Croydon Children s Speech & Language Therapy Service

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1 Croydon Children s Speech & Language Therapy Service Communication changes lives Speech and Language Therapy Newsletter In this Issue... Welcome... News from the ASD-ADHD Team. 2 Welcome to the 1st Edition of the Speech and Language Therapy Newsletter. The aim of this newsletter is to keep you up to date with all the exciting things happening related to Speech & Language Therapy across the borough. It will include examples of work at all levels (Universal, Targeted and Specialist) and will be produced each term. In this edition you will find updates from some of our specialist teams, an insight into the day to day life of one of our Primary Therapists as well as details of lots of training available for staff within your settings. We want this newsletter to help you! If there is anything you would like shared in future editions please contact your Link Therapist or the department. We would love to share examples of Speech and Language Therapy in action within your settings. Elklan Courses 2 News from the 2 Dysfluency Team A Day in the Life of... Training for Mealtime Supervisors Partners in Communication Training for Health Visitors and School Nurses Voice Box 4 Don t Miss: Have you heard about Chatterbox? Chatterbox are targeted level drop-in groups for Croydon families with children aged 0-5 years who have concerns about their child s talking or interaction. They are run jointly by Children s Centre and Speech and Language Therapy Staff to promote, encourage and support speech, language and communication development. We also run Big Chatter over the Summer holidays for children who will be starting school. The dates and locations for Chatterbox Groups this term can be found on Page 5. No referral is needed - Voice Box - get involved and let s do the double for Croydon! Page 4 Dates for Your Diary - Page 4 Get in Touch - find our contact details on Page 5!

2 News from the ASD-ADHD Team We have just completed a Transition-to-Secondary group for children with ASD who are starting mainstream secondary schools in September. It is a group aimed at providing practical tips to children and families to help the children settle in more easily in September. 6 families completed the 4-day course, and feedback from parents and children has been very positive. We will be contacting the families in September to find out how the children have settled in school. We also completed the Budding Communicator Course in the Summer Term. This is a 7-week course for pre-nursery and pre-school children with significant social communication difficulties, and includes both individual and group therapy input. We set up one course in the north of the borough and one in the south. 10 families altogether completed the course. Informal feedback from parents have been positive and we have been able to observe progress in all the children through the course. We are gathering post-course feedback from families at the moment. We are hoping to run more courses in the next term. Elklan Training Elklan is an accredited course, which provides information and strategies to develop the communication skills of all children, but particularly those with speech, language and communication needs. We routinely run the courses for those working with children in Early Years and 5-11 years. There is also the option of courses for those working with children on the autistic spectrum or using AAC. The course is run over 10 sessions and requires some homework between sessions. Feedback from those who have completed the course has always been extremely positive. It is also part of the process of schools becoming a Communication Friendly School. If you would be interested in further information, or to enroll staff members on the course, please contact Linda Hinton: Linda.Hinton1@nhs.net News from the Dysfluency Team The Dysfluency (Stammering) Team have been busy running groups over the Summer Holidays. The groups were for children in Key Stage 2 (aged 8-11 years) and sessions were daily for a week. Feedback from the groups was really positive and the children (and their parents / carers) all learned a lot. The children particularly enjoyed having the opportunity to work with other children who stammer and learn they are not alone!

3 A Day in the Life of Louise Needham (Speech & Language Therapist in the Primary Service) Louise Needham is a Speech and Language Therapist working in Mainstream Primary Schools, she is also Primary Cluster Lead at Parkway. Here she shares a typical working day I arrive in work and log on to check my s and confirm my plans for the day. Then there is just time to collect the files and resources I need before heading out to school. I arrive at my first school and have time to speak to the Special Needs Coordinator (SENCO) before meeting a parent and child for an Initial Assessment. After a one to one assessment I also spend time observing the child in class and speaking with their Class Teacher. I write my case notes whilst the children are at play and then see two children in a group. Then it s back to the office to write the Initial Assessment report and update Care Plans. After lunch I head to my second school, where I have planned three reviews. I see two of the children, but the final child is on a school trip, so the time is spent meeting with the Partners in Communication (PIC) Teaching Assistant (TA) discussing the groups and any concerns. I meet with the children s Class Teachers after school and then head to the office to complete all paperwork, input today's sessions on our computer system and respond to any s / telephone messages that have come in.. Partners in Communication (PIC) The Partners in Communication (PIC) Project continues to run well across a range of schools. This Project aims to support Teaching Assistants running groups with children at a Lower Targeted level. TAs meet on a termly basis for their Network Meetings, to receive training and share ideas. The last session run in Purley Cluster had such good uptake that there weren t enough chairs! The feedback from schools and children involved in PIC have always been extremely positive. Schools often comment on the increased confidence and vocabulary seen from the children in groups. For further information on the PIC Project please contact Louise Needham: Louise.Needham@nhs.net Training for Mealtime Supervisors Heather Forster (Speech and Language Therapist) ran a very successful training session for Mealtime Supervisors at Red Gates School. The participants gave lots of positive feedback about the usefulness of the course, which covered ways to support children with eating and drinking difficulties (EDD) during school mealtimes. If you feel this training would be useful for the mealtime supervisors in your setting, we would be happy to deliver it. Please contact Heather Forster: Heather.Forster@nhs.net

