The father of a boy who needed two years of speech therapy to come to terms with his mum’s death has slammed “shameful” Aberdeenshire Council cuts to the service in its schools.
The local authority cut all funding for speech and language therapy in schools and nurseries at last week’s budget meeting.
David Crichton, 44, lives with sons Ben, 9 and Jamie, 12.
He has called on Aberdeenshire Council to reverse its decision, particularly in light of the extra £3million in available funds which came to light on the eve of the budget meeting.
Ben, a P4 pupil at Kellands Primary School, has delayed speech and has received invaluable support from speech and language therapists at the school since he started P1.
When Ben was 4, his life was turned upside down when he lost his mum after a short illness.
The support of the speech and language therapists at his school were pivotal in getting Ben back on his feet.
Ben’s mum Jodie tragically passed away in 2019 while Ben was at nursery.
“Ben was dropped off at nursery, and then she didn’t pick him up,” said David. “So effectively she disappeared out of his life all of a sudden.
“He had no language to ask what had happened. So he didn’t understand what had happened, and for around six months afterwards he went around telling his brother and me that his mum was in hospital. Because that’s all that he could understand.
“It took two years of intensive speech therapy before he could begin to understand what had happened.”
Aberdeenshire speech therapy cuts will ‘hit less well-off families disproportionately more’
Ben’s dad David says this wouldn’t have been possible without the in-school speech and language therapy service, which Ben continues to benefit from to this day.
Now David is left worrying for Ben’s future when the service is removed at his school – most likely at the end of the current school year.
“There’s a number of different ways this is going to affect Ben.
“Firstly, there’s the logistics. Ben gets three lots of speech therapy a week, but it’s based in school.
“If it’s then based in an NHS clinic, which is what I understand they want to do, and what councillors seem to believe should be done, then I’m going to have to work out how I get Ben from school to these clinics three times a week.
“That’s not just me, that’s every single parent who benefits from the service.
“Now, I don’t know any employer who’s going to be happy with their employees taking two to three hours out of a working day three times a week. I don’t believe many people are going to be able to do that.
“They’re probably going to have to take a hit in their earnings, or make a choice between earning money and getting their child to speech and language therapy. That’s going to hit less well-off families disproportionately more.”
‘Councillors don’t understand what they have done’
Ben is one of more than 6,000 children across Aberdeenshire who will be affected by the council’s decision to remove the service from schools.
David has messaged councillors up and down the region since the decision was made.
He says he has been left with the impression that those who voted for the cuts don’t understand the gravity of what they have done.
“I’ve messaged every single councillor in Aberdeenshire. Some councillors have been very positive and tried to work to change things. But other councillors just don’t get it, particularly the Conservative and Lib Dem councillors who voted for the cuts.
“They just don’t seem to understand the consequences of what they’ve done, for parents and for kids.
“They seem to think that schoolteachers and parents can pick up the slack. Well, I’ve tried doing speech and language therapy with my child and it’s really, really difficult. Virtually impossible.
“Children are going to end up being left behind. Ben has already had to work extremely hard to catch up and then maintain pace with his peers. If he’s missing school time to travel to speech and language therapy, it’s going to make it even more difficult for him.”
‘They have to change their decision’: ‘Dismissive’ councillors questioned after extra £3m comes to light
Parents of those affected by the cuts are mobilising, and have set up a petition for Aberdeenshire Council to reverse its decision. At time of writing it currently has around 4,000 signatures.
David’s is one of them.
“It’s not a huge amount of money we’re talking about. It’s £200,000 a year. They’ve got this extra £3million, which they were told about. I just can’t believe that they still decided to cut this service.
“The replies I’ve had from the ones that have cut it, they’re so disheartening.
“They’re either dismissive of the issue, or they trot out a prepared statement – I had the same thing sent from three different councillors. Just some prepared statement about ‘getting it right for every child’. Which clearly this is not going to do.
“There’s nothing they could put in place that could replace in-school speech and language therapy. So they’re not ‘getting it right for every child’.
“And if they do understand what they’ve done and the consequences of what they’ve done, knowing what it’ll do to these vulnerable kids’ life chances, then you really have to question them as people. For such a small amount of money, when they’ve been given this extra £3million.
“It’s pretty shameful, the whole thing is shameful. The council has to change its decision.”
Aberdeenshire Council’s response:
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman said: “Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) services will continue to be provided at locations across Aberdeenshire.
“The full scope of how community SLT services will be delivered is still to be decided and children with an identified need will continue to receive appointments.
“Aberdeenshire schools will continue to work closely with SLT services in accordance with GIRFEC (Getting It Right For Every Child) policy and practices.”
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