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Eating and drinking difficulties

If you are worried about your child’s eating and drinking skills, please speak to your child’s health visitor or GP in the first instance. Referrals for eating and drinking difficulties will only be accepted from a health professional, for example GP, health visitor, paediatrician, dietician etc. We would not carry out assessments of eating and drinking at our screening clinics. If a referral to the service is needed, please complete the CYP SLT referral form. Click the referral guidelines for guidance on how to complete the referral.

Pre-school children

Should you have concerns regarding your child’s speech and language development, please:

• Speak to your health visitor or local family centre in the first instance. They will often be able to provide you with advice on ways to support your child at home.
• Family centres also offer some groups to support early language development.
• Look at the ‘Useful information’ section on this webpage above which has specific resources for parents and setting staff to support speech, language and communication development.

If you are still concerned after trying out the advice then please follow the guidance below:

Children under 2 years, 6 months
Children under 2 years, 6 months can be referred directly to the children’s speech and language therapy service by a health professional if they have additional needs and there is a clearly identified language, communication, and/or eating/drinking need - see our referral guidelines for more information. Health professionals - please refer using the CYP SLT referral form.

Children aged 2 years, 6 months and above (not in full-time school)
If your child is aged over 2 years, 6 months and you have ongoing concerns regarding their speech and language skills, they may benefit from attending a speech and language therapy screening clinic.

A screening clinic is a short assessment appointment which offers an opportunity for you to talk with the therapist regarding your child’s development and for us to gather information to understand your child’s needs.

The criteria for attending a screening clinic is as follows:

1. Screening clinics are for pre-school children from aged 2 years, 6 months and above, who are not yet in full-time school
2. Children need to meet our clinical referral criteria – please look at our referral guidelines to check if your child is eligible for our screening clinic at this time
3. We are unable to see children with Education, Health and Care plans, or those requiring associated assessment within these clinics. A referral should be made by your child’s special education needs officer in this instance
4. Children already known to the service, or children outside of the given age range for the screening clinics, are not able to be seen
5. We are unable to complete assessments of eating and drinking at screening clinics (scroll down on this page for details of what to do if you have eating or drinking concerns)

If you need help or are not sure if your child meets the criteria, please call our advice line (01923) 470680 Option 3, Option 1 for support.

If your child meets the criteria above, please follow these steps to refer your child for a screening clinic appointment:

• Complete the CYP SLT referral form
• If you would like advice on how to support your child at home whilst waiting for your screening clinic appointment, please follow the links in the ‘Useful Information’ section above.

If you have any difficulty completing the form and sending the information, please contact our administration team on 01923 470680 option 3, option 1.

If your child does not meet the criteria but you have some concerns we advise you to:

• access the strategy sheets and videos on this website to support your child (see ‘Useful information’ and select which area of speech, language or communication that your child may need support with).
• You can also talk to your local family centre or education setting to ask for advice.
• If you continue to be concerned after implementing the advice or have any questions, please contact a therapist by calling the advice line (01923) 470680 Option 3, Option 1.

School-aged children

If your child is in full-time school, you should discuss any concerns you may have with your child’s teacher. Some children can be supported in their school without a referral to the service through advice from the school’s link therapist. SENCos and other educational professionals can refer a child to the service.

All referrals are to be made via the CYP SLT referral form. HCT do not accept paper referrals. GPs can continue to refer into CYP Therapies Services using either the Digital Referral form, Ardens or DXS.

If you have any queries or experience any issues when making a referral, please contact the Children's referral hub:
01923 470680 Option 2 or hct.cypspecialistservices@nhs.net.

Screening clinics

These speech and language therapy clinics are for children aged 2 years and 6 months to school age, offering an opportunity for you to talk with the therapist regarding your child’s development and for us to gather information to understand your child’s needs. Register your interest for a speech and language therapy screening clinic using the contact details above.