Caerphilly parks to host innovative communications boards

Parks in the Caerphilly county borough are set to benefit from innovative symbol-based communications boards.

The boards aim to support interactions, play and fun between children of all ages and abilities, their peers and families during their time at play parks and promote inclusion for all children.

Caerphilly is one borough set to receive boards as part of a roll out of 300 communications boards across Wales.  This has been made possible thanks to £26,000 funding from the Welsh Government’s Talk With Me programme, which shares speech, language, and communication skills advice with parents and caregivers for children aged between 0-5.

The visual boards are one of many alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) methods developed for children who have speech, language and communication difficulties – these could be children with cerebral palsy or autism spectrum conditions – to offer an alternative method of communication instead of speech.

Parks set to receive communications boards in the Caerphilly county borough include Morgan Jones, Abertridwr, Ystrad Mynach, Nelson Wern, Bargoed, Llanbradach, Rhymney, Blackwood Showfield, Waunfawr and Risca.

Cllr Chris Morgan, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Green Spaces at Caerphilly County Borough Council, said “We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board to install the communications boards in key play areas throughout the borough, as part of the Wales-wide roll out.

“We hope that the boards will become a useful communications resource for families accessing our play facilities, particularly those with children that have additional learning needs.  The boards are also bilingual, helping families learn basic Welsh language skills together in a fun and informal way.”