds
5. Is an exercise which is carried out during training or practice
6. Speech therapy is the cure of speech problems
7. left blank
8. this is a process that involves assisting persons with speech disorders e.g. start teaching single letters, words and then sentences
9. a stammerer can be, a deaf, slow learner, mentally handicapped, any person/child who is not able to verbal or understand

Who do speech therapists work with?
1. teachers
2. They work with ENTs
3. They work with ENT specialists, OT’s and PT’s
4. It’s done with the help of a teacher or parent of the affected learner or person
5. trained personnel, doctors, volunteers
6. The health institutions and parents of the children with problems
7. left blank
8. they work with health workers, social workers and teachers
9. caretakers- e.g. parents, teachers and children or persons with certain disabilities

No one said children! Of all these teachers, no one thinks we actually work with kids!

Does Kenya need speech therapists?
1. yes
2. Kenya does need speech therapists as there are many children/people who have speech difficulties especially deaf, autistic, mentally handicapped and multiply handicapped
3. yes
4. yes
5. yes
6. yes
7. yes
8. yes it does
9. by all means possible

How will Kenya meet that need?
1.education
2. By training teachers through workshops, by training speech therapists by establishing institution where personnel were trained
3. By training more professionals in that area
4. By training more speech therapists and enabling more teachers to acquire the knowledge of speech therapists
5. Training of professionals, through induction courses, seminars/workshops
6. By giving training
7. They training and workshops
8. by training some professionals of speech therapy
9. by training children’s caretakers e.g. teachers though workshops. At least if possible every term teachers attend speech and language skills for functional communication seminars.

Interesting huh? I realised when I read through these responses that I myself have spent the last several years modelling that a speech therapist is a person who travels about the country training people. I train teachers, occupational therapists and parents, but rarely rarely work directly with children. When I do, it tends to be in a hospital context rather than in the classroom.

The take home message from all this is we need to increase awareness about what we do in an explicit way. I will start all my trainings with an activity that asks participants to consider the profession and scope of practice! b x

Hello from Kenya..

Lots of exciting things happening, but very little time online to report. However... our website http://www.yellowhousechildrens.org/ should be up in running within months. Hooray.

I'm please to report that we anticipate the Mombasa Children's Therapy Center opening sometime between now and January and we are about to be in a whirl of fundraising to make this actually happen.

b x