During a time where Quebec’s English-speaking minority is concerned about its access to government services in English, two speech-language pathologists from the CIUSSS de l’Estrie- CHUS will now be collaborating with some of the local CLSCs across the Eastern Townships to provide speech therapy services to English-speaking toddlers. Rosemary MacKinnon and Myriam Fisch, the speech-language pathologists providing the service, officially announced the new initiative last week. 

According to MacKinnon, the goal behind the initiative is to make speech-therapy services accessible across a larger territory within the Eastern Townships and to the English-speaking families of the region by working with some of the CLSCs that “are in the larger pockets of the Anglophone communities.” 

As certain elements of Quebec’s new language law Bill 96 are expected to come into force as of June 1 - which includes a requirement for Quebecers to have an English-language eligibility certificate in order to receive services from government institutions in English - accessibility to these services, like speech therapy, are top of mind. 

“Whereas it (speech therapy) used to be given at the CHU in Sherbrooke, we are dividing the region into two different areas, which is allowing us to reach out to the populations in their specific regions, a little bit closer, within the CLSCs,” explained MacKinnon. “I think that’s really an advantage because it’s allowing people near and far to receive the services. They are becoming more accessible, and since we are now two speech-language pathologists we are able to offer help to more anglophone children.”

In Brome-Missisquoi, MacKinnon said that as of right now she is working at the CLSC in Cowansville one day a week, but where she goes depends on the demand. 

“If the demand goes up, I will be there more often, and if it goes down, then I’m a bit more in other regions,” she noted. “(…) We are offering some hybrid services. Some services are offered online some services are offered only in person. It depends on the demand and what age group your child lies in. Generally, we are able to cater to most children ages 0-5 and we try to really go with what is easiest for the parents.”

MacKinnon emphasized that “like everything,” prevention is always the best route to take when it comes to addressing delays in speech, reflecting the need to make speech-therapy services accessible to English-speaking Townshippers. 

“If we catch it early, we are able to provide parents with the tools, the strategies, to help their children. Once they have that support, sometimes it’s enough to get them over the hump and help their language development excel,” she explained. “(…) It will give them the booster they needed.”

MacKinnon strongly encourages English-speaking parents to reach out to their local CLSC if ever they are uncertain if their child is experiencing a delay in their language and communication development. She said that while the demand has been high over the years for speech therapy services, she has seen a “trickling effect” in the demand from the English-speaking community. 

“If we see that our waitlists are getting very, very large, then it proves the need that we need more speech therapists in the Anglophone community. I think that’s where there’s been a shift and people have maybe stopped putting their child’s name on a list, even though they may think they need the service, because of the fact that they thought there wasn’t one or they didn’t know that they could put their child’s name on a list,” she explained. “(…) Going forward,  I’m hoping that more demand will actually, hopefully, allow our Anglophone speech therapy community to grow and we will just be more to serve the demands.”

Waterloo resident Cyndi Howard-Tapp, a parent of an English-speaking toddler, pointed out that the general access to speech therapy services wasn’t an issue for her, but accessing those services in the English language was.  “To start off for the speech therapy, we had to start in French before we could do it in English. It was during Covid and the only one that we could find at that moment was a French speaking therapist,” explained Howard-Tapp. 

Howard-Tapp said that her child was around three-and-a-half years old when she, and the daycare her child attended, noticed that they couldn’t say a lot of their words. She added that it was the daycare that helped her track down a speech therapist. 

“They helped me with all of the papers and they sent the papers to some government [program] that got me in with a speech therapist for my son. If it weren’t for them, I don’t think that I’d be able to access what I’ve been able to access for my son,” she noted. 

It took Howard-Tapp about six to seven months before her son finally got to see a professional. She said having access to speech therapy is important for children because “it helps pronounce their words properly, it also teaches us as parents how to communicate better with our children so that it helps them with their speech, and it helps them to better communicate with their friends.”

“I have friends that their kids are in grades 4 and 5 and they are still waiting to find a speech therapist for their children. I’m just lucky that my son’s daycare is able to help,” she mentioned. 

Teacher Erika Sanborn, from Bedford, echoed Howard-Tapp’s claims, having waited a year before her non-verbal child was able to see a speech-language pathologist through her local CLSC. 

While she welcomes the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS’ new service for speech therapy with positivity, Sanborn’s previous experiences with her CLSC were disappointing. After finally getting the chance to sit down with a professional, her child was only offered four sessions and these sessions were not adapted to her child’s needs, according to Sanborn. 

“We had done a phone call prior to meeting before the evaluation and I had mentioned several times that she is very good with letters. She likes to play with letters, put them in order, make the sounds. My child is non-verbal so we are really working on getting her to say words. In none of the sessions were any letters brought out to just see what she could do even though I mentioned many times that it was her strength,” she explained. 

While Sanborn said that her first experiences left her feeling like there was nothing else that could be done for her child and that she expected more, she recognizes the benefits behind speech therapy and also put her name on a waiting list for a private therapist. 

To hear more from Sanborn and other parents, listen to the full interview below: