§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many handicapped children who do not have the power of speech, will be able to say a simple phrase, such as "Happy Christmas" as a result of the supply of speech synthesis equipment by his Department during the course of the year.
§ Mr. PrenticeEquipment of this nature is not supplied by the Department. Both health and social services authorities have the necessary powers to provide it in appropriate cases. As far as I am aware, there is only one such device available in this country but they may be purchased from abroad.
Until there has been further study of speech substitute aids, it is difficult to estimate how effective they could be in promoting language comprehension and verbal communication.