Schools
Why choose us for in-school support?
Dedicated speech & language therapist
option of salt therapist or occupational therapy input
Flexible support
Tailored to the client group and The school’s areas of focus
We deliver child-centred individual/group therapy sessions for or in conjunction with your school, while also training and upskilling your staff members.
SPECIALIST SPEECH & THERAPY SUPPORT FOR SCHOOLS
Having had significant years’ experience of working within school environments, I understand the constraints and pressures that schools and their staff team are under. A sensitive approach to this is taken and support modified accordingly.
My staff and I work closely with other services that are supporting individual students, to enable them to be supported in the most holistic manner.
Why may your school benefit from additional Speech and Language Therapy input?
To raise the profile of the need for a focus on speech, language and communication within the school environment.
To support with reintegrating students back into school or enable inclusion within the classroom.
To provide information about individual students speech, language or communication skills, in order to shape the support in school or provide evidence for EHCP assessments.
EVIDENCE BASE: FACTS & FIGURES
Around 10% of all children have speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).
Up to 55% of children in areas of social deprivation enter school with speech, language and communication differences.
Children with poor language and literacy skills at 5 years have lower education achievement at 7 years (Snowling et al, 2011).
One in four children who struggled with language at age 5 did not reach the expected standard in English at the end of primary school, compared with 1 in 25 children who had good language skills at age 5 (Save The Children, 2016).
“Amy (Acorn Speech Therapy) has been supporting our school for half a day each week. Staff feel well supported by Amy and have been upskilled as a result of Amy’s expertise and knowledge.
Amy offers support and advice to staff as needed to make sure that they are providing the very best for our children. Amy has offered bespoke interventions to groups of children in order to support the development of their language skills.
Amy works closely with the SENDCO in order to plan provision for individual children. Amy is a valued member of our team.”
Primary School SENDCO
“Thank you for all the work you’ve done over this year, with both pupils and staff. It’s made a huge difference to our school and we really appreciate it – we hope we can work together again next academic year!”
Primary School SENDCO
SUPPORT FOR your pupils, Support for your staff
Our individual and group therapy sessions are child-centred, functional, and evidence-based. They can be run for the school or in conjunction with school staff. Comprehensive assessments and reports for reviews or EHCPs are provided, along with ongoing support where needed.
For school staff, we provide training and upskilling to equip staff with the skills and confidence to support and develop children’s speech, language and communication skills across the whole school day. This is delivered through:
Training or audits of universal strategies and good practice within the school
Advice about other services and/or pathways of care
Measuring and reviewing areas of need and progress
Screening of key age groups
How can speech and language support be provided in school?
We aim to deliver flexible support that is tailored to your individual schools needs and requirements.
It is often worked on a tiered approach, as below, with the option of targeting different tiers of support at different points throughout the year.
Specialist
Specialist input for children who have not responded to Universal or Targeted input
Supports children with complex SLCN to communicate as effectively as possible
How it is delivered:
EHCP advice
Individual therapy sessions and targets
Student-specific advice and support
Get in touch to discuss your requirements.
Targeted
Individual needing more support than Universal input: those with SLCN or at risk of developing needs
Input is around upskilling staff on specific areas of speech, language and communication development
Provides therapy input without the need for individual sessions, allows children's speech, language and communication to develop sooner whilst engaged in other learning
How it is delivered:
Specific SLCN training and advice(e.g. ELKLAN / Attention / Autism / ASD specific / Literacy / Social communication)
Therapy Groups (e.g. Early language / Social communication / Vocabulary)
Get in touch to discuss your requirements.
Universal
Appropriate for all students
Aims to support development of speech, language and communication
Develops an environment that is supportive of speech, language and communication, which are skills used at all times
Supports staff in recognising/supporting SLCN
How it is delivered:
Whole-school advice (Inset/twilight training)
Curriculum advice (e.g. whole-school vocabulary development interventions / English / PHSE)
EHCP support: Screening of students’ language and communication skills
Get in touch to discuss your requirements.