Craniofacial Conference 2015 SLT CEN 15 th April Carole Evans Specialist Speech and Language Therapist South Thames Cleft Service

Introducing babble bags Our experience of sourcing and using babble bags Other teams already using these! What is a babble bag? Many thanks to Tamsin Pennington Secretary South London and Surrey Branch (and mother!) CLAPA STCS SLT team Helen Brookes Outreach SLT Guildford Ann Young Cleft Nurse

How did the idea develop? Awareness Week - Speech and Communication (9-17 th May) Local CLAPA committee had heard of these bags and wanted to fund some for their area Families to receive a bag at palate repair post op check (9 mths) Funded 130 bags and they will continue to fund Initially discussed by a local group of parents Asked SLT team for suggestions Ordered and prepared the bags, including some items on the SLT list and others not

Next Steps Tamsin sent a photo to the team and asked for input into an article for CLAPA Concern from SLT team about 2 items (candles and straws) Parents had wanted these because it is significant to them when a child can blow out candles or suck from a straw But SLT focus/message is different All bags delivered to the Xmas party

CLAPA Christmas Party 2014

Contents of bag Information sheet on CLAPA Activities advice sheet Puppet Book Bubbles Blow toy Ball Straws Small candles

Concerns Message re sucking/blowing activities Health and safety with candles Contained items we would not normally have recommended in our advice Ali Birch rewrote the info for activities Removed 2 items Started to distribute them at post op advice

What are the benefits Just beginning to use them Opportunity to work collaboratively with CLAPA and parents Give families further information about CLAPA Highlights local CLAPA group for families Raises the profile of SLT- articles Focus child in advice session Good prop to demonstrate activities Some tangible objects rather than just written advice sheets

What would we do differently? Tamsin suggested including cost of courier Closer co-ordination at the early stages Prototype Think about storage Gain some feedback from families before purchasing more bags- 18 month appt How could we make them even better? Welcome feedback from any other teams

What might we change in the future? Wait for feedback from families and SLTs Cardboard book- simpler content Maybe a cheaper puppet Look at cultural issues Should all bags be the same?

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