S4A-18 SESSION 4A: GENERALITIES IN CRANIOSYNOSTOSIS – PART I SING AND SAY: AN INTERACTIVE WEB-BASED RESOURCE OF LANGUAGE STIMULATION RESOURCES FOR CHILDREN WITH CRANIOSYNOSTOSIS.

Abstract

Introduction: The Four NHS-Designated Craniofacial Units in the UK regularly conduct assessments of children’s speech, language and feeding skills in accordance with an agreed national assessment protocol. During these assessments children with communication delay are identified and referred to local services for therapy. However, recent reports have identified that local Speech and Language Therapy services are fractured and variable, most recently described as a postcode lottery by ICAN (2018). A 2017 quality commission and Ofsted report also highlighted the difficulties that parents report in accessing SLT services. Methods: To support children (0 – 24 months of age) who are unable to access local speech and language therapy, the Oxford Craniofacial Unit Speech and Language Therapy team created an online suite of language stimulation resources called ‘Sing and Say’. Sing and Say features videos, animations, songs, information leaflets and an i-book. To measure the efficacy of the Sing and Say intervention, children’s language outcomes at their pre-operative and post-operative appointment are being compared. Here, we present data from the project pilot and the language results from the non-intervention group. Parent satisfaction was measured using an online questionnaire. Results: Results of the comprehensive baseline language assessment in the non-intervention group (n=58) indicate that 17% of children (n=10/58) presented with delayed early social skills; 22% presented with delayed speech development; 26% presented with delayed symbolic play development. Responses from the parent questionnaire indicated a 92.31% satisfaction rate (mean = 4.69, SD = 0.46) with the ease of use of the videos. Conclusion: Results of assessment reinforce the need for speech and language therapy intervention for children less than two years of age. Initial parental feedback indicated a high satisfaction rate with the Sing and Say resource. Data collection in the intervention group has now commenced.