THE Mayor of Killarney has stressed the need to provide communication boards for non-verbal children in all local authority playgrounds.
Cllr Marie Moloney has asked Kerry County Council to act on the matter, as a priority, as it would be an enormous advantage for children and their families or carers when visiting the play areas.
The good news is that officials informed Cllr Moloney that Kerry County Council was awarded funding from the Healthy Ireland Fund, supported by the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, to install communication boards in playgrounds in Kerry.
It will help promote inclusion and better communication between the children and families who use these amenities and have varying communication abilities, either pre-verbal stages issues with capacity.
The council’s playground unit has been working very closely with Finding Charlie’s Voice, a charity organisation that develops non-verbal systems.
“The final design has been completed and the signs are currently being manufactured with roll-out to all 41 public playgrounds in Kerry by the end of the year,” Cllr Moloney was assured.
