SP 2030 Report

Whether someone is an adult or a child, regardless of the cause of their difficulties with communication, eating or drinking, we know the more timely the supports, the better the outcome. We will advocate for this principle to guide policy directions; program funding, design and implementation; and the contribution we make to each and every individual we work with.

To help support timely access to services we will increase the knowledge of the community and our professional colleagues regarding the role of speech pathology; the causes and early signs of communication, eat and drinking difficulties; evidence for the benefits of timely referral and intervention; and options for service access. We recognise the opportunities technology provides for facilitating more timely delivery of services. We will use these tools to their full capacity and lead development of new technology to meet the specific needs of different client groups.

Making it happen

As we step into the future, the speech pathology profession will:

• contribute to pre-entry and ongoing training of our professional colleagues to ensure they have relevant knowledge of the causes and indicators of communication, eating and drinking difficulties; evidence for timely referral and intervention; and options for service access; • lead and use new and emerging technology to assist the early identification and prioritisation of people of all ages with diverse communication, eating and drinking needs; • conduct a regular workforce census to monitor, and plan for, workforce capacity, distribution and capability to deliver timely services; and • establish a mechanism for providing the public and other professionals in each state and territory with current information regarding speech pathology services in the jurisdiction.

• build a strong evidence-base demonstrating the economic and social return on investment from speech pathologists undertaking community capacity building, prevention and early intervention; • advocate to government, funding bodies, and employers to prioritise evidence-based universal capacity building, prevention, and early intervention; • develop the knowledge and skills of speech pathologists in designing, implementing and evaluating universal, whole- of-population, programs and develop, deliver and evaluate universal programs for a range of community groups and needs; • work towards all early childhood education services, and primary and high schools integrating teaching and speech pathology expertise to support academic success; • establish effective early referral and prioritisation systems to speech pathology for: • parents whose baby is diagnosed with a condition prenatally or immediately postnatally that is likely to impact their communication, or eating and drinking; • children and young people with needs that may be associated with or result in communication, such as behaviour difficulties and learning difficulties; and • people with acquired and progressive conditions that may impact communication, eating and drinking, such as stroke, accidents, brain injury or cancer.

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www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/SP2030