Speech and language therapy referral guidelines - 3 years to 3 years, 5 months

Refer to Speech and Language Therapy, if:

• Parents/carers have accessed and implemented the following support for 3 months and there has been no/minimal progress: 
  • FOLLOW - Top Tips for Talking Webinar and FOLLOW postcard
• AND the child has difficulty with any of the following:
  • does not understand instructions containing 2 key words, not following instructions such as ‘give the apple to Mummy’ or when looking at book ‘point to the dog’s nose’ (when you are not looking at or pointing at the item)
  • understanding what simple words mean, e.g. body parts, animals, food
  • understanding simple ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘who’ questions, for example, ‘what’s that?’ ‘where’s Daddy?’ or ‘who’s that?'
  • understanding a range of simple concepts despite multiple exposure to these, for example, size (big/little), position (in/on/under). 

Refer to Speech and Language Therapy, if:

• Parents/carers have accessed and implemented the following support for 3 months and there has been no/minimal progress: 
  • FOLLOW - Top Tips for Talking Webinar and FOLLOW postcard
• AND the child has difficulty with any of the following:
  • not yet using 2 word phrases 
  • not learning or copying new words or making new word combinations 
  • wants to tell you things or is trying to communicate but does not have the words/language skills to make their needs known.

Refer to Speech and Language Therapy, if: 

• Parents/carers have accessed and implemented the following support for 3 months and there has been no/minimal progress: 
  • JOIN Webinar and JOIN postcard  
  • Say, Show, Wait Webinar
• AND the child has any of the following:
  • minimal interactions with familiar adults, for example, not seeking them out, not initiating or responding to them during an interactive game such as peek a boo
  • does not use language or non-speaking skills (for example, body language/facial expression) to communicate with key adults 
  • does not communicate for a variety of reasons (for example, rejecting, requesting, responding, showing and sharing interest, commenting).

Refer to SLT if… 

• Parents/carers have accessed and implemented advice from the Speech Sound webinar and postcard for 3 months and there has been no/minimal progress.   
• Parents/carers have completed the speech screen (either the word document or PDF version).
• Close relatives find it difficult to understand what the child is saying.
• AND the child is having any of the difficulties below:
  • says the same word in a different way every time: for example, fish may be said as “fis”, “pish”, “bi”, for example, baby may be said as “gaygee”, “bay-ee”, “baydee”.
  • only using one or two consonants, for example, if trying to say “teddy fall over” they say “deddy dall oder”
  • making vowel errors, for example, says “taddy" for "teddy” or “mer” for “more” (not due to any accent differences)
  • only using vowels, for example, “ar” for “car” “eh” for “bed”, “uh-ee” for “mummy”, “uh-er” for “jumper”
• OR the child has cleft related speech concerns and referral is from a specialist cleft centre or other relevant professionals or the child has cleft related speech errors or nasal speech in the absence of identified cleft palate (speech sound webinar/postcard and speech screen do not apply for cleft‑related referrals).