Children's Speech and Language Therapy Service

Service description

Due to an increased demand for our speech and language therapy service, we are sorry that children and young people are experiencing waiting times of up to 18 months for a follow up appointment. We are doing all we can to reach children and young people on our waiting lists as quickly as possible whilst maintaining a good standard of care. Our website has  resources that can help parents and our education colleagues to support children and young people with a variety of speech and language or eating and drinking difficulties, within their environment. If you have significant concerns about your child’s needs, please contact the speech and language therapy office on 0116 2955256.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

We are a team of speech and language therapists and support workers who provide episodes of care to children and young people across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

We support children and young people who have difficulties with:

• Speech, language and communication skills
• Eating, drinking and swallowing skills

We work in episodes of care. At the end of an episode of care, parents and carers may be given strategies to support their child and many children will be discharged from the service at this point. Children and young people can be re-referred to the service if they need further specialist support from a speech and language therapist.

We work in partnership with a range of other agencies and colleagues including schools, Early Years settings, children’s centres, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, medical teams and the voluntary sector.

How are we currently working?

Click here to find out what our service can offer.

Utilising ReachDeck for text-to-speech and translations

ReachDeck, a web accessibility toolbar, is available on this website to help you understand our content and interact independently. Features of the ReachDeck toolbar, which can be launched by clicking the orange ‘Speak’ icon in the bottom right hand corner of your screen, include:

• Text-to-speech: reads the text out loud with highlighting
• Translation: translates the text into over 100 languages
• Screen mask: provides a screen tint overlay
• Picture dictionary: displays the meaning of a word through illustration

View this video to find out more about the ReachDeck toolbar:

Referral criteria

If your child meets any of the above criteria then they can be referred to our service by –

• Parent/carer by completing one referral form.
• Schools, nurseries, other educational settings by following our Working Together – Referral Guidelines 

If you are referring a child for speech sound difficulties, please can nurseries and schools complete the Speech Sound Screen and include it in the email with the completed referral form.