Working with Children and Young People

Speech, Language and Communication are foundation life skills which enable children to make friends, learn and thrive, with strong language and communication skills linked to better outcomes in school and beyond. 

“In the UK, over 1 million children and young people, that’s 2-3 in every classroom, have some form of long term and persistent speech, language and communication difficulty. This can affect them early, severely and for life.”

(RCSLT, 2011)

“It is important to be able to identify the diverse needs of children and young people with SLCN and to provide appropriate support for them to interact socially, to participate fully in education and to lead safe, healthy lives.”

(Bercow, 2008)

Screening and Assessment

Members of the Communicate Team can support the identification and assessment of a range of Speech, Language and Communication needs (SLCN).

Our flexible service may include:

  • Screening or assessing pupils’ communication skills to identify the nature and extent of Speech, Language and Communication needs.
  • Supporting school staff and providing the tools to accurately identify SLCN.
  • Working in partnership to identify strengths, needs, desired outcomes and plan interventions and support.
  • Assessing Sensory Needs from a communication perspective. 
  • Providing assessment summaries / reports with a clear outline of a pupil’s skills, areas for development, short and long term aims and recommendations.
  • A combination of in person or online support depending on context and requirements.


Speech and Language Therapy

We provide intervention / therapy with pupils identified with Speech, Language and Communication needs (SLCN) and work in partnership to establish the most effective interventions and approaches for a pupil.

Our interventions may include:

  • Engaging pupils to establish their perspective and agreeing achievable goals and plan.
  • Direct therapy with a Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) or SLT Assistant.
  • Supporting school staff or parents to provide intervention.
  • Evidence based interventions and programmes.
  • Individual, small group or whole class approaches.
  • Flexible delivery online where required.
  • Coordinating activity with other professionals involved e.g. Teachers or NHS staff.
  • Monitoring progress, reviewing effectiveness of approach and providing reports.
  • Embedding the skills in the environment where pupils live and learn.

Interventions may include:

  • Licensed programmes such as ICAN Early TalkBoost, TalkBoost KS1, KS2 or Talk about Talk Secondary or Nuffield Early Language Intervention Programme (NELI).
  • Evidence-based Interventions such as Talkabout, Lego Therapy, Narrative Black Sheep programmes, Word Aware, Adult child interaction coaching, PECS, signing, early language development, speech pronunciation and listening and attention.
  • Bespoke combinations to suit individual needs.
  • Whole class / school approaches which enable effective communication throughout the school day and have the potential to benefit many pupils. For example, total communication, visual support, vocabulary and interaction.
 
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Measuring Impact and Outcomes

At the beginning of the service we work with others to design and agree targets, activities and outcome measures in order to demonstrate positive outcomes for children, the workforce and the whole school.

What service users say:

“It’s been positive - that’s a new word! I want to do more next year and learn new words. I love knowing ‘predict’ ‘analyse’ and ‘compare.’”

Young person


“My strategies have helped me to control my stammer and my confidence has gone up and my speech is much better. It has been really helpful. I’d be happy to get a job now and talk to people but there’s no way I’d have done it before, not a chance.”

Young person with a stammer


***… is quite simply brilliant! She has built up excellent relationships with the pupils and when I pop into the sessions there is always plenty going on. She really knows and understands the children and speaks confidently about them all when we get chance to catch up. We love her being in school and can really see the progress the children are making with her weekly input.”

Primary School SENCo


“We are absolutely over the moon with the reports you have written. Detailed, clear and incredibly useful! The SLT also has a lovely way with the children.”

School SENCo

“I can’t thank you enough for your help - she’s so clear now and I can tell she loves sessions with you. She’s practising the sounds at home.”

Parent


“You’ve been so flexible, which is what we need at this school. You’re great with the kids and we can really see the difference in both the children and the staff so thank you for all of your help.”

Head Teacher


“They’ve all come on so well (children on SLT caseload). Particularly X, his confidence is amazing in class now.”

Teacher

For more information about the Communicate Team and the Speech, Language and Communication services we provide please contact: Caroline Coyne, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist.

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