Special needs schools
SLT for Kids provide services directly to special needs schools both at primary and secondary level. All therapy is tailored to the specific needs of the school and the pupils within it. Schools have the freedom to seek out the specialist services that they require and SLT for Kids provide special needs schools with a professional speech and language therapist who is able to dedicate their time solely to the school's and the pupils needs, whether this is on a universal, targeted or specialist level.
SLT for Kids provides special needs schools with a consistently high quality speech and language therapy service. We are able to provide your school with:
- Immediate access to a broad range of speech and language therapy services that are flexible, consistent and competitively priced.
- A bespoke speech and language therapy that is tailored to each school's individual needs and each child’s or young person's individual needs.
- A scoping service at a whole school level to identify needs and effective ways of working.
- A holistic view of the school and the children or young people.
- Therapy to accommodate universal, targeted and specialist areas of need.
- Immediate access to a speech therapist that is able to dedicate their time solely to your school.
“All children and young people are entitled to appropriate education, one that is appropriate to their needs and enables them to achieve their best and become confident individuals living fulfilling lives”
Do you need our help?
The following questions can provide you with some guidance on whether you might need our help:
- I don’t know how to create a communication friendly environment
- I don’t think I am communicating with the children effectively
- The children in the school need extra specialist support
- I think I need some training on communication disorders
- I think I need training on alternative methods of communicating
What services do SLT for Kids provide in special needs schools?
Our dedicated speech and language therapists are able to provide speech and language therapy services tailored to the identified needs of your school. Our speech and language therapy services at SLT for Kids can be delivered on a universal, targeted and specialist level dependent on your requirements.
Universal
The universal level of speech and language therapy focuses on raising awareness and the education of different speech, language and communication difficulties. Universal intervention will allow parents and teachers access to information allowing them to manage speech and language difficulties. This can be provided through:
- Advice, signposting and training to improve awareness and understanding.
- Training for the wider workforce and raising staff awareness and education into a variety of communication disorders.
- Indirect support for all children in a school.
- Promotion and development of communication friendly environments.
Targeted
Targeted intervention will focus on specific training to develop awareness and the ability to support children and young people with complex needs and specific speech, language and communication difficulties. Targeted speech and language intervention may include:
- Specific training courses, including our accredited courses, to provide school staff with the skills to identify, monitor and intervene with children and young person's speech, language and communication difficulties.
- Direct involvement of the speech and language therapist to assess and monitor children and young people with speech, language and communication difficulties; intervention may then be carried out by school staff with advice and support.
Specialist
Our therapists at SLT for Kids are able to provide specialist intervention for those children with complex needs on the school’s caseload with specialist identified speech, language and communication need that may not be improved without the input of a speech and language therapist. The intervention will then be carried out alongside school carryover support and may include:
- Specialist assessment and interventions.
- Tailored advice to support and monitor a child's progress with a specific speech, language and communication difficulty.
- Specialist training to support schools and families e.g. in the case of feeding difficulties or use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).
Intervention in special needs schools will mainly focus on implementing Augmentative and Alternative Communication, total communication approach, safe and effective feeding but will be tailored to the specific level of need in the school or on a pupil by pupil basis.
What benefits can a speech and language therapy service provide to special needs schools?
Our speech and language therapy service at SLT for Kids can provide many benefits to your school. Your school will be assigned a speech and language therapist with time that they can dedicate solely to the school and the school’s needs. They will be available to offer advice and therapy on a universal, targeted and specialist level when needed. This can not only help improve individual children's and young people’s speech, language and communication but can help support SENCo’s in evidencing the impact of speech and language therapy.
We are also able to support report writing and can offer a multidisciplinary view for any diagnoses for young people and children in your school.
Our speech and language therapy service can focus on different areas of communication dependent on the needs of each individual child and the school as a whole.
What benefits can speech and language therapy delivered within special needs schools bring to a child or young person with complex needs?
All of those within the school will receive potential benefits from having a speech and language therapist work within their school. Whole school consultations will help the speech and language therapist to identify the area of need across the whole school so that they can provide advice on how to promote effective communication within the school environment.
Training of the workforce within a school will allow staff to confidently carry out different levels of intervention with the supervision of a speech and language therapist on site. Continuous support can be provided from class teachers and teaching assistants with the help of a speech and language therapist, benefitting every pupil.
Our speech and language therapists at SLT for Kids are able to identify all children that may need support so that no child goes unidentified. All children in the school can be supported by our speech and language therapists in terms of their speech, language, communication and swallowing.
