Nuffield Speech and Language Unit
Encyclopedia
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:
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
.
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.
The unit also went on to develop the Nuffield Centre Dyspraxia Programme 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 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
.
- Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia
- DysarthriaDysarthriaDysarthria is a motor speech disorder resulting from neurological injury of the motor component of the motor-speech system and is characterized by poor articulation of phonemes...
- 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
Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust
The Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust is an NHS trust based in London, United Kingdom. It comprises The Royal Free Hospital, The Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital and clinics run by the Trust at Edgware Community Hospital, Barnet and Chase Farm Hospital, Finchley Memorial Hospital and North...
.
History
Originally the unit started off as a hostel for deaf children back in the early 1960s. As hearing problemsHearing test
A hearing test provides an evaluation of the sensitivity of a person's sense of hearing and is most often performed by an audiologist using an audiometer. An audiometer is used to determine a person's hearing sensitivity at different frequencies. There are other hearing tests as well, e.g...
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.
The unit also went on to develop the Nuffield Centre Dyspraxia Programme 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
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary broadcast on May 13, 1993, entitled The Silence of The Children.
Its address is 6 Castlebar Hill, Ealing
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...
London W5 1TD. Google Map
The Royal Free Hospital
Royal Free Hospital
The Royal Free Hospital is a major teaching hospital in Hampstead, London, England and part of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust....
is currently holding a public consultation 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
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
.