28 September 2023

Ealing Speech and Language Services staged a flash mob at Ealing Shopping Centre yesterday.

Participants used Makaton – a type of sign language designed for people with learning difficulties – to sign, sing and dance to Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now.

 Hannah Howden-Day, Clinical Lead for Ealing Early Years Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) Team, explained that the event was to raise awareness so that SLT needs can be flagged and treated as early as possible.

She said: “1.9 million children currently have a speech and language need in UK.

“That is a raise from 1.7 million last year, so we know that we need to identify speech language and communication needs as early as possible.”

Among those in attendance was Hitesh Tailor, Mayor of Ealing, who was delighted to see how the event brought the community together.

“It’s so exciting,” he said. “We’re in the heart of Ealing Broadway, there are lots of people milling around, lots of participants, to raise the profile of what the service is doing and I think it’s fantastic.

“There’s been a lot of public engagement in this and I think everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves this afternoon.”

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the event possible, particularly to IMPACT Theatre, Ealing Mencap and Springhallow and Mandeville schools.