What we do

Speech and Language Therapists are leading experts in speech, language and communication development. Our Therapists work in close partnership with families and carers, as well as other professionals, to provide the best possible help for children with communication needs.

We also work with children who have eating and swallowing difficulties.

Some of the people we help:

• Pregnant mums who want to know the best way to talk to their baby when they arrive

• Newborn babies with feeding or swallowing difficulties

• Pre-school children who are not starting to talk in their first couple of years

• Young school age children whose speech is unclear

• Older school age children whose communication difficulties are affecting their education and/or social development

• Children who stammer

• Teachers who want to know the best way to support children with communication difficulties in their classrooms.
• For further information about how we can help and who we support visit 'What a Speech and Language therapist does'

We work flexibly throughout Salford in the following ways:

Working in partnership with other professionals

• 7 - 10% of children across the country have long term and persistent speech, language or communication problems. We work closely with staff in early years and school settings, to make sure they have the right skills to support these children.

This includes:

Giving support to schools and Early years settings

• Demonstrating helpful activities in schools to teaching assistants with groups or individual children

• Providing schools with specific programmes and advice

• Offering practical training sessions to staff, developing their knowledge and skills to support children with speech, language and communication needs.

Giving support to the parents and carers

• Providing information on speech and language development

• Advising on how family members can support children's development in everyday situations

• Providing activities and home programmes to develop specific skills.

Working directly with the children

• Our Speech and Language Therapists work with children individually to assess, diagnose and put together a programme of therapy or care that will develop their speech, language and communication skills to their full potential. We do this in various places - such as homes, clinics, early years centres, schools, special schools and community venues.

Getting help

• To use our service you don’t need a referral from your GP. We have an open referral system, which means that we accept referrals directly from the person with difficulties, their families, carers and other professionals.