Why has my child been referred?
Your child will have been referred to Speech and Language Therapy because
there are concerns about your child’s speech, language or communication
skills.
What will the SLT do?
At your first appointment the Speech and Language Therapist ask you questions about your child's development. This is to find out how your child has been
developing and what your concerns are. The therapist will also observe and play with your child. This is to decide what the problem is and how best your child can be helped. From here, the therapist will
suggest further assessment, provide advice or see your child for
some therapy. If there is no specific speech or language difficulty
your child will be discharged from the service. S/he may recommend other services to support your child.
What might the options be?
Your child may be seen for some therapy on a regular basis where you
will be given work to do at home to support this. Other options may
be to give you some advice or a specific programme of work for you
to try over a couple of months, where the therapist will arrange
to send you another appointment to go over how this has worked.
The therapist may also discuss referral onto other agencies, such as
audiology, to gain further information to your child’s development.
It may be useful for the therapist to talk to your child’s teacher
or nursery to see how they get on at school but this will be discussed
with you before they contact the school.
What is a delay?
The speech and language development of your child is following the
normal pattern of development but at a slower rate compared to the
majority of children.
What can I do whilst waiting?
While you are waiting for an appointment by speech and Language Therapy
have a go at some of the activity sheets on this website. If you
have a look at the developmental norms chart you will be able to
see what activities we suggest you do.
