About OAFCCD

OAFCCD has been advocating for adequate publicly funded speech and language services for over 25 years. Over this period there has been a significant increase in publicly funded speech and language services as:

• The Preschool speech and Language Services was announced in 1996 and established in 32 communities in 1998
• The majority of the 72 school boards employ or contract Speech-Language Pathologists to provide language services to students
• 21 Children’s Treatment Centers (CTC) manage contracts for the delivery of speech services to students in all school boards.

Unfortunately, services are still not adequate to meet the needs of children with communication disorders with long waiting lists in the Preschool Speech and Language Program and for CTC managed speech services. In addition, the provision of speech services continues to be separate from the delivery of language services for school age children creating duplication and gaps and making the system difficult for families to navigate.

The following documents provide a history of OAFCCD advocacy and highlight on-going efforts to improve speech and language services for children. (Documents have been posted in reverse order with the most recent position statements at the top.)