Some of the boroughs most needy children are being denied vital speech and language therapy because the Local Education Authority has failed to meet its legal obligation to provide it, concerned parents claim.

The South West London NHS Trust has reduced the number of pupils with access to designated speech therapy sessions at St Anns in Morden because resources were spread too thinly.

This means pupils with the greatest need are getting help while the remaining children are not.

Their parents believe the LEA should intervene

financially to compensate for

the shortfall.

George McAdam, whose teenage daughter is at St Anns, says the council has been aware of the problem for some time.

He said: In view of the repeated failure to employ sufficient speech therapist help for these severely disabled children, their future prospects are being damaged.

The Association for All Speech Impaired Children (Afasic) confirmed it is the LEAs duty to provide appropriate speech therapy provision if specified in the legal statement determining a childs level of need.

A spokesman for the NHS trust said giving the best care to patients was its primary concern and admitted that due to new priorities, it was unfortunate that children with a lower level of need will no longer receive therapy. She said the LEA is ultimately responsible for providing therapy as part of education provision if the trust is unable to do so.

Yet the LEA has denied the shortfall and maintains it is offering sufficient therapy for all pupils.

Trevor Cook, Mertons head of special educational needs, said staff followed a round-the-clock speech therapy programme tailored to the needs of each child.

He said: Many pupils have had their therapy increased under the new system because they have been assessed as needing extra therapy,

Some pupils now have less because they have been assessed which has shown they do not need as much.

Mr Cook said the new system was much more effective. He added:

Speech therapists are in short supply nationally and we are working hard with the Health Authority to ensure that existing levels of therapy are maintained at St Anns School.