Children's Therapy Services - Speech & Language Therapy

We support children who have speech, language and communication difficulties. We help them to achieve clear and fluent speech and understand spoken language. Communication is a complex skill and we use communication aids, signs, symbols and gestures to support children and young people.

Type

Children's Therapy Services - Speech & Language Therapy Team

We support children and young people (0-19) who have speech, language and communication difficulties. This includes difficulties with:

  • Understanding language 
  • Using language
  • Communication and interaction 
  • Dysfluency (stammering)
  • Speech sounds

We also help children and young people who have eating and drinking difficulties. Some children we support may have identified needs such as cleft palate, hearing impairment and special educational needs and disability (SEND).

We work closely with parents, carers and other professionals to help you help your child. This may include workshops, training, assessment, group and/or individual therapy sessions .

Who is this service for? Children and young people from the age of 0 to 19.

Find waiting time information about this service

How do I register for this service?

Referrals can be made by a range of Education, Social Care and Health professionals. All referrals to children’s services including children’s speech and language therapy are made through the Referral Management Centre (RMC). You can access the RMC's webpage by clicking here. 

If you would like to discuss referring a child to the 0-19 service please contact the 0-19 Admin Hub for further details on 0800 170 7055.

Information on how to make a referral to Children’s Speech and Language therapy can be found in the  Childrens Speech and Language Therapy Toolkit[pdf] 874KB 
 
This outlines the process for professionals to follow in order to make an appropriate referral.  For some referrals additional information is required to support our understanding of the child’s needs. For example this may be developmental checklists and school/nursery information. Where a child is attending early years or school settings, it may be that those working with the child on a regular basis are best placed to make a referral and include the supporting information.  
 
The toolkit also outlines general advice to support children’s speech, language and communication development and useful resources that can be found on the internet. 
 
When a referral has been received by the RMC they will be passed onto a clinician to be screened. If a referral is not accepted the referrer and parents/carer will be contacted via a letter outlining why the referral was declined and what might happen next.

Waiting times

There are a large number of new referrals to the Children's Speech and Language Therapy service each month. Unfortunately, this means that waiting times for first assessments are longer than we would like, and we are sorry that it will take longer to be seen than you might have expected.

The current average waiting time for this service is 25 weeks for initial assessment (updated September 2025).

We are actively working on reducing our waiting lists and waiting times are improving. In the meantime, here are some resources you can access while you wait.

More information

What we strive for

As a service we strive for:

  • Timely and appropriate referrals to Speech and Language Therapy Service  
  • Improvement in parental awareness, knowledge and the home communication environment
  • Increased educational professional confidence in understanding, developing and supporting children’s speech, language and communication 
  • Improved outcomes for children with Speech and Language and Communication needs  
  • Successful collaborative working with families and  services for shared outcomes

As a service we do not offer:

  • Elocution
  • Teaching English  as an additional language
  • Developmentally normal speech sound errors

The service journey:

Step One: Speak with or meet a therapist: We meet the family and child in our clinic or via the telephone to talk about your greatest need at this time. We combine the parents’ thoughts and hopes, what is currently working well for the young person and our assessment information to work out what support package would be most beneficial at this moment in time.

Step Two: Develop some skills and strategies via a support package: We then work with you, for a series of sessions to offer strategies, advice and recommendations so that you feel confident to put these into practise during your everyday routines.

Step Three: What you’ll need to do outside of the sessions: For the best outcomes for your child or young person, we have to work as a team from the very start and you will have things you need to go away and do outside of the sessions. You are your child’s greatest support and we need to embed these strategies into everyday routines and interactions to make a positive change.

Step Four: Ending the support package / closing our episodes of care: At the end of the support package, you will have all the knowledge and skills you require to support your child’s needs, at the current time. This means that you do not need further input from us at that time and the episode of care will be closed. You and your child do need time to embed what you have learned and focus on these each and every day. If your child’s needs change and you feel another series of sessions may be beneficial, then a new support package can be discussed.

Community healthcare services - children and young people

  1. CAMHS Inpatients
  2. CAMHS in the Community
  3. CAMHS Live
  4. Children’s 0-19 Services
  5. Children's resources, tips and advice hub
  6. Children's school-aged immunisation service
  7. Children's services map
  8. Children's Speech and Language Therapy EHCP Team
  9. Children’s Therapy Services - Occupational Therapy
  10. Children’s Therapy Services - Physiotherapy
  11. Children’s Therapy Services - Speech & Language Therapy Team
  12. Children and Young People ADHD & ASD Service
  13. Children and Young People Community Eating Disorder Service
  14. Children’s CTPLD (Learning disabilities)
  15. Children and young people mental health services
  16. Community Children’s Nursing
  17. Community Paediatrics
  18. Co-production and Participation
  19. Family Ambassador Service
  20. Health Youth Justice Service
  21. iDiscover
  22. Looked After Children
  23. Mental Health Support Teams
  24. Paediatric Psychology Service
  25. Referral Management Centre
  26. Specialist Dental Services - Children
  27. Special School Nursing Team