County Durham’s Youth Offending Service has been highly commended in the SLCN Innovation Award category at a glittering awards ceremony in London, hosted by comedian David Baddiel, for effectively responding to young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).
The 2015 Shine a Light Awards are a national awards to celebrate innovative work and excellent practice in supporting children and young people’s communication development. County Durham’s Youth Offending Service realised they needed to address SLCN when they became aware of national research that suggests that 60-90% of young people in the youth justice system have SLCN. The service realised that young people’s difficulties with communication were the ‘missing piece of the jigsaw’ and they needed to ensure early identification of any needs, as well making their screening processes communication friendly.
Since March 2014, a speech and language therapist has been seconded to the service and staff have learnt how to identify warning signs of SLCN and how they can refer young people for further support. This was previously a formal interview in professional language but is now much more interactive, helping to reveal any SLCN the young person might have. This work has resulted in more young people being referred for speech and language therapy in a three month period than there were over the previous 10 years.
Eighty-nine percent of staff at the Youth Offending Service now report they are confident at identifying SLCN and the service has been asked to deliver training and share resources with another youth offending service.
Sarah Caden, (Practice Improvement Officer, and Susan Stewart (Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapist, said: “We are delighted to be Highly Commended for the SLCN Innovation Award for our ClearCut Communication Screen Resources. We want to dedicate it to all the young people who struggle to make sense of the Youth Justice system. Our screen will ensure that many more young people will get the communication support that they need for the future. Supporting young people’s communication needs makes the youth justice system fairer and more meaningful for young people who offend and victims.”
Chris Hall, Director of Clinical Assessment at Pearson, says: “Congratulations to County Durham’s Youth Offending Service for being highly commended for the SLCN Innovation Award at the 2015 Shine a Light Awards for their remarkable achievements. Each year the applications get stronger and more inspiring. We have seen examples of children and young people being supported by some truly inspiring individuals and groups like the County Durham Youth Offending Service.