Submissions

TTANZ joined forces with the New Zealand Speech-Language Therapists' Association recently to submit a response to the Ministry of Health's document about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Many people who have been affected by alcohol prenatally have difficulties with language and communication and would benefit from access to speech-language therapists for accurate identification, diagnosis and interventions.Sally Kedge from TTANZ (in her role as NZSTA Expert Advisor: vulnerable children/youth) partnered with The University of Auckland's Professor Suzanne Purdy and Liz Fairgray to present to the Select Committee on Education on NZ's current response to the needs of children who have Autism Spectrum Disorders, Dyslexia or Dyspraxia. Sally, Suzanne and Liz shared a 30 minute session to discuss and answer questions with the MPs on the Committee relating to the written submissions provided by NZSTA and 3 universities in NZ that educate speech-language therapists (Canterbury, Massey and Auckland). Anna Miles and Turid Peters from NZSTA also played key roles in pulling together the NZSTA's written submission.