Children

Once a referral has been received, parents will be sent a letter asking them to contact our central booking office to make a suitable appointment.  They will be given a choice of clinics to attend.

The first appointment might be:

• A screening assessment - a quick assessment of the child's speech and language will be undertaken.  The appointment will last approximately 20-30 minutes.  At the end of the session, the therapist will discuss the findings with the parent(s) and decide on the best course of action.
• A detailed assessment - a detailed assessment of the child's speech and language will be undertaken.  The appointment will last approproximately one hour.  At the end of the session, the therapist will discuss the findings with the parent(s) and decide on the best course of action.

After the first appointment

The therapist will decide at the first appointment on the best course of action for your child. The following options are available:

• Discharged with advice – the therapist might feel that the child does not need to be seen by us again at the moment. They might offer some advice and discharge the child from our service. Please note that the child can still be referred back to us at any point should parents have any concerns.
• Transferred to school service – where a child has a statement of special educational need or support available in school and the therapist feels that your child would benefit from having a programme of work in school they might be referred to the school service. The child will be assessed in school and a programme of work provided. This will be updated at the school's request.
• Referred for individual therapy – parents will be advised to ring the central booking system to make an appointment to attend individual therapy. The child will be seen for up to 10 sessions (at the discretion of the therapist). At the end of the block, the therapist will decide on the next course of action for the child.
• Referred for group therapy – parents will be advised to ring the central booking system to make an appointment to attend group therapy. The child will be seen for up to 10 sessions (at the discretion of the therapist) and there will be up to four children in the group.

At the end of treatment

At the end of each course of treatment, the therapist will decide what the child needs next in discussion with the parents. If at any point the therapist feels that speech and language therapy is no longer appropriate for the child, they will be discharged from the service. A child can be re-referred at any time should concerns arise.

What happens if the parents or child don’t speak English?

We have bilingual speech and language therapy assistants working as part of our team so that we can:

• provide interpreter services for parents and
• assess if there is a problem in the child’s home language and treat them in this language if this is appropriate.

Children with a hearing impairment

Where a child has a permanent bilateral hearing loss i.e. in both ears, and wears hearing aids or a cochlear implant, it might be appropriate that they are seen by the specialist speech and language therapist. The child can be seen at home, in clinic or at school if they are old enough, depending on where the therapist feels is most appropriate. The parents or the school can be given a programme of work to follow or the child can be referred back to the local clinic service for a block of therapy if this is considered appropriate. For more information, please contact Tracy Biddle on 01924 351546.

Children with a Specific Language Impairment (SLI) in mainstream schools

Children with SLI generally have non verbal/visual skills in the average range but difficulties in specific areas of language eg. language processing, word finding, memory. They do not have general learning difficulties. Where a therapist considers that a child has SLI, they might be referred to the specialist service. Children are generally seen in school. The therapist can provide a programme of work for school to do with the child. The therapist will liaise with school to discuss strategies for support to help the child in the classroom. For more information, please contact Tracy Biddle on 01924 351546.

Children with a Specific Language Impairment (SLI) attending resources provision

Within Kirklees there are resourced provisions for children with a severe specific speech and / or language impairment (SSLI) at key stages 1, 2, 3, and 4. They are inclusive within mainstream schools and provide children with a statement of Special Educational Need for SSLI with intensive speech and language therapy and specialist teaching and non-teaching support. For more information, please contact Sarah Place on 01924 351546.

Children with dysfluent speech (a stammer)

We have a specialist, fast track service for children who stammer or stutter and their parents, who can be seen as soon as the problem occurs. For most young children this is a stage of their speech development and the repetitions and hesitations make a full recovery. For the small number of children whose stammer persists, both individual and long term group therapy is provided  to manage the condition into teens and beyond.  For more information, please contact Lynne Bagot on 01924 351546.

Many children experience eating and drinking difficulties, and this can be very distressing for everybody involved.

Eating and drinking problems your child may experience

How the speech and language therapist may help your child with their eating and drinking

We run training courses for school staff to help them to support children with speech and language difficulties. See the links for details of next year’s courses and information on how to apply.

Elkan - Classroom 09/10

Elkan - Specialist Units 09/10

Elkan - Under 5's 09/10

Elkan - 11-16yr 09/10