Children's Speech and Language Therapy

We offer a three tiered model of service:

Universal - something for all children, for example: advice, support and training

Targeted - something for some children, for example: support and early intervention

Specialist - something for children who need direct input from us, for example: assessment and intervention

Not all children will require direct input from the service however they can access advice and support from us at the targeted and universal level. 

We offer a flexible service supporting children in the most appropriate environment, for example: early years settings and schools. We work closely with parents, teachers and pre-school staff and all members of the team around the child or young person  to achieve this.

If required, the Speech and Language Therapist will work through an interpreter should a child or family have difficulty communicating in English.

Speech and Language Therapists work with children and young people who experience a wide range of difficulties including:

• Speech and language difficulties
• Cleft lip and palate
• Stammering (Dysfluency)
• Autism spectrum disorders
• Hearing Impairment
• Eating and drinking difficulties (Dysphagia)
• Learning difficulties
• Physical difficulties
• Voice disorders

Pre-school children

If you have concerns about your child’s speech and language skills, please discuss these with your Health Visitor, pre-school, Children’s Centre, or your GP. They may suggest you attend one of our local Drop In sessions (please see link below):

Children's Speech and Language Drop-in clinics (East & North and West Hertfordshire) April - August 2017

Children's Speech & Language Therapy Service information poster

If you are worried about your child’s eating and drinking skills, please speak to your child’s health visitor in the first instance. We do not carry out assessments of eating and drinking at our Drop In sessions.

School-aged children

If your child is in full time school, you can discuss your concerns with your child’s teacher. These concerns can be raised with the school’s link speech and language therapist and a referral to the service may be agreed.

Most pre-school children will attend a Speech and Language Therapy Drop In session. Most school aged children will be seen in school for their first assessment. It is important that you respond promptly when invited to make an appointment and that you contact the Speech and Language Therapy Service if you are unable to attend.

The Speech and Language Therapist will talk to you about your concerns and ask about your child's speech and language skills. The therapist will observe your child, and may carry out specific activities and assessments.

The therapist will talk to you about your child’s strengths and any difficulties they have identified. The therapist will provide advice and discuss any further support if this is required. This could include: group sessions, parent workshops, activities for home and/or school, individual sessions or any combination of these.

A report will be sent to you, your GP and to the person who referred your child to the service. We will ask if a copy of the report can be sent to your child’s pre-school or school and to other professionals who may be involved.

Websites

The Communication Trust
The Trust aims to raise awareness of the importance of speech, language and communication across the children’s workforce and to enable practitioners to access the best training and expertise to support the communication needs of all children.
www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk

I CAN
A children’s communication charity. Downloadable resources. Parents can order a free DVD and information pack.
www.ican.org.uk  

Website run by the National Literary Trust
Information and ideas, resources to download, parents section, advice sheets in thirteen different languages.
www.talktoyourbaby.org.uk

AFASIC (Association for all speech impaired children)
UK parent-led charity for children and young people with speech and language impairments.
www.afasic.org.uk  

Makaton
Information about the Makaton sign and symbol system.
www.makaton.org  

Bookstart
Downloadable resources and information about free book offers available to children.
www.bookstart.org.uk  

Cleft Lip and Palate Association
Information on cleft lip and palate.
www.clapa.com  

British Stammering Association
www.stammering.org  

National Autistic Society (NAS)
www.autism.org.uk

National Deaf Children’s Society
www.ndcs.org.uk

Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists
A range of general and career information.
www.rcslt.org

Health & Care Professionals Council
Regulatory body for Speech & Language Therapists and online register.
www.hpc-uk.org

Have you heard of the Local Offer?  If you are a young person with, or have a child with special educational needs and disabilities, (SEND) the Local Offer is Hertfordshire’s central source of information for SEND services and support. Visit www.hertsdirect.org/localoffer for an easily accessible one stop shop.

We have an open referral system which means that parents and carers as well as other professionals can make referrals directly to us, provided we have sufficient  information to ensure that your child will benefit from an assessment by a Speech and Language Therapist.

Pre-school children can be signposted to our Drop In sessions without the need for a formal referral.  

School aged children are usually referred following a discussion with the school’s link therapist. Some children can be supported in their school without requiring referral to the Service.

