Speech and Language Therapy in Schools

Owl Centre Speech and Language Therapists work with children and young people across a wide range of educational settings (both mainstream and special schools), ranging from early years up to university students, with the aim of removing or reducing barriers to learning, improving participation and communication, and allowing the young people to reach their full academic and communicative potential.

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Benefits of Speech and Language Therapy

Having Speech and Language provision embedded within a school can have a transformative impact on school life, such as in the following areas:

Inclusion

Whole-school strategies (such as visual support) can make the school environment more inclusive and communication-friendly for all students.

Integration

Speech and Language Therapists can provide vital support to young people who might otherwise struggle to integrate within the mainstream environment.

Behavioural Presentation

Identifying and meeting previously unmet communication needs can reduce behavioural issues, if these were caused by a young person not being able to understand or express themselves as they would like to.

Empowering Staff

Staff can feel better equipped to identify and support children with Speech, Language, and Communication needs.

Early Intervention

Identifying Speech, Language, and Communication needs early means intervention can be put in place sooner, reducing the risks of long-term social and academic difficulties.

Upskilling

Staff can gain skills to support communication development in all areas of their work.

Positive School Culture

An emphasis on communication can support social-emotional learning and a positive school culture where all community members are able to communicate their ideas and needs.

Generalisation of strategies

Integrating Speech, Language, and Communication across all areas of school life can support young people with needs in these areas to generalise skills from the therapy setting to other communicative situations.

Reducing Stigma

Embedding a Speech and Language Therapist as a key part of the school team can increase inclusion, reduce stigma for children with Speech, Language, and Communication needs, and increase the level of understanding of such needs among their peers.

EHCP Documentation & Annual Reviews

Having a Speech and Language Therapist at school, with an in-depth knowledge of the needs of their caseload, can ensure efficient and effective contributions and support with EHCP and annual review documentation.

Areas of need:

Speech and Language Therapists can provide assessment, diagnosis, and support for young people with a wide range of Speech, Language, and Communication needs, such as:

AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication)
ADHD
Attention and listening
Autism and social communication difficulties
Language difficulties (including DLD – Developmental Language Disorder) e.g. receptive and expressive language, grammar, vocabulary, narrative
Selective / situational mutism
Speech sounds / articulation
Stammering / dysfluency
Voice production

How we work

Within an educational setting, a Speech and Language Therapist can work in a number of different contexts, both in person or online:

One-to-one sessions with individual pupils
Small group sessions for a few pupils with similar needs
In-classroom support
Providing training to staff on a wide range of speech, language, and communication needs (including troubleshooting a pupil’s individual needs, as well as providing general training on a particular topic)
Working with senior leadership staff to optimise the communicative environment throughout the setting (creating a ‘communication friendly’ school or setting)

An Owl Centre Speech and Language Therapist will often work within a three-tiered model of support:

Universal

Providing training and resources for all staff, to support the creation of a communication-friendly environment, and support all pupils in the setting.

Targeted

Providing structured interventions for children identified as having possible Speech, Language, and Communication Needs (SLCN). This support will often be delivered by school staff under the guidance of a Speech and Language Therapist.

Specialist

Providing direct and indirect intervention for children with identified SLCN, including assessment, target-setting, and writing and delivering individualised therapy plans.

Speech and Language Therapy Packages

The Owl Centre is happy to work flexibly and create a bespoke package to ensure you and your school get the level of support that is right for you. Options include:

Regular therapist visits (weekly or fortnightly, half-termly or termly)

Block input (e.g. for a term at a time)

Individual therapy, small groups, in-class support

EHCP-focused intervention

We are also able to provide a number of other services, such as:

Initial or review assessments
Contributions to EHCP and annual review documentation
Goal-setting with measurable outcomes
Modelling strategies to staff
Collaborative working with SENDCos

Strategy sheets and handouts
Staff training sessions
Parent training sessions
Attendance at parents’ evenings
Whole school Speech and Language audit and report, with targets

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a school day look like?

We wrote a blogpost about this, check it out here.

How often does the speech and language therapist visit?

We can arrange this with you, to meet your school’s needs. We can visit weekly, fortnightly, monthly or termly.

Can you work with our SENCO?

Yes, we can meet with your SENCO when we visit to support with intervention planning, referral decisions and training plans.

Can you work with our speech and language TA?

Yes, we encourage the school speech and language TA to observe our sessions so they can continue the work with the child across the week.

Does the therapist take the child out of class?

The therapist will discuss the best way of working with each child. Assessments need to be carried out on a one-to-one session. Some sessions may be observation and working within the classroom. Our therapist will work collaboratively to provide functional targets and strategies that can be integrated into the classroom – as well as specific activities to work directly on SLCN where appropriate.

Can you liaise with parents?

Yes, we try to link up with parents whenever possible to discuss their concerns and also explain what support looks like in school, and provide support with ideas for at home too.

Can you attend meetings?

Yes, we are happy to attend EHCP meetings, meetings with parents and staff meetings and will support with your speech, language and communication queries.

What outcomes can you provide?

We can produce reports to show the work we have carried out in your school and the outcomes of the therapy we have advised.

What is a speech, language and communication audit?

We have our very own audit which we can carry out in your school when we visit. It’s a deep dive into the support that is provided for neurodivergent children across the whole school. The audit takes 2 days and can be part of your package. We produce a comprehensive report detailing areas of strength, need, and targets for meeting any goals set. Ask your speech and language therapist about this.

What training can you provide to our school?

We have a number of training packages that we can provide during our school visits. This training can also be delivered to a group of schools online or outside of school hours. We have training packages on supporting neurodiversity in the classroom, Blanks levels, Vocabulary, and others.