Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry 12 Nov 2024
Testimony by Glenn Carter. Head of the Scotland office Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
Introduction
Glenn Carter is head of the Scotland office of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) and has been in this current role for two and a half years. He is a qualified speech and language therapist and worked in the NHS in Scotland for 23 years. Most recently he led a children's speech and language therapy service in NHS Forth Valley.
‘‘We simply do not yet know what the medium and long- term impact may be.’’
Testimony Highlights
Harrowing to hear about the alarming increases in the increased need for speech and language therapy in Scotland’s young children and infants post lockdown. All confirmed by Public Health Scotland and Health visitors.
‘‘This is particularly concerning as these children are at a critical time in their language development..Public Health Scotland noticed it and health visitors were saying there were seeing far more of these children with the area where the most concern was communication.’’
PHS data
Reasons
I found it remarkable Mr.Carter failed to implicate long term mandatory mask policies as a factor, stating the reasons for speech and language issues are ‘‘complex.’’
Genetics
Poverty
Lack of access to services
Seeing fewer of family members and friends
Education
Stress
Further evidence of speech and language difficulties
In addition to the PHS evidence a survey with Early Years Scotland showed:
89% of respondents said they had seen a SIGNIFICANT increase in the number of children with communication difficulties and these issues were more complex than previously experienced.
‘‘We’ve heard from teachers seeing significant numbers of children coming to school who have very little language if ANY at the P level and they are raising high levels of conern about that.’’
Waiting lists now a ‘‘PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS’’
Some children in Scotland have to wait MORE THAN 3 YEARS for an appointment to rectify speech and language issues during a time which is critical for their development.
‘‘Wait times have deteriorated significantly.’’
‘‘In 2024 there are more children now waiting for speech and language therapy than before 6,727.’’
‘‘The reason that is significant for children’s development that level of wait is like a life-time..that a particualr concern as they are not getting the support they need.’’
Statement highlights
‘‘We saw a significant increase in the number of children who present with communication difficulties as a result of the pandemic and lockdown.’’
-Paragraph 22 of statement
‘‘89% of practitioners in early years settings had seen an increase or significant increase in the numbers and complexity of children with communication needs. They also highlighted increased difficulty inchildren's ability to interact with others; their behaviour; their ability to participate; their learning; their friendships; and wellbeing.’’
-Paragraph 23 of statement
‘‘ The pandemic resulted in reduced opportunities for interaction for these children. Their worlds got much smaller. They weren't seeing their families and friends. They weren't exploring the world, which is a really good way to learn language.’’
-Paragraph 27 of statement
‘‘The research is ongoing and obviously that cohort of children is continuing to grow up. Therefore, by definition, we simply do not yet know what the medium and long- term impact may be.’’
‘Paragrapg 28 of statement
‘‘In 2020, we surveyed our membership to ask them about the impact of the pandemic and lockdown on the children and young people with communication needs. The respondents to this survey noted deteriorating mental health and an increase in challenging behaviours.’’
-Paragraph 39 pof statement
‘‘It's very hard to facilitate partnership working if one team member is in full PPE, including their uniform, mask, apron, gloves, and their education colleagues are not.That was one example of confusion that ought to be avoided in any future response to a health crisis.’’
-Paragraph 42 of statement
‘‘It is critical that therapists have early access to transparent face coverings.’’
-Paragraph 52 of statement
Thoughts
So young children, officially at 0 risk of serious ‘COVID’ from day-1 have been sacrificed at the altar by politicians and public ‘health’ to ‘‘protect granny’’and in doing so are now in a health crisis of their own due to the lockdowns, masks and associated fear propaganda pushed from 2020.
‘‘The odds of dying from COVID for the vast majority of young people in this nation were 0.000 (through Feb. 28, 2021),’’
Thanks for reading.
End
Not one of the people involved in the official institutions or charities: speech,mental health, disability, young carers, doesn’t matter who they were supposed to act for, none of them defended or fought for the young people they represented. They stayed silent when their voices mattered and allowed irreparable damage to be done to the vulnerable. Now after the event they speak up and blame the “pandemic/covid, what good is it now? The damage has been done by their inaction not the invisible virus.
Speech therapists talk a good game, but much like many other therapies, its very difficult to prove it works. My son (now an adult, who has Downs Syndrome) was assigned speech therapy, but we were not particularly impressed by them: and believe that it made no difference to the outcome.
Two reasons:
Firstly many of them come with a toolkit of learned notions about 'doing good for children with disabilities, but each child is unique, and all of these preferred therapeutic techniques, being one-to-one, are insanely expensive per session. The main benefit -if any - may simply be the personal interaction with an adult. So, a lot depends on that therapists individual personality and whether or not the child is willing and able to respond appropriately.
Secondly, lets explore 'Opportunity cost'.
Taking a child out of class or the playground means that they are losing the chance in that timeslot to learn communication skills the way that most children do, Peer to Peer, partly through play and banter.
That benefit of normal childhood Peer to Peer learning is one reason why I insisted that my son always attended mainstream school settings - he had the benefit of 'normal' role models to learn from, not adults, or children with speech problems. He can now speak and communicate fairly well, and his speech is clear and his comprehension good.
Conclusion: I have yet to see a single, conclusive, large scale double blind research study showing that Speech therapy benefits most children like mine MORE than inclusion in a mainstream school setting . I suspect that they just talk a good game in most cases and are seen to be 'doing something good ' ! ;-)