Publications and downloads
Better Communication CIC is all about supporting change.
You will find links to websites and downloads of useful information for commissioners, providers and parents, however, Better Communication CIC does not take responsibility for the content of external sites.
A Tale of Three Services: exploring the needs, capacity and demand in Salford, Hackney and Worcestershire using the Balanced System®
Case study of three areas and their provision for meeting the needs of children and young people with speech, language and communication needs.
Equity for All: Children's Speech and Language Therapy Services in Scotland
Equity for All: Children's Speech and Language Therapy Services in Scotland is a thematic report published in 2022 drawing on a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis of the speech, language and communication needs of children and young people in Scotland and the speech and language therapy provision to meet need. The report summarises data collected and analysed within the Balanced System® Framework in an iterative process engaging with all 14 Health Board areas in Scotland.
Four key themes are considered in the report:
- The need to address inconsistency of support relative to need from one area to another
- The need to measure the impact of service provision
- The need for integration of systems for children and young people across health, education and social care
- The need to develop the workforce to meet need with flexible skills and competences
We want to thank the speech and language therapy services for their participation which facilitated the collection of this national dataset. We are aware that the process of supporting services to better understand the needs of their population and systems to maximise impact has already affected change in a number of Health Board areas.
We are delighted that the recommendations will inform the newly established Interim Speech and Language Communication Response Group, a short life working group within the Directorate for Children and Families at Scottish Government.
We should also like to thank Carolyn McDonald, Chief Allied Health Professions Officer for her foreword introducing the report and Pauline Beirne, National Lead Allied Health Professional for Children and Young People, for her support and facilitation of engagement with services across Scotland.
Carolyn said: “For me, the evidence around predicted need shines a light on what we intrinsically know through implementation of our Ready to Act Strategy; the value of targeted support for those most in need, joint partnership working and improved outcomes-based service planning have all been associated with improved outcomes for children with communication needs.”
Glenn Carter, Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists’ Head of Scotland office, says: “We welcome the report and its recommendations and we look forward to working with the Scottish Government and local services across the country to tackle these issues together. Real action is needed to address major health inequalities and improve the outcomes for children and young people with communication needs.”
The report is authored by Better Communication CIC Director, Marie Gascoigne. Thanks also to Claire Welburn, Data Analyst, and Victoria Riley-Hill, Senior Associate, for their work supporting services to capture their data.
Bercow Ten Years On Review
Marie was invited to present an overview of the commissioning of SLCN in the ten years since the original Bercow Review.
The full report, evidence and links to supporting change including our own guidance for commissioners is available at http://www.bercow10yearson.com
Download Marie Gascoigne's oral evidence to the Bercow Ten Years On Review
Download Better Communication CIC impact summaries for Bercow10:
Bercow10: Supporting Commissioners; Providers; Schools and Settings through the Balanced System
Bercow10: Supporting change through building the evidence: summary of publications
Bercow10: Link to Guidance for Commissioners
Visit The Balanced System and Balanced System Schools and Settings website
Talking About a Generation
Report written by Marie Gascoigne and Jean Gross for The Communication Trust.
Commissioning guidance using the evidence of the Better Communication Research Programme
This guidance was commissioned by the Communication Trust on behalf of DfE
Implementing the SEND reforms: Joint Commissioning for Children and Young People with SLCN
Marie was commissioned to author this report on behalf of the Communication Council. It summarises a Communication Council Summit about the joint commissioning of support for SLCN within the context of the 2014 SEND reforms
Better Communication: Shaping speech, language and communication services for children and young people (Gascoigne, M.T., 2012, (ed.))
This publication summarises the content of a series of three conferences held in 2011 bringing together examples of commissioning, prevention and intervention as the National Year for Communication and the Hello campaign drew to a close.
The conferences were jointly hosted by Jean Gross, CBE., Communication Champion and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
Implementing the SEND reforms: Joint commissioning for children and young people with SLCN (Gascoigne, M.T., 2014)
Free resource to support commissioning of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs.
The Communication Trust, as secretariat to The Communication Council and in partnership with Better Communication CIC, has published a free online report on joint commissioning for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). The report aims to provide readers with practical information regarding commissioning for SLCN services within the context of implementing the SEND reforms.
North West Network meeting
Presentation slides from North West Network Meeting 19th June 2015
1. Impact for SLCN of the SEND Code of Practice 0-25
2. Balanced System Scheme for Schools