Frequently
Asked Questions
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What do you mean by the terms speech, or language. What is the difference?
Speech refers to the sounds we produce to make words for talking i.e. sounds like 'p' 'm' 's' 'o' 'i' etc.
Language referes to the words we use to make phrases and sentences. It involves both understanding words and sentences spoken to us i.e. making sense of what people say to us, and using words to say what we want.
People can have difficulties with either speech or language or both.
We can often tell from a young age whether someone is having speech and/or language difficulties. The sooner we can find out, the sooner we can do something to help.
Speech Link and Language Link help schools to find out very quickly if any chldren starting school are having difficulties in picking up speech and language. The supportive therapeutic materials we offer give schools ideas about how to help children with these important skills.
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Can an individual school buy speech/language link?
No it is only sold as part of a partnership arrangement between
a Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) service and an Education Authority/group of scools. The identification and prioritisation
of children for referral to SLT needs to be supported by the local
SLT service. Speech Link allows the SLT service to offer some of
this vital support via a secure online service.
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Can Speech/language Link be used with the initiatives we already
have in place?
Yes, the training for the Teaching Assistants and Teachers is delivered by the local SLT service.
The SLT service can, with their Education colleagues, customise the training
to meet the local schools’ needs. Speech link has been very successfully
integrated into areas using other language and speech schemes.
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What about the child who is already following an SLT programme,
is there a fear that the school would change the focus to speech
inappropriately?
The training offered to all schools by the local SLT team covers
the breadth of communication difficulties and helps the TA place
speech difficulty in this context. It is made very clear that SLTs
guide the focus of therapy for a child and it is fully explained
why any programme given by the SLT always has precedence.
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What about the child with special needs, or a child who has global
delay?
One would hope that these
children would be referred to, or be known by the SLT service.
The SLT would be guiding regarding focus of
therapy and may well suggest the speech programmes to use from
Speech or Language Link within a broader remit with the child.
The training would cover the broader issues of communication difficulty,
and the SLT contact via the online facility could be used by the
school to check issues. The section on developmental norms for
sound development can be used to check a child’s speech.
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What is the role of the local SLT department, what do we sign
up to?
You agree to identify a Speech Link link Therapist, who leads
on offering the schools the speech link training, and an annual
update training. You agree to look at the online facility every
day, term time only and respond in a timely way to questions from
your schools, this offers them essential support. You keep your
SLT internet notice board to schools up to date with information
regarding training, new articles and local information.
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Who usually pays?
Groups of schools or the Education Authority usually pay and SLT services agree to give
their time via training and support.
