Chit Chat
(Formerly called Speech and Language Therapy Model)
Chit Chat, CDI’s Early Intervention Speech and Language Therapy Service, was designed and developed to integrate education, health and childcare provision to promote accessibility of services, increase attendance rates, facilitate collaboration between educational, early years and health staff, and achieve more positive outcomes for children and their families.
The approach has been found achieve:
- Significantly improved parental participation, waiting times and amount of intervention required;
- 18% of children were discharged from the service as being within normal limits in comparison to 11% of children in the HSE service;
- Parents were the main referral source for Chit Chat.
Click here to download Chit Chat Implementation Guide
To view the most recent independent evaluation click here or to view the most recent policy paper click here.
To view our helpful guide with information on speech, language and communication development from birth to 5 years click here.
Speech and Language Therapy Model 2008-2013
The Speech and Language Therapy Evaluation Report found that a dedicated speech and language service would enable more children to receive the intervention earlier which would help to remove or reduce a significant disadvantage from them before starting school.
The Service was piloted from 2008-2011 and provided therapeutic support to 192 children who were otherwise unlikely to have been identified, referred, or supported through any other existing service in Tallaght West. 18% of children brought into the service were discharged following a period of support, meaning their skills had improved sufficiently to reach normal limits.
Evaluation Report and Policy Brief
Michelle Quinn: Senior Speech and Language Therapist
+353 85 801 5069 | michelleq@cdi.ie