A SERVICE has launched in North Yorkshire offering help for parents of children with speech and language difficulties.

Therapy service Cleartalking was founded by Julia Charlesworth, a speech and language therapist from Boroughbridge, who works with children up to 16 years.

The new service will see children referred from parents, schools and GPs across North Yorkshire, including Northallerton, Catterick, Harrogate and Ripon.

Mrs Charlesworth founded the service in response to growing demand from parents and schools for treatment of children with speech and language problems beyond that provided by the NHS.

She said: "With increasing pressure on health services in terms of meeting growing demand and funding, parents are finding it difficult to get the help they need for their children, when they want it. We hope to fill that gap with professional services designed around parents and schools."

Cleartalking assesses and treats children aged under the age of 16 with a range of difficulties including unclear speech, dyspraxia, children who are slow to start talking or slow to put words together and difficulties with word order, grammar or sentence construction.

Parents, schools and GPs looking for more information can visit www.clear-talking.co.uk or contact Mrs Charlesworth on 07711-696028 or email at julia@clear-talking.co.uk