Conor's making progress!
It’s September and the kids are back at school, which also means that there is a new intake of children on our celebrated Speak With A Picture programme.
The interest in SWAP shows no sign of slowing down and in fact the number of referrals is on the increase, demonstrating just how important the programme is to both children and their parents.
We were all delighted when SWAP was nominated for the national CYP awards (see page 10) but as satisfying as it is to receive national recognition, there’s nothing more satisfying for the SWAP team than a happy family who have benefitted from our help.
One such family is Sean and Lynsey Counihan from Hornchurch, who joined the Speak With A Picture programme with their three year old son Conor in May and they have been delighted with the results.
Sean and Lynsey knew that Conor had additional needs when they took him to their local children’s centre for his two and a half year health check and he was referred to the NHS for speech and language therapy. They spotted some SWAP leaflets in the children’s centre and got in touch and they were accepted on to the programme earlier this year.
Initially, Conor was a bit unsure of his new environment but that quickly changed as he began to enjoy the sessions, as Sean explained; “The first time we brought him here he didn’t really interact with Cheryl and Ann Marie but by the end of the first session he was bonding with them and when we brought him every other week he was fine. When he got here, he knew where he was and was always very happy when he saw the girls.”
A pleasant and enjoyable environment is all part of the SWAP experience but the most important element, of course, is the exchanging of symbols and Conor picked up the pace very quickly.
“Before the programme, he would drag us around a lot by the arm to try and show us what he wanted,” said Lynsey. “The pictures meant that he had a choice of things to show us so he was able to say what he wanted and we were able to understand.”
