Doncaster speech therapists’ mountain challenge for youngsters with communication difficulties

About six6 staff based in Doncaster and Worksop, plus a family member driving, will take on Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowden in May – sleeping in their minibus as they drive between the peaks, which have a combined height of nearly 10,000ft (3,000m).

They are hoping to raise cash to provide valuable resources for children with speech, language and communication difficulties and the challenge follows their 2018 conquering of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, which brought in more than £1,800.

Speech and language therapist Clare Attrill said: “We are a group of speech and language therapists and assistants working in Doncaster and Bassetlaw.

“In 2018, we completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks - 25 miles and 5,200ft of ascent completed in 12 hours.

“It was probably the hardest thing most of us have ever done but we stayed positive and supportive to the very end.

“Thank you to everyone that donated. We raised £1,825 and were able to purchase four Ipads (and cases) and multiple speech and language apps.”

Mrs Attrill said: “Since then, having shared the Ipads across our team of 25 therapists and assistants, we have seen how apps on Ipads can significantly help children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

“Clinicians have found the Ipads to be an invaluable tool to engage children and help them to achieve their targets.”

According to the team, the benefits of this equipment are: Tablets give us more resources with less to carry; They are more environmentally friendly than paper-based resources; Ipad apps provide a more effective therapy for children with severe speech sound difficulties that would have been difficult and time consuming without them.

Mrs Attrill said: “In the current post-covid NHS climate, in order for us to ensure that each member of our team has an Ipad to work with every child that needs our support, we need to fundraise again.”

The team will be embarking on the national Three Peaks Challenge – which includes Ben Nevis (4,413ft/1,345m), Scafell Pike (3,209ft/978m) and Snowden (3,560ft/1,085m) - on May 14-15, 2022.

People can donate at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/speechandlanguage?utm_term=Dv7PBW6RQ

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