SANDRA CALLS FOR BETTER SPECIAL NEEDS TRAINING

12.00.00am GMT Fri 11th Jan 2008

Local Member of Parliament, Sandra Gidley has thrown her weight behind a House of Commons petition to support the work of the Communication Trust - an organisation which helps people who work with children to develop new skills and better understand children's speech, language and communication difficulties.

Speaking in Romsey today, Sandra said:

"Many children locally and across the country with special educational needs are falling behind simply because staff have not been trained how to help them.

"It is important as the number of special schools decline, that children who require individual support have their needs properly catered for.

The results of a recent poll found that 73% of teaching staff have not had Special Educational Needs (SEN) training which covers speech, language and communication (SLC) and on average just 31% of teaching staff who have children with SEN have had specific training for SLC.

"I will be encouraging my colleagues from all parties to sign this motion, and hopefully we can look forward to a brighter future for all special needs children in the classroom" added Sandra.

Anita Kerwin-Nye, Programme Director for the Communication Trust, commented:

"It is vital that those who deal with children day-in day-out are equipped to support the speech and language development of all children. We would like to thank Mrs Gidley for supporting the work of the Communication Trust, and helping to raise the profile of communication as the key life skill for all children".

ENDS