Speech & Language – SALT

Speech and Language Therapy helps people to communicate in meaningful ways in all areas of life.

At Breckenbrough School, the onsite Speech and Language Therapist’s role is to identify, assess and provide specialist intervention to support students’ development in:

· Speech clarity

· Attention and listening skills

· Understanding and remembering language, as is needed to follow instructions

· Using language to express oneself, such as finding the right words and putting sentences in order to describe events, explain ideas and feelings and to tell stories

· Social communication skills, within verbal and non-verbal contexts

· Higher level language and verbal reasoning skills.

These speech, language and communication skills are critical for a student’s ability to interact with and learn from others. Misunderstanding language and social communication are common difficulties for students in a specialist school setting and have a significant influence on their participation, learning and behaviour.

Speech and Language Therapy addresses the student’s current communication needs as specified in their EHCP or as highlighted by the student, their teachers or caregivers. Support may include assessments, classroom observations, in class support and individual or group therapy sessions. The therapist also works alongside school staff to provide information and guidance on recognising and responding to communication needs.

In addition, our SENCo is also a licensed Elklan Tutor and specialist teacher, delivering a variety of externally verified Speech, Language and Communication qualifications to a range of staff across school. The coming academic year will see the school working towards accreditation as a Communication Friendly Setting.