Preschool Speech and Language Therapist

Job overview

The role is to work as part of a team providing support to children and families in the Central/South area of Warwickshire.  The preschool team functions as an integral part of a wider County wide team.

Please note that the cost of the DBS check will be covered by the successful candidate.

Main duties of the job

Independently assess and manage children’s speech, language & communication difficulties.

Deliver training to parents, early years staff and other professionals

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities

To exercise full responsibility for a designated caseload of Pre-school children.

To use highly developed interpersonal skills to:

• facilitate communication so that the needs of the child and family are central to the clinical process
• play a pivotal role in ensuring effective joint working for children with communication difficulties and their families

To prioritise own caseload and manage own workload effectively and efficiently.

To assess and analyse complex information related to children’s speech, language and communication using specialist knowledge to select appropriate formal and informal assessments including standardised psychometric tests.

To formulate a diagnosis based upon assessment, case history information and information from family and other professionals.

To evaluate and make decisions about therapy options taking into account the child’s educational attainments, learning style and curriculum requirements.

To formulate a detailed individual management plan based upon relevant research and best practice.

To agree options in collaboration with all those involved in order to implement the individual management plan, which may include any combination of the following:

• therapeutic intervention with children individually or in groups (in school or clinic)
• programmes jointly planned and implemented with teaching staff
• Supporting others to implement programmes according to individual needs
• Providing advice on curriculum differentiation through Individual Education Plans (IEPs)
• Providing advice on specific strategies to employ in the classroom and/or at home.
• Advising referral to other professionals where indicated

To provide demonstration / training on how to maximise communication opportunities for the individual.

To provide individualised packages of care for children with a range of complex needs

To plan and deliver high quality training to enable settings to provide the optimum language learning environment

To manage children’s behaviour and motivate them to achieve positive therapy outcomes including those who have severe/complex difficulties or who may be challenging.

To recognise potential conflict or breakdown in the above process and use negotiation and problem-solving skills to reach agreement.

To communicate complex and specialist information to others by way of written reports and face-to-face discussions, adapting own communication style and content to the needs of the situation.

To form productive relationships with families, recognising the need for and ensuring sensitivity and care where:

There may be emotional stress

Difficult or potentially distressing news to be given

There are potential barriers to communication

To contribute to Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND) including providing:

Assessment and support at the Targeted and Specialist level as set out in the Warwickshire SEND Provision Matrix

Specified and quantified advice for Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP) as required by the SEND Code of Practice (2014) and Children & Families Act (2014)

To attend Annual Reviews and termly reviews of targets as required

To liaise with other professionals and teams in a consultative capacity in relation to management of individual children and attend and contribute to meetings involving parents and other professionals (e.g. case conferences, Annual Review of EHCP, etc.)

To supervise and support SLTAs in undertaking programmes for individual children on caseload.

To work with other members of the local and countywide teams and members of other teams to achieve seamless, co-ordinated service provision.

To support the team in the development and provision of training / teaching packages for LA staff

To collaborate with LA support service teachers / early years teachers in the provision of training / teaching packages, as required

To undertake workshop sessions for parents (including evening sessions) as required.

To work collaboratively with a range of multi-disciplinary and multi-agency professionals to provide high quality SLT services for children with speech, language and communication difficulties