Speech and Language Therapy

in Specialist Provision

Our service mirrors the graduated approach, providing a variety of strategies encompassing both environmental and intervention measures at universal, targeted, and specialist levels. We work with both students and staff at school so there is a far-reaching benefit to school and students alike.  We understand that no two schools are the same or have the same requirements, therefore we offer a broad range of services which are tailored to meet your individual needs and budget.

Within our specialist settings, we take a total communication approach, training staff and parents in a wide range of augmentative and alternative communication methods (AAC). We work alongside your school staff to enable them to implement a range of intervention approaches, and to model and problem-solve fitting these into your school’s day-to-day working. We work together with your communication lead to determine the best approach for your school on both a whole-school and more individualised level. 

Ensuring the learning environment is ‘communication-friendly’ so that students can transition and engage with their learning to their full potential is at the forefront of our focus. We can deliver specific training to staff to develop their knowledge and skills of speech, language and communication needs. We can also implement evidence-based interventions so that groups of children can benefit from regular support. In addition to this, we work directly with individual students and the adults in their lives to deliver very specific and individualised therapy

Our Approach

Unique to WMSLT is our Emerging Outcomes Approach (developed using both the Autism Education Trust Framework and SCERTS framework). This tool has been developed by our team and allows us to provide all students accessing a specialist setting individualised communication targets and support, as well as tracking data that gets updated termly. The framework identifies strengths and needs, sets developmentally appropriate targets and sensitively measures progress across a broad range of areas, building on communication within functional and motivating contexts. It encompasses communication from the earliest stages of interaction to the complex nuances of conversations and means that all students in your school will benefit from our support, no matter their level of communication.

Unique to WMSLT

Our Services

  • Communication is everyone’s business! Universal provision aims to embed best practice across the whole setting to support communication and learning for all children.  

    Here’s how it could look:  

    • Staff development  

    • Bespoke whole school training  

    • Webinar training   

    • Training on specific approaches e.g. Makaton, Word Aware, Attention Autism, Intensive Interaction, Lego therapy, AAC, Emerging Outcomes

    • Creating a communication friendly environment  

    • Universal screening tools  

    • Classroom environmental audits  

    • Enabling school staff to implement strategies and approaches that support communication development 

    • Parent workshops  

  • We can skill up school staff to become champions of communication in your setting, identifying and providing intervention for a wide number of students with SLCN.  Our team of Senior Therapy Assistants are also expertly skilled in supporting classes to become ‘communication friendly’ and enabling school staff to target communication skills throughout the day, making the most of every interaction opportunity.

    Here’s how it could look:  

    • Establishing roles of Communication Champions (CCs) to advocate for SLCN  

    • Bespoke training to upskill staff as CCs  

    • Supporting CCs to deliver and oversee communication support across school 

    • Monitoring the quality of these interventions while measuring progress and impact.  

    • Senior Therapy Assistants enabling within classrooms- identifying areas for communication support development and offering regular support based on their experience of working with similar client groups.

    • Communication Champions or Senior Therapy Assistants to support a wide number of students through screening of SLCN and targeted interventions, including: 

    1. Lego Therapy 

    2. Colourful Semantics 

    3. Bespoke language interventions 

    4. Attention Autism 

    5. Intensive Interaction 

    6. Talk for Work 

    7. Sensory Sentences 

    8. Word Aware 

  • Specialist assessment and intervention can be provided to those students who have a specific or specialist communication need. If your school opts to implement the Emerging Outcomes Approach, every student with SLCN will receive individualised communication targets that are reviewed each term.

    Here’s how it could look:  

    • Working to support students with specialist SLCN 

    • Specialist assessment of student’s communication 

    • Providing advice to teaching staff to support a student’s SLCN 

    • Direct therapy sessions – individual or group, including… 

    1. Speech sounds 

    2. Stammer 

    3. Selective Mutism 

    4. Developing use of AAC methods 

    • Contribution to EHC reviews 

    • Specific information and advice to parents  

We would love to hear from you.

Contact WMSLT today for an informal chat about how we can help you!

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