Early Years Speech and Language Therapy Assistant

Job overview

The post holder will work in the Early Years Speech and Language Therapy team, providing support and intervention for young children with a range of speech, language and communication needs.   The post holder will work 2 days a week (ideally Thursday and Friday), as part of a job share, to support the team with a range of administrative and clinical tasks.

The post holder will be based primarily at the Northern Health Centre, however, Health Centres SLT clinics also run from River Place Health Centre. They will receive regular 1:1 management supervision from a senior therapist, group clinical supervision alongside other members of the team and have the opportunity to access Therapy Assistant peer support groups, as well as participating in in-service training and team meetings.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will manage the booking system for initial appointments, overseeing timetabling, sending confirmation letters and appointment reminders to families, booking interpreters if needed and preparing the paperwork in advance of the appointments. The post holder will also be responsible for developing and preparing therapy materials and resources, contacting parents to book or re-schedule appointments and responding to queries which come in for the team by telephone or email.

Clinically, under the guidance of a clinician, the postholder may be asked to:

• deliver therapy groups alongside a Speech and Language Therapist
• deliver individual or paired intervention, under the guidance of a Speech and Language Therapist
• carry out observations of children in nursery to gather information about their functional communication strengths and needs within an education setting, share advice, strategies and activity ideas with key members of the nursery staff and feedback the observations to the therapist to help inform the child’s management plan
• support the team with case history taking as part of a child’s initial assessment

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see full JD/PS for details.

Role Responsibility:

To manage the appointment bookings for first appointments, including contacting parents/carers to book appointments, sending confirmation letters, appointment reminders and preparing the paperwork ready for the day of the appointments

To assist team members with liaising with other agencies involved in the child’s care including: Education, Social Services and Voluntary Services

To demonstrate the ability to use a wide range of computer systems, reports and inputting data.

To form professional relationships with children, families and colleagues and communicate with them in a way that respects their individuality, values, culture and religious diversity

To demonstrate effective communication over the telephone to parents/carers and others, including health visitors and teachers/SENCOs.

To assist in completing a risk assessment of the environment and safety under the guidance of a senior therapist following local and Trust policies

To have an understanding of Moving and Handling Legislation and apply manual handling principles.

To ensure that toys and play materials are kept clean, safe and secure following local and Trust policies

To carry out audits, as requested by the service lead. This may include regular Infection Control and Hand hygiene audits for the wider service

To highlight the need for resources or equipment to aid the smooth running of clinical sessions

To support colleagues in gathering evidence and information (including databases and website searches) and in developing resources.