Nederlandse taal en spraak

16/03/2026

Op HZ University of Applied Sciences verzorg ik lessen Nederlands aan internationale studenten en docenten maar tevens ben ik werkzaam als taalcoach. Benieuwd wat een taalcoach doet? Neem dan een kijkje op de website van HZ. 😊

20/11/2025

😊 Mijn studenten aan het woord over Nederland:

6,454 Followers, 175 Following, 1,446 Posts

16/08/2025

Sean Allsop only started to speak at the age of eight. Now he's presenting a podcast about how to find your voice...

As a child, Sean struggled to talk. He was only able to communicate effectively thanks to years of speech therapy.

Those years of struggle "cemented the emotions of not being understood, and struggling to express myself," he says.

Now Sean wants to find out about new tools and tech helping people who struggle to communicate.

He met Yvonne, who is taking part in 'voice banking' - a way of using artificial intelligence to preserve her voice before it's lost. Yvonne has early stage Motor Neurone Disease (MND), a nerve condition which affects her speech. The technology means she can use her own voice to tell Sean how much it means to her.

"Having clear speech is part of an individual's personality," she says. "It's about living our lives and saying we love each other."

The software doesn't come cheap, though. And while there are many innovative ways to help people communicate, sometimes the simplest methods are the best.

In San Cesareo, Italy, they've put up special sign boards across the whole town. The boards use a system of symbols which people can point to, in order to communicate their thoughts, needs and feelings.

The innovation all started with one schoolboy, Alessandro, who has autism. His grandmother Rita campaigned to have the boards put up in public spaces, and now all the children of the town are using them.

All this reminds Sean of how much it mattered to him when speech therapy games were introduced to everyone in his class at school - just to help him feel included as a little boy.

And as for the podcast - making it has taken time, with Sean needing multiple attempts to record his lines. And all the new innovations he's heard about will also take time to introduce.

"Until then, our patience is the biggest tool we can offer," Sean says.

🎧 Hear Sean presenting his podcast, in his own words and voice: https://bbc.in/3H9UJVq