RALLI video campaign to raise awareness of SLI

LEADING ACADEMICS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN TO RAISE AWARENESS OF A CONDITION AFFECTING AT LEAST ONE CHILD IN EVERY CLASSROOM 

One child in every reception classroom is affected by a specific language impairment, a little-recognised condition that affects all aspects of life, prompting a group of leading academics to come together and launch RALLI, a video led campaign to raise awareness. Specific language impairment (SLI) hinders understanding and expressive language and can impact on how children learn, form friendships and on educational development.  Despite how common the condition is, it receives little recognition, with many children and their families missing out on accessing much needed help and support as a result.

To change this, academics Dorothy Bishop, Professor of Developmental Neuropsychology at Oxford University, Gina Conti-Ramsden, Professor of Child Language and Learning at the University of Manchester, Courtenay Norbury, Head of the Literacy, Language and Communication Laboratory at Royal Holloway, University of London and Maggie Snowling, Professor of Psychology at the University of York, have joined forces to launch RALLI, Raising Awareness of Language Learning Impairments. Aimed at children, parents, families and education professionals, it will share video stories based on people’s experiences of SLI and what can be done to help those affected. RALLI has been launched with funding support from Afasic, The Waterloo Foundation and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).  

Professor Dorothy Bishop commented: “Language impairments can have a dramatic impact on children. Research shows that two in five children who have the condition say they have difficulties interacting with peers and, children with SLI are twice as likely to be bullied. These issues do not stop as they grow older, in fact, teenagers with language impairment are two and half times more likely to report symptoms of anxiety or depression. That’s why we had to take action and launch RALLI, to raise awareness of those who suffer.” 

Strona RALLI - YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/rallicampaign