Multi-Agency
Speech and Language Therapy at The Meadows School
Speech and Language Therapist (SLT’s) work as part of the multi-agency team in The Meadows School, along with Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and teachers for students with visual or hearing impairments.
We are based in the multi-agency room within school and we work with children in two ways:
- Children with feeding and/or swallowing difficulties, and
- Children with communication difficulties
Children with communication difficulties:
Communication skills are not just about talking! In order to learn to talk, children need to learn the following skills:
- How to share their attention with others
- The need to give a message to another person in any way possible
- To take turns and listen to others
- To imitate actions and sounds
- The ability to direct a message using gesture, sounds or body movements
- Understanding different words
Children with feeding difficulties:
Some children may find eating or swallowing difficult and they may need to have food offered in different consistencies or have some extra support at feeding times. If your child has difficulties in this area, they will have a feeding profile explaining exactly what support they need and what food they should be eating. This will be reviewed by class staff or an SLT as needed.
We work as a team with the rest of the school
The members of staff in each class have lots of experience of working with children with communication and feeding difficulties or delayed communication skills. We work with staff in the following ways:
- Offer training to groups of staff or the whole school
- Offer advice on environmental changes
- Discuss class groups and how to support the development of communication opportunities
- Individual review of feeding profile or advice to staff managing the profiles
If staff have particular concerns, we might discuss or assess individual children and either offer advice or provide some individual therapy.
