Speech therapists to help fill void

Forty-eight Cambodians will graduate today from what is being heralded as the Kingdom’s first speech-therapy training program.

The graduates have been trained to fill a void in speech- and language-therapy services for an estimated 536,000 people in Cambodia affected by communication and swallowing disorders, according to a research paper released in September.

“This is a huge leap forward for a country in serious need of more people trained to provide mental and physical rehabilitation,” said Dr Bhoomikumar Jegannathan, director of the Catholic relief agency Caritas Cambodia’s Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, which pioneered the program along with the Singapore International foundation. …

Graduates will be certified by the Speech, Language and Hearing Association of Singapore (SHAS) and CCAMH, Jegannathan said yesterday. …

Amelia Woodside and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/speech-therapists-help-fill-void