Speech Therapy

What Communication & Interaction support do we provide all pupils at Crowdys Hill School?

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What is Speech and Language Therapy?

Speech and Language Therapists help support children and young people with their speech, language and communication skills.

A Speech and Language Therapist will help with a child or young persons; speech sound system, use of vocabulary, sentence structure, understanding of language, friendship skills and using communication aids.

We are really lucky that we have an established speech and language therapy department at Crowdys Hill School. In our team, we have:

El Taylor, Lead Speech and Language Therapist

Flo Hanson, Speech and Language Therapist

Michelle Prout, Speech and Language Therapist

Aimee Jennings, Speech and Language Therapist

Frankie Reid, Specialist Communication Teacher

Sara Weston, Speech and Language Therapy Assistant

The speech and language therapy team will assess and give advice about the communication skills of the children and young people at Crowdys Hill School.

What happens when a child/young person joins Crowdys Hill School?

After consent from their parent/carer, every child and young person that starts at Crowdys Hill School will be screened to understand their speech, language and communication skills. Some children and young people will then require more detailed speech, language and communication assessment.

The Speech and Language Therapist will write an initial report to describe the child or young person’s communication strengths and needs and will create speech and language targets. These reports and targets will be shared with parents/carers, teachers, and other important people.

If a child or young person has an EHCP, then these targets will be transferred to their EHCP paperwork at their annual review.

How do we deliver speech and language therapy at Crowdys Hill School?

Most of our work is done indirectly so please do not be concerned if we do not see your child or young person directly. Targets are created for the child/young person and then these targets are supported in the classroom. Everyone including parents, teachers, teaching assistants and the speech and language therapy team is expected to work together to target these goals to support the child/young person.

We regularly train staff on whole-school communication strategies and these are then incorporated into the classroom. We offer a Total Communication environment at Crowdys Hill School. Some of the speech, language and communication strategies we use across the school are:

PECS®

Shape-coding™

Lego®- based therapy

ELKLAN©

Signalong©

Intensive Interaction®

Zones of Regulation™

Word Aware

Colourful semantics

AAC – alternative and augmentative communication

We are an ELKLAN communication friendly setting for special schools.

Sometimes, we might see your child or young person for group or individual therapy. These tend to be delivered in blocks of six and then reviewed termly.

What am I expected to do as a parent/carer?

We encourage you to engage in speech and language therapy at home.

We might send you some speech and language work to try at home or suggest some strategies to put in place in the home environment.

Please contact us if you have any concerns or questions on the number or email below.

Email: salt@crowdyshill.swindon.sch.uk

Training Opportunities for parents/carers

We regularly offer training opportunities for parents. Currently we offer:

• Signalong sessions with our trained Signalong Trainer

• Autism awareness sessions

• Communication tips to use at home

Please contact us for more information.

You can call us on 01793 332400 and ask for the Speech and Language Therapy Team.

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Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. “Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) refers to systems which support or replace spoken or written communication, and these communication systems include technology relating to teaching, learning, mobility, environmental control and employment.” (RCSLT AAC Guidance) The aim of AAC is to enable and empower individuals to communicate what they want, when they want, to whoever they want, wherever they are. There are lots of different types of AAC ranging from signing, gestures and eye pointing to communication books and boards, to high tech devices like Talk Pads and iPads with a communication app such as Grid. READ MORE ▾

Here at Crowdys Hill School we honour all forms of communication and promote a Total Communication environment. The majority of our children and young people who use AAC use Grid for iPad, aided language displays and communication books and Signalong. Pupils sometimes come to school with their own AAC devices, which have been recommended and/or provided by their previous Speech and Language Therapists. Swindon also have a specialist AAC Advisory Teacher who may suggest AAC devices for your child. You should always seek the advice of Speech and Language Therapists before purchasing AAC equipment for your child. Staff will be trained to use the AAC device before your child joins us. On rare occasions where this doesn't happen, the school will ensure that staff are trained as soon as possible. We also provide training and support for parents. We use a wide range of tools and strategies to support the implementation of AAC at Crowdys Hill School for example: • Aided Language Stimulation • Aided Language Displays • Signalong© • PODD books • Talking mats approach© • Use of general visual aids including Widgit© • Whiteboards • Recording whiteboards • Any other AAC devices recommended by our Speech Therapists, or the SBC advisory Teacher, including Grid 3 software. • Using PC programmes, such as Clicker, Dragon Speak, or Text to speech.

Get in touch

If you have any questions about our school's values and ethos, please don't hesitate to contact us.

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