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Speech and language therapy for school age children
- Speech, language and communication
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Accessing speech and language therapy
If your child's school has concerns about their speech and language development, they should discuss this with you. You can also speak to your child's class teacher if you have concerns about their speech and language development.
The staff at your child's school will need to complete a referral form. This is also known as a Request for Involvement (RFI) form. Your parental consent and any relevant reports will need to be submitted with the form. It will then be discussed at a termly planning meeting.
Each school has a link therapist. They work with the school to support your child with their speech, language and communication needs. The link therapist will attend the termly planning meeting to discuss your child's needs.
At this discussion the type of support required will be discussed. The support may include:
- advice to support speech, language and communication needs
- signposting to previously delivered training packages
- your child being accepted for an assessment
- the link therapist signposting to support from other professionals
Referral criteria
Unfortunately we are unable to accept referrals from the following:
- children who do not have an identified adult who will be responsible for implementing interventions and/or follow-up support
- children who have literacy problems without clear indications of verbal speech or language difficulties
- if insufficient information is provided for discussion at the planning meeting
- re-referring children who are known to have language skills in line with their general level of education, with no evidence that new advice about speech, language or communication is required
- if your child's school has had recent training to demonstrate how to target and support your child's needs
- if identified support is already in place at school
The first appointment
If your child is accepted for assessment, the link therapist will speak to you and agree an appropriate time to see your child. At this appointment the link therapist will discuss all relevant information with you.
You can agree with the link therapist how they can share the outcome of the appointment with you. This may be at your child's school.
Not all children need to be seen in person. To decide the most appropriate type of intervention, a decision is made according to the individual needs of your child and family. This will be discussed with you.
Support for your child
Each child we see is unique and will have different individual needs. Our support and intervention will be adapted to suit your child. This support is known as an Individualised Package of Support (IPoS).
If the link therapist identifies that an IPoS is needed, this will be discussed with you and the relevant school staff.
A member of school staff, often a teaching assistant, will be identified to provide follow-up during, between and after sessions. If an appropriate member of school staff is not able to be released to attend the sessions, we will discuss this with you and the school.
Sessions will be provided by the link therapist or a therapy assistant. The sessions will be guided by the teaching assistants feedback on your child's progress.
After the appointment
We do not routinely write reports, but we can provide a Report of Involvement if required. This may be produced after an assessment or after a completed IPoS. The report will be shared with you and the school.
