Speech and language therapy
We assess and treat children and young people with specific speech, language, communication, eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties. This helps them to communicate and participate in daily activities to the best of their ability.
Who we work with
We work with children and young people from 0 to 19 years in community clinics, homes, early years settings including family centres and mainstream schools. We have a strong focus on upskilling parents and those in educational settings to maximise children’s progress in their daily communicative environment.
Find out more about what to expect if you/your child needs speech and language therapy at school.
What we help with
Speech and language therapists can advise and help with:
- attention and listening skills
- play skills
- understanding and using spoken language
- recognising and producing speech sounds
- using language socially
- communicating, for example, using signing and symbols
- fluency / stammering.
Find out more about the speech and language difficulties we work with.
How to access our services
This includes children and young people who need:
- support for eating, drinking and swallowing (will need a medical referral from the GP or consultant)
- a safe hospital discharge where there’s known developmental risk to communication.
It also applies to children and young people with communication needs within a complex medical profile. This includes:
- identified syndromes
- epilepsy
- neurological conditions
- degenerative conditions
- traumatic brain injury.
Please download and complete our referral form
Families and staff from early years settings can call our advice line on 01296 838000.
We’ll help you to incorporate speech and language targets into everyday activities at home and nursery.
You can also access virtual advice sessions (see below).
The Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) must be your first point of contact.
For children in Key Stage 1, the speech link education-led evidence based packages support identification and intervention for speech, language and communication needs.
You can request further support for children in Key stage 1 and above through our virual advice sessions (see below). You don’tt need a referral to access these sessions.
If your child doesn’t meet our high/urgent health and care need criteria, you can access support through our advice and activity sheets, live webinars and virtual advice (see below).
You don’t need a referral. Anyone supporting the child or young person can access this.
Webinars, virtual advice sessions and advice
Anyone can access our training webinars, advice pages, activity sheets and virtual advice sessions. You don’t need a referral.