When I became SENCo in 2004, speech and language therapists (SaLT) were still able to attend School Action Plus reviews and meet with schools three times a year. However, things were starting to change. Therapists began leaving the service, and it became increasingly difficult for schools to make referrals. Many of the referrals were rejected for not meeting the necessary criteria.
At that time, I was working in Derby City, an area with high levels of deprivation. The local authority was seeking ways to reduce the number of inappropriate referrals to the already overburdened SaLT services and decided to pilot the use of Speech Link. Our school was chosen to participate in this pilot scheme. We received a CD with the programme and attended training on how to use the package to identify and support students with speech sound difficulties.
I remember feeling sceptical at first, even voicing my concern by saying, “This will replace the therapist.” However, we started including a child’s Speech Link assessment report with their SaLT referrals and noticed that they were being accepted rather than rejected. Over time, screening became a routine part of the process during a child’s first year at school. Derby City went on to purchase Speech Link for 25 of their schools.
When I moved to Staffordshire in 2019, I found myself in a ‘desert’ when it came to Speech & Language Link support. Yet, the number of children with Speech, Language, and Communication Needs (SLCN) had not diminished—in fact, there were more than ever. It was baffling to see how the landscape could be so drastically different just 10 miles down the road.
Read the impact report here: https://tinyurl.com/3euxmtk8
Dilemma: How could we support children with clear speech and language difficulties while waiting for SaLT assessments? Having become a strong advocate for the programmes, my first request to the Head Teacher was to invest in Speech Link, as well as Infant and Junior Language Link. Her only proviso was, “Is it effective?”
By summer 2022, in the wake of COVID-19, local SaLT services were in disarray, with waiting times stretching up to 12 months. Fortunately, we had the Speech Link and Language Link screeners, interventions, and resources available to support children with significant needs while they awaited appointments. Including our Speech & Language Link reports with SaLT referrals proved invaluable, as it provided solid evidence that helped the therapists triage cases more effectively.
Today, in 2024, my ongoing mission is to ensure continued support for our pupils through Speech Link and Language Link. My goal is to establish these invaluable resources as a standard across all schools within our Multi-Academy Trust, for the benefit of every child.
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