Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for a full-time Band 6 Speech and Language Therapist to work at The Bridge School located in Islington. This post is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Band 5 looking to develop their skills to specialise in Autism/ AAC/ Learning Disability or a Band 6 looking to broaden their clinical experience and work in a special school environment.

The postholder will be able to:

• Develop skills and experience of working with autistic children and young people in a specialist school setting
• Develop and shape neurodiversity-affirming practice
• Develop specialist skills and experience in supporting AAC assessment and intervention through our evidence-based high-tech and paper-based AAC pathways and practice which have been highly informed by research and expert opinion.
• Have opportunities to shadow other teams within our wider team/service (e.g. physical disability/MLD special schools, mainstream, early years, autism diagnostic)
• Support local service development

The Bridge Team is one of three special schools in Islington with health and therapies provided by our multi-agency Special Schools team. This team sits under the wider Islington Additional Needs Service (IANDS) which supports children with additional or complex needs across the borough.

We will consider secondments but this will be subject to agreement by your current employer.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work in the multidisciplinary and multi-agency environment to provide a clinical Speech and Language Therapy service for school-aged children who have special educational needs (SEN) related to autism spectrum condition, learning disability, and common co-occurring conditions. They will be responsible for managing and prioritising a defined caseload, independently accessing planned supervision to support the process.

The postholder will provide a universal and targeted speech and language therapy service which includes the advising, training and upskilling of parents, carers, and school staff to support children with complex communication needs. They will also provide direct interventions including assessment, liaison, and episodes of face-to-face therapy for individual/groups of children and young people as well as work within the MDT.

The postholder will liaise with educational colleagues in order to undertake joint planning and reviewing of targets, production of reports, and contributing to EHCP processes.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To work independently accessing appraisal within a Personal Development Review at pre-determined intervals.

• To demonstrate clinical expertise in the assessment, treatment and management of, language and communication difficulties in children and young people providing appropriate specialist intervention and evaluating outcomes.
• To demonstrate specialist knowledge in special educational needs including learning disability and autism, underpinned by current evidence based practice and outcome measures.
• To demonstrate a developing specialist knowledge in AAC assessment and interventions.
• To demonstrate highly developed perceptual skills in the assessment and treatment of young people with special educational needs.
• To make appropriate specialist clinical decisions on evidence from assessment of complex cases, seeking advice as appropriate.
• To develop knowledge and skills in managing children with special educational needs, seeking training, support and supervision from clinical supervisor as appropriate.
• To develop clear care plans based on best practice.
• To demonstrate clinical effectiveness reflecting on evidence based practice and outcome measures.
• To provide advice to others regarding the management and care of children with communication difficulties.
• To communicate complex condition related information to carers, families and members of the multi-disciplinary team/other professions, demonstrating empathy and ensuring that effective communication is achieved, particularly where barriers to understanding exist.
• To work closely with clients, carers, MDT and families, in order to agree plan of management.
• To deal with initial complaints sensitively, avoiding escalation where possible
• To form productive relationships with others who may be under stress and/or have challenging communication difficulties.
• To demonstrate excellent communication skills.
• To demonstrate skills in motivating clients and /or parents/carers to engage in the therapeutic process.
• To maintain sensitivity at all times to the emotional needs of children with special and complex needs and their carers, in particular when imparting potentially distressing information regarding the nature of the client’s difficulties and implications of the same.
• To demonstrate the ability to manage children with behaviours that challenge including the application of appropriate management strategies as stipulated in their behaviour support plan.
• To monitor and review the progress of children and young people against the targets set and agreed, and to modify targets as appropriate.
• To adapt practice to meet individual client circumstances.
• To reflect on clinical practice both individually and with peers identifying strengths and needs and providing evidence of sound clinical judgements based on research and the evidence based practice.
• To develop the ability to reflect on auditory, visual and kinaesthetic aspects of client’s communication and to identify appropriate strategies to facilitate and enhance communicative effectiveness.
• To be aware of legal requirements relating to the provision of a speech and language therapy service.
• To maintain up to date and accurate case notes and write reports reflecting highly specialist knowledge, ensuring that they meet departmental standards and are in line with local Trust Policy, and RCSLT professional standards.
• To demonstrate knowledge of current policies and practice in education and incorporate these into the model of working as appropriate.
• To manage and prioritise a complex and specialist caseload independently, advising line manager on issues of service delivery including shortfall, service pressures etc.
• To demonstrate skills in dealing with complex issues to generate appropriate strategies for caseload management.
• To contribute to multi-agency assessment procedures as required.
• To demonstrate good negotiation skills across a range of issues and situations, recognising and resolving potential breakdown and conflict when it occurs.
• To ensure that children and young people are referred to other services as appropriate.
• To monitor and evaluate specialist service delivery and provide progress reports as required.
• To demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the issues associated with clinical governance and their application to professional practice.  This will include compliance with / adherence to, and implementation of service and service area and Trust policies, National and Local guidelines and RCSLT Professional and Clinical and Guidelines.
• To develop a working knowledge of relevant procedures including: Safeguarding Children, SEN procedures, working with Vulnerable Adults and other legal frameworks.
• To be accountable for professional action and recognising professional boundaries, and working within defined departmental and national protocols/policies and professional code of conduct.