Therapy Introduction
We provide experienced, reliable and dedicated Speech and Language Therapists, who work flexibly to support best outcomes for your children.
We have extensive experience setting up Speech and Language Therapy Services and providing specialised, expert support to schools and settings, working with children with a wide range of communication needs.
Speech and Language Therapy in the Early Years
Our Therapy Service
Our therapists work with you to support early language and communication for the young children in your setting. We work with children in their own environment to ensure we have the clearest picture of their strengths and areas of need.
Assessment of children may include working with children on a one to one basis and using standardised assessments, though will also include observation of children in the setting and discussion with the adults who know them best.
We provide advice and strategies that wherever possible, will link closely with day to day activities so that development of language is embedded into practice.
Direct therapy is provided either individually or in small groups, where we can model strategies for staff to reinforce day to day in order to ensure best outcomes for children.
We are keen to involve parents wherever possible, through conversations at the beginning or end of the day or through parents attending sessions if appropriate. We also work with staff to ensure useful strategies and clear messages are shared with parents.
How it all works
We will work with you to identify priorities for the children in your setting as well as any training or support needs for your staff.
We believe in passing on skills and strategies to staff working with children, so we will aim to work closely with your staff within the setting. This will ensure the best outcomes for the children and development of skills and expertise in your staff.
We will identify one of our therapists to work with you on a full or half day basis. Therapists can also be funded through groups of settings working together or with school partners, which can ease budget challenges. We will provide a contract so that you know exactly what to expect.
We will then begin working with you and your children. You are still entitled to local NHS services and we work closely with local service providers to ensure we are not duplicating, but enhancing the service you currently receive.
Speech and Language Therapy in Schools
Our School Therapy Service
Our therapists work collaboratively with your staff and local agencies to provide a high quality bespoke service, including:
Assessment to gain an accurate picture of strengths and areas of need and to ensure early identification of children at risk of poor language which can impact on academic and social development.
Therapy developed in liaison with staff, to ensure links with academic and social needs which work in synergy with the curriculum. We work with pupils individually, in small groups or in the classroom, using a range of evidence based approaches. Ideally, a member of staff will work alongside so strategies can be modelled and reinforced to support best outcomes.
Working collaboratively with teachers, parents and support staff to embed best practice for supporting communication across teaching and learning
Reporting on outcome of assessments and in progress reports, providing guidance to support understanding of needs and implementation of best practice strategies.
How it works
An initial conversation with you in order to determine the needs of your children and your school. Our therapists will work closely with your staff to share skills and expertise; we want to make sure you get the value for money and achieve the best outcomes for your pupils.
A designated therapist will be allocated to you on a full or half day basis. Therapists can be funded through school clusters, academy trusts or other partnerships, which can ease budget challenges. This can be beneficial in supporting joint training sessions or intervention training should this be useful.
Service agreement is determined in liaison with the senior leadership. We will provide a contract so that you know exactly what to expect. You are still entitled to local NHS services and we work closely with local service providers to ensure a collaborative approach.
In 2016, only 19.8% of pupils with SLCN achieved five or more GCSE grades A*-C including English and mathematics, compared to 63% of all pupils. This gap is wider than that for all pupils with SEN.
Our Communication Curriculum supports pupils to make significant progress in language; pupils acheived a 1.31 progress 8 score following the curriculum work.
Statistic “Pupils with SLCN need additional support”“The ability to use spoken language effectively has to be learned; and even highly intelligent people may not have learned how best to use talk to get things done”
Quote “Professor Neil Mercer, Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge”“Our visiting consultants must be extremely experienced in their field at both child/school level and the wider national developments; Wendy ticked every box, and more! Her passion to improve the speech, language and communication of children and young people was clearly evident in every presentation she gave.”
Zena Martin, Director at Inclusive Learning NorthResearch tells us that 7.6% of children in the early and primary phases have developmental language disorder (DLD).
In reality, far more common than other conditions, such as autism or dyslexia.
Statistic “DLD is probably the most common childhood condition you have never heard of” Norbury, 2016“I spoke to [child’s name] yesterday and she is so much clearer than before. I can understand what she is saying now. She still has a long way to go, but you can see the progress and it’s even impacting on her phonics – she’s moved up to a higher group.”
Kate Hunter, Key Stage 1 Lead Teacher