Nuffield Speech and Language Unit
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Nuffield Speech and Language Unit has become an internationally recognised centre of excellence for providing intensive therapy to children who suffer from severe speech and language disorders. More specifically these can be:
-
- Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia
- Dysarthria
- Oral dyspraxia
- Severe language disorders
- Severe receptive language disorder
It can take in children as young as four years of age, who without expert therapy would not be able to ever go on to enter and survive in mainstream education.
It is administered to by the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust.
[edit] History
Originally the unit started off as a hostel for deaf children back in the early 1960s. As hearing problems became to be diagnosed earlier through better and more sensitive screening methods the unit's speciality or expertise expanded to include disorders of speech and language. So as not to hold the children back educationally from their peers who could attend normal schools the unit then included an educational curriculum so as to ease the children's eventual transition into mainstream education. The unit then became part of the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital[1]. The unit also went on to develop the Nuffield Centre Dyspraxia Programme [2] which was first published in 1985 and has gone on to be used around the world by many English speaking speech therapists. Furthermore it has been used in a swedish version named Praxis, see http://www.dop.se/ In 2008 it will be available in danish, see http://www.dyspraksi.dk/foraeldre.php?dd=0&page=oplysninger_om_foreningen.htm
The unit had the distinction of being the subject of a BBC documentary broadcast on May 13, 1993, entitled The Silence of The Children.
Its address is 6 Castlebar Hill, Ealing London W5 1TD. Google Map
The Royal Free Hospital is currently holding a public consultation[3] on the future of the Nuffield Speech and Language Unit and this matter has been the subject of an Adjournment Debate in the House of Commons.
