Speech and Language Therapy

"Communication falls into the same category as food, drink and shelter - it is essential for life and without it life becomes worthless"

"Make sure there is a need to communicate, there is something to communicate about, there is someone to communicate with and that communication is rewarding and fun."

Speech and Language Therapy Team

We are here for the assessment, diagnosis and intervention for students with a wide range of communication difficulties. These may include

• Communication difficulties associated with Autism, Cerebral Palsy and Learning Difficulties
• Understanding language
• Expressive difficulties
• The structure of language
• Communicating both verbally and non verbally
• Encouraging communication through a wide range of skills – not just verbal but implementing alternative forms of communication such as Signing, PECs, Speech Aides, Individual Communication Books as well as face expression, body language, eye pointing and vocalising.

Speech

For verbal students, work on speech clarity may be appropriate where we concentrate on individual sounds. We follow the developmental speech sound system and work on the physiology of making speech sounds - working on sounds in isolation as well as in words and phrases.

Swallowing and Eating

When a student has difficulty eating or swallowing we, along with other professionals in a multi-disciplinary team, help with the assessment and diagnosis. A treatment or intervention programme will then be given to safeguard eating and drinking and ensure that nutritional and hydration needs are met.

Best Speech.

Useful Websites:

The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Signing Programme.

The Picture Exchange Communication System.