The charity said it wanted to make it easier for children, families and educational professionals that need help to be able 'to find us when they need us'.
From today I CAN will be called Speech and Language UK: Changing young people’s lives.
The charity said it was changing its name, vision and mission to ‘close the gap between the number of children it reaches and the number who need help’.
The rebrand follows a poll of teachers by the charity in June this year to look at the impact of the pandemic on children's language development, which revealed that as many as 1.7 million children are now at risk of not being able to talk or understand words at an age-appropriate level – equivalent to almost one in five school-age children.
It said it would be consulting families, young people and educational professionals on its new strategy later this autumn.
Last year the speech and language charity – now in its 134th year – supported more than 65,000 children, young people and their families, with more than 50 per cent of children catching up with their peers after taking part Talk Boost, in one of Speech and Language UK’s partner programmes.
The charity carried out research with families, children and young people that the charity supports and also people who had not heard of I CAN to understand how the brand needed to work now and in the future.
The new brand refresh, designed with brand and creative agency Studio Texture, coincides with the launch of a refreshed website, which includes support for families and young people, educators and professionals who work with children and young people.
The findings show that the majority of teachers surveyed believe the Government is not prioritising speech and language work, despite children with speech and language challenges being at higher risk of mental health problems, low educational achievement and unemployment.
Jane Harris, chief executive of Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives, said, ‘Following the Covid pandemic, it is more urgent than ever that we reach more of the 1.7 million children who need our help. Without the right support, these children will struggle to learn to read, write and do maths as well as being at higher risk of mental health problems and unemployment. We needed a new name and brand to allow families, young people and educational professionals to find us when they need us.
‘Families and educational professionals have told us they value the tools and training we provide to schools and nurseries, as well as the advice and guidance we give directly to families. They also told us they want us to put more pressure on politicians to fix a broken system for children with speech and language challenges.
‘We remain proud of our heritage and our work over the last 134 years, first to help a range of disabled children and now to focus more explicitly on children with challenges in talking and understanding words.’
