How it can help
The team can support children who have:
- speech, language and communication difficulties
- autistic-spectrum disorders
- hearing impairment
- disorders of fluency, such as stammering and stuttering
- disorders of feeding, eating or drinking
- cleft palate and velopharyngeal abnormalities
- speech and language difficulties of neurological origin
- difficulties with voice
The Speech and Language Therapists can:
- assess speech, language and communication development, skills and difficulties
- assess eating and drinking difficulties
- make a diagnosis
- develop an intervention plan and work with families and carers to implement it
- decide when treatment is complete and the child can be discharged
- support onward referrals as necessary
Age
1 to 11, or up to 19 if the child attends a special school
Eligibility
Children and young people with speech and language difficulties or dysphagia (physical eating and drinking difficulties) who are registered with a GP in the Mid Essex area
How to access
If your child is above the age of 1 and has an eating and/or drinking difficulty, you can phone the Care Coordination Centre and refer them to the SLT Service. They can also be referred by their school, nursery, health visitor, social care or GP.
Children aged 2 to end of reception year with a mid-Essex GP can be brought to a Communication Station without needing to complete a referral. Details of dates and locations can be found on the website.
School aged children (Year 1 to 6) are referred by their school.