Speech Therapy

Our speech and language therapist work closely with infants, children and adults who have various levels of speech, language and communication problems and with those who have swallowing drinking or eating difficulties. The role can involve working with a diverse client group, including people with physical and learning disabilities, hearing loss/deafness, psychiatric disorders or dementia.

Therapist assesses a client’s needs before developing individual treatment programs to enable each client to improve as much as possible. Treatment plans often involve other people with whom the client has a close relationship, e.g. family, careers or teachers.

SLT’s usually work as part of a multidisciplinary team, alongside other health professionals such as doctors, nurses, psychologist, physiotherapist and occupational therapist. They may also liaise with professionals in education and social services

Tasks typically involve:

• Identifying patient’s developmental speech and communication difficulties/disorders;
• Assessing and treating swallowing and communication difficulties arising from a variety of causes, e.g. congenital problems(such as cleft palate) or acquired disorders after a stroke or injury;
• Devising, implementing and revising relevant treatment programs;
• Advising carers on implementing treatment programs and training other professional in therapy delivery;
• Assessing communication environments;
• Monitoring and evaluating client’s progress;
• Working with client’s on a one on one basis, and in groups , to deliver therapy;
• Writing and maintaining confidential client case notes and reports as well as information for clients, carers and other professionals;
• Managing a caseload taking account of priority cases, waiting lists, successful outcomes, referral and discharge of service users;
• Working with others to improve the effectiveness of service delivery;

Therapist operating at more senior levels may be involved n the following:

• Conducting personal development reviews with colleagues;
• Supporting/supervising newly qualified speech and language therapist and speech and language therapy assistants;
• Setting organizational and personal objectives;
• Panning and delivering training sessions;
• Contributing to the implementation and evaluation of projects and developments;