Speech and language therapy for children

Speech and language therapy is concerned with the management of disorders of speech, language, communication and swallowing.  

Children’s speech and language therapists work mainly in community health centres, mainstream and special schools and nurseries, children's centres and family homes. 

Speech and language therapists work with infants and children with eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties to assess what might be going wrong and suggest changes which will make the process safer and help the child to develop their skills. 

How to access

Children may be seen individually or in groups by the Speech and language therapists or programmes of work may be delivered by other childcare workers or parents under the direction of the therapist.

Please read their website to find details about how to get help and workshops. 

More details are available on our Speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) article on the local offer. 

Local Offer Information

Description

If you have any concerns about your child’s speech and language development, you can contact the Speech and Language Therapy Service in the following ways:

Visit the Sirona care & health’s Children’s Service Website: Children and Young People’s Services – Providing NHS and Local Authority funded children's community services for Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (sirona-cic.org.uk)

Here is a link to the Early years ( pre school) page: Early Years Speech & Language Therapy – Children and Young People’s Services (sirona-cic.org.uk)

Here is a link to the School age page: School Age Speech and Language Therapy Service – Children and Young People’s Services (sirona-cic.org.uk)

Here is a link to the Autism Assessment Service pages: Autism Spectrum Assessment Service – Children and Young People’s Services (sirona-cic.org.uk)

Early Years Telephone Advice Line

A telephone drop in line for anyone with a child aged between 0-4 to talk about their child’s speech and language development.

Telephone: 0300 125 5139 This line operates every Wednesday between 9.30am -12noon

School Age Service

All local state schools and academies have a Link SLT. They are the point of contact for any SLT concerns. This includes the Special Schools and Units. Your school SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) will have their contact details or you can call the Speech and Language Therapy Advice Line or email the Speech and Language Therapy Service team to find these out. 

School age Telephone Advice Line: 0300 125 5140. This line operates every Wednesday morning 9am – 12noon.

All Ages

Email the Speech and Language Therapy Service team with your query and someone will reply with information about what to do next.

Training for parents 

Our training team are involved in delivering courses to both parents and education staff across Early Years and School Age. Information is available on the website pages – see links above.  

Local Offer Age Bands
0-4 (Early Years)
4-11 (Primary school)
11-16 (Secondary school)
SEN Provision Type
Targeted service
Specialist service

Contact details

Website:
Speech and Language therapy
Contact name:
Early Years Speech & Language Therapy Advice Line
Telephone:
0300 125 5139
Email:
sirona.slt@nhs.net
Notes:

The advice line is open on a Wednesday morning between 9.30 -12 noon