Speech and Language Therapy

Speech, language and communication underpins everything we do – making our needs known, expressing our likes and dislikes, interacting with others and building relationships.

We often take these skills for granted, but many children struggle to communicate. They have speech, language and communication needs known as SLCN.

A child with speech, language and communication needs:

Might have speech that is difficult to understand
They might struggle to say words or sentences
They may not understand words that are being used, or the instructions they hear
They may have difficulties knowing how to talk and listen to others in a conversation
Children may have just some or all of these difficulties.

Speech, language and communication are crucial for reading, learning in school, for socialising and making friends, and for understanding and controlling emotions or feelings.

The type of difficulties a child with SLCN has can change as they get older. For example they may get better at understanding what other people are saying but still struggle to put sentences together.

If a child's speech cannot be understood by family or other adults school will make a referral to Speech and Language Therapy.

We can also give some support in school. We have recently been awarded the ELKLAN Communication Friendly Settings Award and all staff have been trained in strategies to support Speech and Language Difficulties in the classroom.

Usually children make excellent progress in any of these areas. If they do not then we would make a referral to Speech and Language therapy.

We have a dedicated, trained team of Teaching Assistants who lead on assessing and implementing interventions to support children. If you would like any further information please contact Mrs McKeever - SENCO Mrs Hardy - Lead Speech and Language TA , Mrs Mitchell - EYFS Speech and Language TA, Miss Clarke - Key Stage 2 Speech and Language Support.

Please see the files section below for parent information.