Welcome

SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY

History

The Organisation

Objectives

Task Forces

ESLA is the umbrella organisation for Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) associations across Europe. We currently have 37 member associations, representing over 40,000 SLT professionals.

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ESLA’s strategic objectives are:

  • Be the authoritative voice of Speech and Language Therapy in Europe,
  • Increase recognition, promotion and protection of the profession,
  • Ensure the sustainability of the organisation.

 

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ESLA is the umbrella organisation for Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) associations across Europe. We currently have 30 member associations, representing over 50,000 SLT professionals.

 

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ESLA’s strategic objectives are operationalised through working groups known as Task Forces, each led by a member of the ESLA Board.

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The Board

The members of the Board were elected during the General Assembly

held in Austria in May 2022, for a period of three years.

Chair

Norma Camilleri

- Malta -

Deputy Chair

Fofi Constantinidou

- Cyprus -

General Secretary

Ellianna Mantaka-Brinkmann

- Greece -

Treasurer

Nina Iordanova

- Bulgaria -

Board member responsible for Professional Education

Blazenka Brozovic

- Croatia -

Board member responsible for Communication and Engagement

Sahra Mengal

- Denmark -

Board member responsible for Professional and Scientific-based Standards

Raluca Trifu

- Romania -

ESLA Administrator

Gianmatteo Farabolini

ESLA Administrator

Theresa Bloder

Vision

European Speech and Language Therapy Association (ESLA) is the leading organisation representing the interests of the Speech and Language Therapy profession in Europe.

 

Mission

ESLA is the authoritative voice of the Speech and Language Therapy profession across Europe and supports the common interests of its member associations.
ESLA aims to increase the visibility and awareness of Speech Language Therapy in Europe and beyond, by actively promoting the profession and safeguarding professional and educational standards.

The voice of European Speech and Language Therapists

ESLA promotes the profile and reputation of the SLT profession to the European Commission, other relevant authorities and related organisations, by publishing statements and policies advocating the value of our services for people with communication and swallowing difficulties.

 

ESLA STATEMENT ON EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION (EDI)

 

The values and activities of ESLA are based on the principles of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights as stated in the

- United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

- European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms &

- Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

 

The members of ESLA are the national professional organizations of SLTs / orthophonistes / logopèdes / logopédistes meeting the criteria for membership set out in our Statutes. Each of these associations have their own Statutes and/or Statement of professional standards, incorporating a commitment to ethically based practice that promotes the values of equality, diversity and inclusion.

 

ESLA actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and specifically promotes equality of access to health, education and social care services for all the populations and communities with whom we work.

 

ESLA also promotes and protects the value of cultural diversity across the SLT professional membership, as being essential to most appropriately meet the needs of the increasingly diverse societies we serve.

 

As part of our commitment to advocacy, ESLA undertakes an annual campaign for raising public awareness of communication and swallowing difficulties and the role of Speech and Language Therapy.

 

SLT Professional Practice

ESLA supports the Speech and Language associations across Europe by promoting quality standards for professional practice that is both evidence-based and ethically-based. ESLA promotes continuing professional development opportunities for qualified practitioners to stay updated in their own field.

SLT Professional Education

SLT education reflects the scientific and interdisciplinary bases of the profession in medicine, education, linguistics and psychology. ESLA maintains updated information on the relevant statutory and legal requirements across Europe relating to standards in healthcare education and competency-based frameworks for assuring patient access to quality care.

SLT Clinical Practice

Speech and Language Therapists work with individuals of all ages, whose communication and/or swallowing difficulties arise from medical, cognitive, psychological, or social factors. The professional role includes direct intervention as well as providing training and advice for others; with the aim of supporting optimal development or recovery of skills and maximum independence for the individual.

SLT across Europe

ESLA promotes mobility of employment for SLTs across Europe, within the relevant regulatory and legal frameworks of all our member associations. ESLA actively advocates the SLT professional profile to the European Commission, other relevant authorities and related organisations.

NetQues

The Network for Tuning Standards and Quality of Education programmes “NetQues” was an important collaborative project of 65 partners, representing 27 European member states. The project addressed the challenge of ‘tuning’ the SLT professional education across Europe by defining benchmarks for best practice in teaching, learning and assessment. The project concluded in 2013 and the final report can be accessed here.

37

Member associations

34

Countries

40,000+

SLT Professionals

02

Languages | English and French

What's On

ESLA SLT Manifesto 2024-2029
ESLA Newsletter May 2024
Early intervention for deaf children – Prevention of language deprivation