2024 started with the announcement that there has been an unprecedented rise in children needing speech and language therapy, resulting in thousands of them sitting on NHS waiting lists. At the end of October last year, over four thousand children had been on NHS community waiting lists for speech and language therapy for over a year (1).
As a speech and language therapist, I know how harmful delays in securing help can be for children with communication problems. I am troubled by the findings of a YouGov survey (2) of teachers in England and Wales conducted last year which concluded that 1.9 million children are behind either with speaking or understanding language.
Many different theories have been put forward as to why more children are struggling with their communication, from lockdowns to screen time. However, I am also keen to explore how schools can play a role in supporting the children who are waiting on these lists.
It’s essential to support children’s communication development during their primary school journey and intervention at an early stage is key to avoid any detrimental effects to their wellbeing and achievement. Enabling children to communicate effectively is pivotal when they are learning to be independent in an educational setting, especially for those who may be away from their families for the first time in an unfamiliar environment.
Speech and language therapy can enhance both the educational and social experiences of children. Good communication skills are so vital that I screen all reception children in our primary schools trust wide. I created an informal assessment which covers areas of speech and language that, from evidence, a 4-year-old would be expected to be able to reach.
From these screens, myself, and my team of specialist teaching assistants (TAs) in speech and language, and speech and language therapy assistants carry out interventions to support children in need. Throughout 2023 we carried out group or 1:1 intervention with more than 340 students.
It also allows us to see which young people will definitely need NHS support and means we can signpost them to ensure they are on NHS waiting lists or referred to any other specialists that may be of help to them.
This work has been so beneficial to schools, but we knew we could do more! We purchased the Speech Link and Language Link programmes trust-wide using the Speech Link element of it to support the reception screen, it’s really easy to use and follow.
From this we realised the potential Language Link could have for our children and supplied all our staff with logins so that children in other year groups could be assessed and supported too by teachers and TAs.
The Infant, Junior and Secondary Language Link packages combine robust, standardised assessments with planned and fully resourced, targeted small-group interventions. All training is included via online videos and webinars and the Help Desk team provides support whenever it is required.
Some schools have a selected member of staff who supports children across the school to access this tool. Other schools have decided to screen all low readers to assess any underlying speech and language needs.
My team provides constant training and trust-wide support to ensure all of our staff and children are supported in speech and language and we now also use an external speech and language service which can assess and offer remote therapy to children trust wide.
I would say that having specialist TAs is key to delivering this service. The idea of a TA simply being allocated to sit with one child all day is an outdated one and I believe allowing them to specialise and undertake more training enhances their job satisfaction and promotes staff retention.
I think it’s really important that SENCos consider the best approach for their school depending on its size, resources, and staffing levels.
I have been very fortunate that the trust I work for has really taken on board the need to address communication issues in young people and I am proud to lead a team of speech and language assistants and specialist TAs.
It might be that some schools only have the ability to upskill existing staff or might only have the budget to employ an external speech and language support system. However, it’s achieved, I believe all primary schools need to be examining what speech and language support they offer, or introducing some if they don’t already. With so many children in need of support we need to make sure that in-house school provision reaches every pupil that needs it.
References
(1) https://tinyurl.com/2s32w99d
(2) https://tinyurl.com/9rfnced4