Tara Cunningham receiving Ireland's 2nd Ashoka Fellowship with CEO Bill Drayton and Ireland Director Paul O'Hara at Dublin City Hall.
How does Release work?
Before a child can be seen for speech and language therapy, they need to have an updated speech and language evaluation. Release accepts outside reports, upon reading and approval of the report with recommendations. Sometimes, Release will need further information than the report gives, and will need to do more assessment on a child prior to therapy. The cost of a Release evaluation is €350, which includes a detailed report. Having a report does not guarantee each child a place in the programme, though, as the Release Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) will need to determine which groups suit which children best. Release SLTs place children in groups according to the following factors:
- Communication Needs
- Age
- Disability, if any
The cost of therapy is €75 per hour, and each class will run for one hour per week, for a set number of weeks. Each session of classes is determined as much as possible by the national school's calendar. So, one session might last for 8 classes, while the next session may last for 11. Therefore, a 10 week session would cost €750. We encourage parents to do fundraising for Release to benefit their child and are happy to supply some information on popular fundraising tips for those interested.
View a walk thru on how our programme works in stages.
Tara Cunningham meets with Minister Mary Harney to Discuss Pilot Program of Release
