Speech, language and communication

Universal Offer

The Speech, Language and Communication Universal Services are available for every child living in Coventry up to the age of 18 and age of 25 if the child has special educational needs.

There are fantastic services in Coventry which can support parents, carers, and professionals with their child’s development.

Targeted Offer

The Speech, Language and Communication Targeted Services, are there to support you if you have some concerns or worries about your child’s speech, language, or communication development.

Some children need input from the Speech and Language Therapy Team for a period following on from the universal support. If this is the case, a child can be referred directly to the Speech and Language Team.

The person making the referral will be asked to provide details on what universal support has already been offered to the child. This helps us to understand what support has been put in place already.

What if my child needs a referral to a Speech and Language Therapist? (SLT)

Please use the referral form to refer a child into this service. Anyone who knows or works with a child/young person can refer to our service (with parental consent), the referral system is open to all including parents/carers.

All referrals are looked at by a qualified speech and language therapist to ensure the most appropriate management is offered to the child. All children/young people accepted to the service will be offered an assessment with a speech & language therapist. If we need to carry out an initial assessment, we will contact the family/carer directly to arrange this. The initial assessment may be offered in a variety of settings (school/ nursery/ home/ clinic).

Following the initial assessment the therapist will discuss the findings and next steps with you. On some occasions, the therapist may need time to score the assessments before contacting you to discuss the outcome.

The Speech and Language Team provide evidence-based intervention and support for several specific difficulties.

All interventions continue to require support from parents, carers and education colleagues to be successful and the Speech and Language Team work in partnership to achieve this. Following assessment, advice will be given, and children/young people may receive intervention as appropriate. To achieve the best outcomes, the Speech and Language Team work together with:

• The child/ young person
• Their family/carers
• Their nursery or school
• Other important people in a child/young person's life

Intervention can be:

• 'Indirect' where advice and activities are suggested. These are carried out by families/carers and other professionals such as school staff.
• 'Direct' where the child is seen more regularly by a speech & language therapist or speech & language therapy assistant with follow up work to be carried out at home/ school/ nursery.

Specialist Offer

Specialist level information and resources are either to support more complicated speech, language, and communication needs or to provide more specialist information and help.

Some children and young people and their families will need specialist level support as well as targeted and universal levels for them to make the progress they wish to make with speech, language, and communication.

Specialist level may not be needed all the time and may be helpful at certain points on a child or young person's journey.

We recognise that not all children will fall into one category and as the child gets older they may move up and down into the balanced model. If you are concerned about a child’s speech, language and communication please ensure you seek help from our Who to speak to if I am concerned section.