President's address

Welcome to the 7^th CPLOL congress which will take place in the wonderful capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, on May 14-16, 2009. Our theme this year will be:

Speech-language therapy in Europe: sharing good clinical practice

For the last few years the European Union has been growing and has now 27 member states. CPLOL has now 31 member associations for speech and language therapists from 28 different countries. CPLOL represents both north and south, east and west, with language and cultural differences and – of course – also many similarities. All 60,000 speech and language therapists in Europe represent a wide range of knowledge both scientifically and clinically.

The aim of this congress is to bridge the gap between science and clinical practice in speech-language therapy by offering a platform to exchange scientific information and therapeutic experience.

Usually congresses provide participants with a lot of scientific evidence, which is indeed essential for the development of our profession. We need valid studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of our work and to reflect on how to reach the best results. However, research results are not always suitable enough to apply to the real patients in our daily clinical practice. Since speech and language therapists in general are practitioners engaged with the treatment of patients we have decided to focus the 7^th CPLOL congress on clinical applicability of new results and exchange of good clinical practice.  Which known therapies have finally been evaluated, including the optimal therapy frequency? Which resourceful treatments are relevant to discuss with international colleagues, awaiting formal evaluation? How do we measure our results in terms of patient-relevant outcomes? What measurement instruments are suitable for translation? What is the state-of-the-art in therapies aimed at improved participation, rather than recovered function? And also: how do universities take care of the education of new generations of speech and language therapists?

We expect many colleagues, from countries all over Europe, even from outside Europe, to visit a wonderful city in one of the newest members of the European Union. However, Slovenia has a long and rich history. There are plenty of these historical memories to discover while exploring the city of Ljubljana, particularly because the congress venue is located within walking distance of the city centre.

I wish you all a warm welcome to spend three days together with us, getting acquainted with new influences, being inspired, sharing professional experience, enjoying just being together with old and new friends in the city of Ljubljana.

See you there!

Birgitta Rosén-Gustafsson

President of CPLOL