Cambodia Speech and Language Therapy Project 2010

Each year this project sends newly qualified therapists to Cambodia for three months, after they have completed their course in Speech and Language Therapy at City University. Now in its third year of CLAPA funding, the project aims to assess areas of need and provide intervention and training in order to develop basic sustainable speech and language therapy services for patients with cleft lip and palate.

This year's therapists are Sarah Castick and Jazz Bumbra. Read on to find out more about their background and training, and make sure you keep an eye out on the blog for future updates of their work in Cambodia.

Sarah:

After completing my undergraduate qualification in Psychology, I worked as a special support assistant in a number of different paid and voluntary roles; mainly supporting children with autism and learning disabilities. This fuelled an ambition to pursue a rewarding career in which I could facilitate the development of children presenting with speech, language and communication needs.

Whilst studying my PG Dip to become a Speech and Language Therapist at City University, I enjoyed being involved with the cleft lip and palate team at Great Ormond Street Hospital and was lucky enough to be given two placements to train under these inspiring therapists. This led me to apply (successfully!) for the City-Cambodia project, and I now look forward to using the skills that I developed on these placements to support the children in the Children's Surgical Centre and National Paediatric Hospital in Cambodia.

Pre-departure training has involved numerous hand-over meetings with the therapists who worked in Cambodia in previous years on the project, as well as additional training with regards to specific assessment and outcome measurement techniques, direct and indirect therapy interventions, and feeding/swallowing guidelines for use in the developing world. All of this has simply fascinated me, and I am really looking forward to getting out there and putting all the theory into evidence based practice!

Furthermore, the therapists who have previously participated in the project have done everything they can to prepare us and give us an idea of what to expect when we get out there. Nonetheless, adapting to a new culture will, I imagine, take time, and I am glad to have the support of my fellow colleagues in familiarising ourselves with our new surroundings and getting to grips with our new work (and play!) routine.

Jazz:

My interest in Speech and Language therapy grew whilst I was studying for my undergraduate degree in English Language at Cardiff University. I applied to for the PGDip course in Speech and Language therapy after undertaking various volunteering opportunities during my undergraduate studies, namely with the Stroke Association and also mentoring children with severe learning difficulties.

Prior to starting the PGDip course I traveled for seven months around Asia, during which I briefly taught English to school children in Vietnam and volunteered in an orphanage in south India for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties. Since then my passion for learning about other cultures whilst striving to help those with communication problems has only intensified. Inevitably, upon finding out about the City-Cambodia project I was very eager to be involved in what truly is a fantastic opportunity to not only extend our newly developed skills but also share them with the other professionals working in Cambodia.

During the course I have developed a range of skills on a variety of placement settings that can be transferred to support the children on our caseload in Cambodia. Sarah and I attended a week of training together at Great Ormond St Hospital in order to prepare us for our trip, which was an invaluable experience. We had the opportunity to observe how to carry out specific speech assessments and therapy with regard to Cleft Lip and Palate.

The therapists who have gone in previous years have been brilliant in providing us with support and guidance as to what we should expect when we arrive in Cambodia. Having been to Cambodia before, I am excited to go back to experience what truly is a captivating country, however I am more excited about the prospect of being able to help children with communication problems in the Children's Surgical Centre and National Paediatric Hospital.

With less than two weeks to go, final preparations are underway, which includes ensuring we have gathered resources that are culturally suitable and also grasping knowledge of the Khmer speech sound system!!