Opinion – It’s time to act against the expectation in speech therapy!

Speech therapy waiting lists, we can’t wait to talk about them! Acting with the right person, at the right time, is our dearest wish. Responding to the needs of children and their families is indeed the raison d’être of our profession.

Speech-language pathologists, researchers and politicians all agree that early intervention is key. However, the speech therapy waiting lists have been growing for many years.

The Act early program makes it possible to identify children with language difficulties more quickly. Now, we need to improve access to provide the right service at the right time. Children’s needs and scientific research should guide the choice of service modalities. The group intervention modality does not meet everyone’s needs. In addition, close collaboration between speech therapists and specialized educators is essential to ensure the quality of language stimulation.

Many screened children need a very precise and targeted intervention that requires the expertise of the speech therapist. We also regret that the waiting times for these children to receive an audiology evaluation are very long. However, the audiological evaluation is essential to allow the speech therapist to determine the nature of the language difficulties and to ensure that the services offered in speech therapy are effective and adapted to the needs of the child.

We have every hope of being able to offer accessible, quality services to all young Quebecers with the political will expressed by the government. We would like to highlight the efforts of the Act early program, which has focused on this major problem, but according to speech therapists and audiologists in Quebec, unfortunately there is still a long way to go!

Here are the important elements that we would like to highlight and the solutions proposed to try to correct the situation. It’s time to act to reduce wait times. Behind every request for services, a child in difficulty and his parents wait while the gap widens with his peers. The problem is at high risk of being made more complex by socio-affective difficulties (problems of self-esteem, behavior, isolation, etc.), then school.

We deplore the disparities between regions and between neighborhoods in the same city mentioned in the survey on the Agir Premier program published in The duty of May 30. Due to the endless waiting lists for the health network, many children will not receive any speech therapy services before they enter school.

In the school environment, speech therapists are overwhelmed by the number of requests and have to make heartbreaking choices. Thus, students with language difficulties who will be able to receive services are exceptions. The cause in both cases: the significant lack of speech therapists in the public network. To explain this lack, we wrongly hear that there is a shortage of speech therapists. The reality is, however, that many of us desert the public network or even the profession.

A growing percentage of graduates, both in speech therapy and audiology, are deciding to work in the private sector, attracted by professional autonomy, increased decision-making power and more flexible working conditions. Many are also put off by the administrative burden of the public network. These structural problems end up diminishing the feeling of job satisfaction, which can lead to burnout.

The complexity of service request procedures also hampers accessibility, especially for parents with language difficulties themselves.

Thus, it is essential:

  • that speech therapists and audiologists can devote the majority of their work to helping children and their families rather than responding to administrative constraints;
  • that a realistic ratio of speech therapists and children is determined, respected and adapted to population variables (if it is a disadvantaged sector, for example);
  • that we promote the retention of speech therapists and audiologists in the public sector with a retention bonus and better working conditions;
  • that the salaries of speech therapists and audiologists reflect the complexity of these jobs and the large number of credits (approximately 80) to be obtained in order to earn their professional master’s degree;
  • that the salaries of speech-language pathologists and audiologists be comparable to those of other provinces in Canada.

For the good of children and the development of their full potential, to close Hearing and Communication Month, offer speech therapists and audiologists in Quebec the means to realize their greatest dream, that of really taking action early.

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