SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPY

AND THE REVISED MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND MINISTRY OF

EDUCATION

OPERATIONAL GUIDELINE FOR PROVISION OF THERAPY

AND ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY / EQUIPMENT TO SCHOOL
AGED STUDENTS

Purpose

This newsletter is to update you on work that is underway with the Ministry of
Health and Ministry of Education in relation to Speech Language Therapy for school
aged children. This will also include taking the opportunity to look at Early
Intervention transitions from Child Development Teams to the Ministry of Education.

Background

For several years there has been an Operational Protocol in place between the
Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, covering therapy and equipment
for school aged children. It includes the disciplines of occupational therapy and
physiotherapy. In 2009 a project was undertaken to update the Operational
Protocol. As part of this project a consensus was reached with the project team that
it would be useful to have Speech Language Therapy also included. The Protocol
was updated and is now called an Operational Guideline. Work is now underway to
scope and include Speech Language Therapy in that Operational Guideline.

What Work is Planned

To ensure the Operational Protocol is useful for Speech Language Therapists,

several pieces of work are planned to achieve this. The Ministry of Health is
funding this project and will work with the Ministry of Education to achieve the
following milestones. These are:

Milestones/Key Tasks Estimated

Completion Date
Establish project (appoint project governance including project March 2010
manager and establish project structure, confirm project plan,
develop detail for tasks and activities within the project plan,
develop communication plan)
Literature review on the management of dysphagia and other April 2010
speech language therapy services across health and education
sectors
Complete information gathering (key informants, focus groups) May 2010
Position statement to support memorandum of understanding May 2010
Clinical pathway development June 2010
Interdisciplinary model development June 2010
Roles and responsibilities development June 2010
Transition process development June 2010
Validation of work undertaken through focus groups and key May 2010
informants
Finalisation of material June 2010
Revision of operational guidelines to include speech language June-July 2010
therapy (draft)
Validation of operational guidelines July 2010
Confirmation and finalisation of operational guidelines July 2010

Working Group

There has been a working group established to advise and assist with the project.
Their names and contact details are below. Christine Howard- Brown has been
contracted to lead the work on behalf of the Ministry of Health. Christine can be
contacted via email Christine_howard-brown@moh.govt.nz or 021 439 775.
Roseanne Webb is the lead project person on behalf of the Ministry of Education.
Her e-mail is roseanne.webb@minedu.govt.nz

Health Education
Name Contact Name Contact
Alison AlisonP@adhb.govt.nz Roseanne Roseanne.Webb@minedu.g
Paulin Web ovt.nz
Morgan DemetraM@waikatodhb.g Silvia Silvia.Cavallo@minedu.gov
Demetras ovt.nz Cavallo t.nz
Candy Candy.James@bopdhb.go Kathy Kathy.Arlidge@minedu.gov
James vt.nz Arlidge t.nz
Sheila Sheila.Coldrey@tdhb.org. Elizabeth Elizabeth.Doell@minedu.go
Coldrey nz Doell vt.nz
Turid turidp@adhb.govt.nz Justine Justine.Simpson@minedu.g
Peters Simpson ovt.nz

If you have any queries you can contact any member of the working group.

A further update will be sent out when the project is complete, in August 2010.
Christine Howard-Brown
Project Manager