At our recent SEND Connect and Play session, we discussed the difficulties parents were having accessing speech and language support for their children. One parent had been informed by school that their child had no speech production issues, so could not access services. Another was told by nursery their child was too young. 

We asked Carmel Brady from Your Healthcare to clarify how children, particularly in the mainstream, can get access to service if they believe their children have a need.

Carmel explained “there is no “exclusion” to the nature of the difficulty – the key thing is that there is a key identified clinical speech, language and / or communication difficulty that only SLT can work with. Referrals from schools are received via consultation/surgery sessions which take place at least termly in the schools. “

The best way to get support for either schools or parents individually is through the Speech and Language Advice line.The advice line is open for parents and carers of:

• children who are waiting to be seen by a therapist
• children you are considering referring
• children previously seen by us who are currently waiting for further input

We can provide information, advice, and support to families, carers, educational practitioners and any other professional involved with a child where there are concerns regarding speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

This advice is provided by an experienced member of the therapy team. 

020 8339 8106

Changes have been over that last year whereby GP referrals are now received via the advice line and school referrals are via consultation/surgery sessions, as explained above. You can find more information about their service on the Your Health Care webpage