4 Training for Health Visitors and School Nurses Candace Wade (Speech and Language Therapist) ran some training for Health Visitors and School Nurses. Around 15 people, with a range of experience attended the course. Feedback has been very positive and participants felt they learnt a lot (even those who reported feeling confident in their knowledge prior to the course). Following feedback some changes and additions have been made for future sessions, making them even more useful! If you would like us to deliver some training to your team, please get in touch! We are happy to tailor course to the interests, experience and requirements of your team. We can provide general training on Communication and / or Eating and Drinking Difficulties, as well as more specialised courses on areas such as Autism or Dysfluency. Get in touch to discuss your needs! Dates for Your Diary SEPTEMBER 27th - Thornton Heath PIC Network am. Venue TBC OCTOBER 12th - Parkway PIC Network pm. Rowdown Primary NOVEMBER 3rd - Purley PIC Network am. Chipstead Valley Primary 24th Secondary Network Meeting pm. Venue TBC DECEMBER Voice Box 2016 Voice Box is an annual national joke competition for mainstream and specialist schoolchildren, designed to raise awareness of the fun and importance of communication in a light-hearted and inclusive way. Voice Box runs during the Autumn Term each year. Last year s winner came from a Croydon school (Aerodrome ELP) - let s go for the double! For further information, resources and to get involved visit:

5 Contact Us! Central Admin Office Sanderstead Clinic 40 Rectory Park Sanderstead Croydon CR2 9JN Telephone: Your first point of contact should be your Link Therapist. If you are unsure who they are, or cannot contact them, then please Lennard Road Parkway contact the Cluster Leads: Early Years Contact Faith Brooks Contact Faith Brooks Primary Carmel Roberts Louise Needham Purley Thornton Heath Woodside Contact Faith Brooks Jayne Nicholls Jo Drake Sandra Corbo- Stewart. Carmel Roberts Contact Heather Forster For Secondary Plus Services (High School and Post-16) please contact Clare Andrew / Sharron Nelson on Chatterbox Groups Mondays 12.45pm to 2.45pm Crosfield Children s Centre Tuesdays 9.30am to 11.30am Aerodrome Children s Centre Tuesdays 1.30pm to 3.00pm Winterbourne Children s Centre Wednesdays 9.30am to 11.30am Good Shepherd Primary School Family Hub Thursdays 9.30am to 11.30am Selhurst Children s Centre Thursdays 9.30am to 11.15am **1st and 3rd THURSDAY OF THE MONTH ONLY** Shirley Children s Centre Thursdays 1.00pm to 3.00pm Woodlands Children s Centre Fridays 9.30am to 11.30am Purley Oaks Children s Centre Fridays 1.00pm to 2.30pm Kensington Avenue Children s Centre See Page 1 for details of what groups involve

6 Croydon Children s Speech & Language Therapy Communication changes lives Closing thoughts from Ann Harvey-Lewis, Head of the Children s SLT Service Since August 2014, when our service was first jointly commissioned by the local authority and CCG, we have fully embraced The Balanced system approach as a means of meeting the speech, language and communication needs of children and young people within the borough of Croydon. As you will be aware, this has led to some changes to the way in which speech and language therapy has been delivered to children and young people with SLCN as well as to settings and parents/carers. Overall, I have been pleased with the way in which the service changes have been embraced by settings across the borough and have received much positive feedback from settings, who value knowing how much SLT input they will receive each academic year in the form of their allocation. I am pleased that you have had the opportunity to see all the fantastic work that is happening within our team and I know that the therapists and assistants are look forward to working with you over the coming academic year. If you have an issue that cannot be resolved through your link therapist, or you would like to discuss a concern with a manager, please contact the SLT management team as follows: Ann Harvey-Lewis Lead for Children s Therapies Head of Children s Speech and Language Therapy ann.harveylewis@nhs.net Clare Andrew Speech and Language Therapist Team Manager Secondary Schools Service mary.andrew1@nhs.net Heather Forster Speech and Language Therapist Team Manager Primary Schools Service heather.forster@nhs.net Faith Brooks Speech and Language Therapist Team Manager Early Years Service faith.brooks1@nhs.net Did you know? The SLT management team are available to meet individually with you at an open office slot from 4pm- 5pm on Wednesday afternoons. Please feel free to meet with us or contact us by telephone during this time. You can arrange a meeting slot with us during an open office session by contacting our admin team on or ing: CH-TR.SLTcroydonchildren@nhs.net to request a slot at the open office. We are available to discuss any concerns that you may have that are specific to your setting.