Children's Speech and Language Therapy

Our services

The children's speech and language therapy team offer a variety of services to support babies, children and young people in the Shropshire area. Click on the relevant links, below, to find out more.

New patients

The service is available for any child or young person registered with a GP practice that is affiliated to NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB, and for Children in Care by agreement with their Responsible Commissioner.

How do you refer into this service?

You will find the referral forms on the Getting more help page.

We only accept electronic referrals. Referrals should be emailed to: shropcom.childtherapyreferrals@nhs.net

Urgent and High Priority Referral

For Children with high risk eating, drinking and swallowing needs, cleft lip and palate, and early years complex needs complete an Early Years referral or a School Age referral. If you are unsure call the Advice Line on 01743 450800 (option 4). Also look at the information on this site.

Update from Speech, Language Communication Needs system redesign

New Developments in the Children’s Speech, Language & Communication Needs Pathway for Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin

Speech, Language and Communication (SLC) is everyone’s business. Therefore, we need to empower everyone involved in the system (including parents, carers and educators) to support children and young people (CYP) with SLC needs in a timely way that encourages their progress with communication.

Throughout Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin we want to do this by promoting that communication is fun and ensuring the right support is available at the right time.

Over the last year we have been working in collaboration with parents, education setting staff, specialists in speech, language & communication and commissioners of services to develop a plan to improve services for children with speech, language, and communication needs. The delivery of the Speech and Language UK Talk Boost Intervention and Training for Key Stage 1 schools funded by Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust commenced on 24^th March. And we will continue the roll out of the training throughout the year ahead.

(Please note that I CAN have changed their name to Speech and Language UK)

The Speech and Language UK Talk Boost Intervention and Training

Key Stage 1:

• Free training to increase the skills and confidence of staff working in schools
• There are two Staff training places offered for every school
• Every school who takes up the offer of free training will receive a toolkit purchased for them
• Once a school is registered for the training, they will be sent information on how to collect their toolkit
• For any school not already booked, additional training dates are available over the Summer and Autumn Terms

Early Talk Boost:

• Places are available across Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin for all Early Years Settings and support is also available for Child Minders.
• The free training and resources for Early Talk Boost has been rolled out across the summer term.
• Parents will be asked to contribute to the screening process and will be able to take part in the intervention process, for example, reading the given story books at home.
• Settings and Parents can continue to monitor children’s speech, language and communication once the screen and/or intervention has been completed, using the toolkit as needed.
• Further catch-up dates will be available from the Autumn.

Further information

Information about these events is being shared by the Local Authority Early Years teams.

More information will be shared shortly about the roll out of Talk Boost Key Stage 2.

Further consultation about resources and training for secondary schools is planned.

Further Resources

You will also find tips and advice about speech, language, and communication development on this site.

Who are we?

The Children's Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) Service in Shropshire provides assessment and treatment of speech, language, communication and/or eating, drinking and swallowing needs for children and young people from birth to 16 years old (or to 19 years if in full time education).

Speech and Language Therapists are "Allied Health Professionals" and are governed by two organisations;

The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC): all Speech and Language Therapists must be registered with this organisation in order to call themselves Qualified Speech and Language Therapists.

The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT): to be eligible for full membership of this organisation members must have successfully completed a degree qualification in Speech and Language Therapy.

We are a team of 26 whole time equivalent therapists and assistants. Most of us work part time so there are 42 team members. We work across a variety of settings including the Child Development Centres.

For information about our service please see our handbook.

Our Values and Principles

Parents have told us that they wish to have a leading role in their child’s care and be supported to develop the skills and confidence to help their child. This means that wherever possible our first contact for a child will be with their family. Parents and carers will be invited to all relevant training workshops and coaching sessions.

Where a private or NHS therapist can meet the needs of a child/young person's speech, language and communication needs, we believe it is best for them, their family, and education setting to be seeing one therapist whenever possible. This means that parents can choose whether to receive private therapy or be seen by a therapist working for the NHS. A child may need to see other specialist therapists working privately or for the NHS, if they have more than one area of need. Private or NHS therapy may be more helpful at different times and for different needs, so with careful planning the children will be able to receive the care they need.

Wherever possible we feel it is important to share information to everyone who supports the child/young person's development. This means we may ask for your help with the contact details of non resident parents.

Speech and Language Therapists, support staff and administrators are committed to our NHS values.

Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust values:

• Improving lives in our communities
• Everyone Counts
• Respect and Dignity
• Compassionate Care
• Working Together
• Commitment to Quality

Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and our "Local Offer"