East and North Hertfordshire
Children’s Speech & Language Therapy Administration
Sele Lodge
Hertford County Hospital
North Road
Hertford
SG14 1LP

Tel: 01992 823084 

Referral form for East & North Hertfordshire

West Hertfordshire
Children’s Speech and Language Therapy Administration
Peace Children’s Centre
Peace Prospect
Watford
WD17 3EW

Tel: 01923 470640/1

Referral form for West Hertfordshire

All referrals made by professionals should be discussed with the child’s parent and agreement given.  Children who are experiencing voice difficulties will require ENT assessment prior to referral to the Service. 

Referral guidelines 

Patient Story

This document is an example of a Patient Story in which a parent, client or carer is asked about their journey through an NHS Speech and Language Therapy Service in Hertfordshire. Such information has been collected on behalf of the Hertfordshire Community Trust in order to hear directly from patients about their interactions with a service and the ways in which it could be improved. A student Speech and Language Therapist, Charlotte Fraser, conducted an informal interview with a parent on 1st March 2017 under the supervision of Mhairi Mason, Speech and Language Therapist, to collect such data.

The Journey

The parent outlined the child’s journey through the Hertfordshire NHS Speech and Language Service, specifically focusing on her current phase at Tier One provision of SLT at a local severe learning disability school. Though she emphasised that her child’s journey had been long and difficult, she praised the services continuing support and flexibility. She stated that she was extremely pleased with the current level of provision and felt that her child’s needs were being successfully being met and maintained.

Positive aspects of the service

The parent highlighted many positive aspects of the service, stating that though there was never a specific problem previously, the current SLT provision had been above and beyond what she expected.

Firstly, she highlighted that she always felt included in any decisions made concerning her child. She explained that there was always a clear path of communication and she was incredibly appreciative of the time dedicated by the SLT to ensuring she was kept up to date with her child’s progress. The parent expanded upon this, claiming that as a result she feels reassured and confident her child’s needs are sufficiently understood and being met at school.

Secondly, she commented upon the approachable nature of the professionals within the service, explaining that she felt able to contact them whenever she required reassurance or clarification. In addition, she was in no doubt as to their resounding dedication and care to improving the life of her child as well as their family.

Finally, she highlighted the professionals’ pro-active nature as one of best features of the service. She listed a variety of different activities that the SLT had specifically undertaken with her child as well as multiple activities devised and given to the agent of change (the school) to undertake. Furthermore, she was keen to highlight the inclusive nature of the SLT service as the professionals organised events such as Makaton Signing Workshops which provide relevant training for parents. Not only did she think these events were important for parents to attend in order to enhance their ability to communicate with their children, she said they had provided a sense of morale amongst those who attended. It was only during these sessions that she realised she was not alone as other parents were experiencing the same difficulties. Thus she explained that she was extremely grateful to the service for the opportunity to make friends with others in similar positions as it has recently been a great source of support. 

Negative aspects of the service

The parent struggled to find a negative aspect of the service, though she stated if she had to provide an answer it would be in the form of a suggestion rather than a criticism of the current provision. As highlighted previously, she thoroughly enjoys attending events provided by the service and would ask for these to increase in frequency. However, she recognised the difficulty of doing this given the time constraints on SLTs as well as the inconsistent and low attendance levels by other parents.  

Advice for future users of the service

The parent was pleased that the interviewer asked this question as she wished that she could have received advice from another parent in a similar situation at the start of her child’s journey. The first piece of advice she wished to share was the importance of patience – though she recognised each child’s journey through the service is different, she said that patience is vital to success as pressure on the child to achieve is minimised. Furthermore, she recognised that great change cannot occur overnight and thus it is a necessary, but difficult skill, to develop. She also said that she would encourage parents to be as pro-active as possible – whether this be through maintaining regular contact with the relevant professionals in the service thus feeling involved in the child’s journey or by attending parent meetings and training sessions. In doing so the parent claimed she had reduced her own anxiety and felt like a key part of her child’s progress. Finally, she wanted to encourage parents to develop or seek to find an effective support network as she stressed in order to cope, you must recognise that you are not alone in your struggle.

If you would like to share your story, please contact the Patient Experience team on 01707 388036 or email pals.hchs@nhs.net.

We would also love to hear about your experience on our service, please complete a survey by clicking here.