Children's Speech and Language Therapy Service

Service description

Due to the increased demand for our speech and language therapy service, which has risen rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic, children and young people may experience longer than usual waiting times. We are doing all we can to reach children on our waiting lists as quickly as possible while maintaining a good standard of care. We recognise that having to wait longer is frustrating but please bear with us while we manage this busy period. Our website has a range of resources that can help parents and settings to support children and young people with speech and language needs or eating and drinking difficulties. If you have significant concerns and would like to speak to someone from the speech and language therapy team, please contact the speech and language therapy office on 0116 2955256.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

We are a team of speech and language therapists and support workers who provide episodes of care to children and young people across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

We offer a range of services which we deliver in time – limited episodes of care.  We support children and young people who have difficulties with:

• Speech, language and communication skills
• Eating, drinking and swallowing skills

The service works closely with families, parents and carers to improve children and young people’s progress in these areas and to ensure that their potential for learning , social and emotional development is reached. When an episode of care with us ends, parents and carers may be given some strategies to support their child and can be referred back to us if further support is required.

We work in partnership with a range of other agencies and colleagues including schools, Early Years settings, children’s centres, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, medical teams and the voluntary sector.

How are we currently working?

Click here to find out what our service can offer.

Click here to watch a video about our response to Covid-19.

Utilising ReachDeck for text-to-speech and translations

ReachDeck, a web accessibility toolbar, is available on this website to help you understand our content and interact independently. Features of the ReachDeck toolbar, which can be launched by clicking the orange ‘Speak’ icon in the bottom right hand corner of your screen, include:

• Text-to-speech: reads the text out loud with highlighting
• Translation: translates the text into over 100 languages
• Screen mask: provides a screen tint overlay
• Picture dictionary: displays the meaning of a word through illustration

View this video to find out more about the ReachDeck toolbar:

Referral criteria

If your child meets any of the above criteria then they can be referred to our service by –

• Parent/carer by completing one referral form.
• Schools, nurseries, other educational settings by following our Working Together – Referral Guidelines