Hello to all families in this group.
My name is Elizabeth Wills, and those of you who were members of the Yahoo group may remember hearing from, or even helping, me back in 2005/2006 when I was doing research my bachelor’s degree dissertation on families’ experiences of services for children with ACC.
Thanks again to all who responded, it was a fascinating piece which got me an excellent grade. A hard copy sits proudly in my university library, and I have since presented the findings at a RIHSC (Research Institute for Health and Social Change) conference. This meant attending health professionals were made aware of ACC and the powerful positive and negative influences that they as professionals can have upon families. As my very dear nephew has ACC this means as much to me as it does to all of you.
Inspired by some of your experiences mentioned in questionnaires you completed for my dissertation, I decided to train/study to become a Speech and Language Therapist a.k.a Speech-Language Pathologist. I am now entering the third year of my course, and the time has come again to start thinking of research ideas for my final year research project!
I’m sure you all agree, it would be wonderful if I could build upon the work I did in 2006, and learn more about therapy for children with ACC, and again increase awareness through presentation or publication of the findings.
With this in mind, I am writing to ask if there are any families in this group whose children have experienced feeding (eating, drinking, swallowing) difficulties as a result of their ACC, and been assessed or treated by a Speech and Language Therapist/Speech-Language Pathologist for these feeding difficulties?
At this stage I am just making initial contact to see if such an area of research is feasible (i.e. are there enough families willing to take part?).
It would probably involve completing a questionnaire via email. Families based in the UK would be preferable, as obviously I am training within our NHS (National Health Service).
Thanks for taking the time to read this message, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Many thanks,
Elizabeth