Luca was blessed with a lot of luck on his journey.

• He was lucky to attend a supportive nursery school & primary school

• He was lucky he had a brother who could translate what he was trying to say.

• He was lucky he had a nanny to help take him to appointments and pack treats for the car journey to therapy

• He was lucky he had a best friend, who could communicate for him and support him in school

• He was lucky my employers allowed me to change my hours

• He was lucky he had parents who would do the hours and hours of therapy at home

• He was lucky to live in the SHSST

• He was lucky to get a place in an intensive SLT trial

• He was lucky Hilary McFaul, Professional Lead SLT for the Trust, and colleagues Linda Mulgrew and Justine Smyth along with Dr Jill Titterington from Ulster University developed a quality improvement project aimed at increasing the intensity and frequency of sessions for children each week.

For many children, this is not the case. Intensive speech therapy isn’t the standard of care throughout the UK. So many children with SSD are lost and forgotten. A child does not grow out of SSD, they need intensive therapy at the right time. A child without the therapy will not be able to grow and flourish as they deserve to. Imagine not being able to pronounce your own name. Imagine going for a job interview and not being able to communicate your thoughts and ideas.

Intensive therapy for SSD should not depend on where you are lucky to live.