I have been invited to be on the international Delphi panel for the Maximising the Impact of Speech and Language Therapy for children with Speech Sound Disorder (The MISLToe-SSD Study). The aim of MISLToe-SSD is to develop a core outsome set (COS) and mimimum dataset of common data elements (CDE) for interventions for speech sound disorder (SSD). This study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and sponsored by the North Bristol NHS Trust.
Background to MISLToe-SSD study
"Prevalence of speech sound disorder (SSD) is high, with upwards of 76,000 children referred to NHS Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) services annually. NHS SLT is provided to children with SSD via a range of care pathways, typically defined by resource constraints, rather than robust evidence. These care pathways and methods for collecting data on their outcomes vary between services making it difficult to determine which care pathways lead to better outcomes. This diversity in service provision and lack of uniformity in the collection of important data also makes it very difficult to carry out much needed research in a clinical setting for this population of children.
There is a need to identify which care pathways are associated with the best outcomes and are most cost-effective within the service constraints of the NHS. Effective treatment will reduce the number of children with SSD who have persistent problems and associated impacts. It will reduce time missed from school and burden of care for families and maximise efficiency and cost of NHS SLT services. Ultimately, this research will support the NHS to deliver the national government priority of providing high quality, safe and sustainable health care"
