Book Launch

Do you ever feel like you are in a dream? Last year when I floated the idea with Justine, Luca's Therapist, that we could create our own resources I never dreamed we would have our first books published and launch a year later.

There are so many people who put a lot of time effort and funding into this day I'd like to thank you all. Let's start with Hilary McFaul, Professional Lead for SLT in the Southern Health and Social Services Trust. Hilary took the brave decision, to take a leap of faith and instigated the change that found my son's voice. Hilary along with her team of SLT therapists, Justine Smyth and Linda Mulgrew, through a Quality Improvement Project, applied evidence to practice by increasing the intensity of intervention of children with severe speech sound disorder. (BMJ Report) Luca was lucky to be invited onto the initial trial for this therapy and it still brings me to tears how effective this therapy is and how few children in the UK with SSD have the opportunity to find their voice. Hilary put hours of time into organising our book launch event on top of her very busy workload. On the day as my anxiety got the better of me Hilary, worked her magic and held the day together. If it wasn't for Hilary I wouldn't have made it up to talk in front of everyone.

I was delighted Alison Keys, AHP (Allied Health Professionals) Lead Department of Health, agreed to not only attend our event but also present our opening remarks. This was the first time I met Alison and we had a lovely conversation, which I hope to continue in 2025.

We were very lucky to have Rob Lynas, Non Executive Director, Southern Trust, who presented opening remarks and shared so much of his time on the day with us all. This was the first time I met Rob and I hope to continue our conversations in 2025.

Linda Mulgrew, Clinical Lead SLT Southern Trust. Linda was one of our speakers on the day and gave an insightful presentation on Speech Sound Disorder. Everyone in the room could feel the passion Linda has for the intensive therapy for these children and the impact it has on their lives. Linda, just like Luca's therapist, is one the angels who can find your child's voice. Linda shows such passion for the therapy and strives to continue the amazing work and change the Southern Trust is bringing forward. Hopefully, in the not-too-distant future every trust in the UK will have an angel finding your child's voice.

Julie McConville, Assistant Director, Specialist Child Health and Disability. I was delighted Julie agreed to be a speaker at our event giving the closing remarks. In October 2023, we both attended an event Celebrating Children and Young People, Service User Involvement. Also at our table were Luca, Savannah and Caoimhin and their mums as well as Justine and Hilary. As I was handing over my home-printed versions of the workbooks and other resources to Justine, Julie asked to see them. Following this chance meeting this amazing lady organised the printing of our first books. Thank you so much Julie for your involvement in making this dream a reality.

Savannah and Caoimhin's mums, Becca and Colette, thank you both for attending the Coffee Morning. Three mums talking together about a shared interest in helping our children navigate SSD with intensive therapy, sparked the idea to create Luca's Voice. You have both been my sounding board to bounce ideas off and I was delighted you agreed to feature your children as characters in our first story book. Thank you for sharing your photos and videos with me and allowing me to use these during the presentations. I was delighted you were able to come to the book lunch and I hope you enjoyed the day.

SLT Choir, Paediatric Speech and Language Therapists. (Link to videos) You are an amazing group of ladies delivering SLT, however as a choir, wow, next level. Thank you all so much for agreeing to sing at the Book launch and for all your support and kindness. I think you will be in high demand in 2025!

I was excited to meet for the first time Ruth Sedgewick, Royal College Speech and Language Therapists. Thank you so much for coming and taking the time to speak with me on the day. The RCSLT is an amazing source of information and support I hope to continue our conversations in 2025.

Charlotte-Anne Wells, Assistant Director, AHPs Speech and Language Therapists, this was the second time I have been lucky enough to attend an event with Charlotte-Anne Wells. Thank you so much for coming, it has been a pleasure getting to know you this year at our book launch and earlier in the year when the Paediatric Speech and Language Therapy Service welcomed Chris Quinn, The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People. (link to Visit)

Geraldine Teague, Public Health Agency, thank you so much for attending our event and speaking with me on the day. I hope we can continue our conversation in 2025.

Tracey Monaghan, SLT, thank you for the kindness you show me at many of the events we have been at, you always help to calm my nerves.

Dr Jill Titterington, The Speech Doctor. Jill is another angel who is a co-author of the British Medical Journal with Hilary, Linda, and Justine, a Quality Improvement Project, applied evidence to practice by increasing the intensity of intervention of children with severe speech sound disorder. (BMJ Report) Jill is passionate about supporting children to communicate better: fostering positive relationships with their family, friends, educators, and others to help them reach their best potential. I have been lucky to join Jill as a parent advocate for a PhD project at the University of Ulster for the last 3 years, which aims to develop an online resource with parents, children, and speech and language therapists that will support parents in providing their children with intensive therapy practice at home alongside their direct speech and language therapy. Thank you so much for attending our book launch. Thank you for your guidance and the many, many emails asking you for information and guidance.

Justine Smyth Specialist SLT, Luca's Super Hero, I had to leave you until the end as I can't see the keyboard through the tears to type once I start thanking you. I've said thank you so many times and no words can fully express the despair my husband and I were going through before you called me out of the blue asking if Luca could take part in a new therapy approach. I jumped at the chance of trying something new however I had little hope it would work as years of traditional therapy hadn't achieved anything. It only took a couple of sessions for me to see this was special. It was hard work for everyone with daily homework and twice-weekly sessions. The rewards are amazing and I still don't understand how it works only that it does. Thank you for finding Luca's Voice.

Thank you for the months of planning for our Book Launch, on top of your busy schedule. Justine, thank you for trusting me to bring these books to life, it's a leap of faith to put your dream in my hands when I'm only a mum with no SLT training. We will have a full library of the resources in time and I am confident every child in the UK will have access to the amazing Intensive Therapy you offer, it will take time and I'll need to knock on a lot of doors, but that hasn't stopped me so far 😍

To all the parents who attended the Book Launch thank you for coming and I hope our presentations and resources have given you hope for the future, I'm sorry I didn't get to speak with you all individually. If anyone is interested in meeting up or online get in touch. We can move mountains together and I look forward to meeting you all again soon.

To anyone who can lend a hand to illustrate our future books, suggest story ideas, or would like their children to be characters in future books please get in touch. If this reaches any teachers, maybe illustrating books would be of interest to your students.

I look forward to what 2025 holds and can't wait to continue the conversations with you all.