{"id":2333,"date":"2025-06-03T15:36:36","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T14:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/?p=2333"},"modified":"2025-06-24T12:20:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T11:20:15","slug":"building-speech-therapy-capacity-across-island-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/building-speech-therapy-capacity-across-island-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Building speech therapy capacity across island communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]University of Reading researchers partnered with local professionals in the Caribbean Island of St Vincent and the Grenadines to deliver Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) training. The project strengthened national SLT infrastructure, trained over 200 individuals and led to new service developments that are improving support for people with communication disabilities.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A University of Reading team led a capacity-building initiative to develop SLT services in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), a multi-island Caribbean nation with limited resources for communication disabilities. Funded by the Research England Official Development Assistance (ODA) institutional support grant, the project aimed to establish SLT support across health, education and community sectors.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr Vishnu Nair<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Dr Emma Pagnamenta<\/span><\/a>, both from the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, collaborated with Reading alumna Kimberley Cambridge \u2013 currently the only qualified speech and language therapist in SVG. The team co-delivered five targeted workshops: two for parents of children with communication disabilities (reaching 56 families), two for early childhood educators and teachers (training 107 individuals), and one for student nurse practitioners and teacher educators (with over 50 participants).<\/span><\/p>\n

These sessions gave families practical strategies and advocacy tools, while educators gained essential skills to support neurodivergent children in classroom settings.<\/span><\/a> Crucially, senior education officials, including the Chief Education Officer, participated in the workshops creating awareness for SLT practices into national education planning.<\/span><\/p>\n

The initiative catalysed systemic change. Kimberley Cambridge\u2019s advocacy, supported by the University team, led to the creation of a government SLT role, awareness for integrating communication support in schools, and access to SLT service in hospitals.<\/span><\/p>\n

By addressing an overlooked need in a vulnerable small island state, this project aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals and laid the groundwork for future SLT expansion in the Caribbean. While these initial workshops established our collaboration with SVG, the project team hope to continue and sustain this partnership through future activities. In fact, the participants have expressed interest in creating a certified course that would upskill them with the knowledge of\u202fproviding classroom support in the context of communication disability.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through harnessing the University of Reading\u2019s strengths in global engagement and support from the SVG Ministry of Health, the team look forward to continuous engagement with SVG. They believe that this will be a necessary step towards advancing UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly, in the context of health and communication disability in a small island developing state.<\/span><\/p>\n

Published June 2025<\/p>\n

Read Vishnu Nair’s blog about this project: Across the turquoise ocean: Speech and Language Therapy capacity building in the Caribbean<\/em><\/a>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”2345″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][vc_gallery interval=”3″ images=”2337,2340,2342,2344″ img_size=”large”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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