Children's Speech and Language Therapy Services

The Children's Speech and Language Therapy Team work with children, from birth to 18 years old, who have difficulties with:

• communication
• eating
• drinking
• swallowing

We work with:

• children
• children's families or carers
• nursery and school staff
• other professionals, for example paediatricians and health visitors

Together we carry out assessments and plan intervention and support which works towards meeting each individual's needs.

How to access our services

We have an open referral system which means you can refer your child without asking a professional.

We must have parental consent to accept a referral for an assessment by our team. We see children referred for an assessment for eating and drinking or swallowing from an acute setting (i.e. hospital inpatient) within 48 hours and within 2 to 4 weeks from the community.

We endeavour to see children referred to our team for an assessment of their speech, language and communication within 13 to 20 weeks of receipt of referral.

Useful links

A parent-led organisation to help children and young people with speech and language impairments and their families.

Afasic - Voice for life website

Find resources that explain what Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is, the impact it can have, how to get help and how to raise awareness.

RADLD.ORG website

ICAN is a charity that aims to support children and young people’s speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) to ensure they get the help they need.

ICAN Communication Charity website