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Barnsley Specialist
Children’s Health Services
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Speech Speech and Language Therapy MENU

The therapist was fantastic and I was impressed with how she interacted with my son and my husband and I.  He really liked her and actually enjoyed his appointments and missed seeing her.  He told her his feelings and thoughts in a way that was revealing to me as well.  Thank You.

Family member
Banner speech and language

Speech and Language Therapy

The children’s speech and language therapy team provide support to children and young people aged 0-18 years who have communication and/or swallowing difficulties (dysphagia) which affects eating or drinking.

We assess children and young people’s speech, language and communication skills and work with them alongside their parents and teachers, to help them communicate to the best of their ability.

Who do we work with?

We assess and provide advice for children who have:

  • difficulty producing sounds
  • difficulty understanding language
  • difficulty using language
  • difficulty with feeding, chewing and swallowing
  • a stammer

What other professionals do we work with?

As speech and language therapists we work closely with other agencies and professionals to help children reach their communication potential.

People we work with include doctors, teachers and other educational staff, psychologists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists.

We work in a variety of settings including:

  • community clinics
  • mainstream schools
  • special schools
  • nurseries 
  • homes
  • children’s centres

We work with children and young people who live in Barnsley or are registered with a Barnsley GP, who meet our referral criteria.

Speech and language therapy aims to:

  • provide clinically appropriate treatment to meet the current needs of children and their parents or carers
  • support children and their family to use speech therapy at home 
  • train parents, carers, teachers, and other professionals to use strategies and carry out therapy activities with support
  • provide early intervention and advice
  • make developing speech, language, communication, eating and drinking fun and everyone’s responsibility.

We offer:

Assessment:

All children and young people referred to the service will be assessed and offered a package of care to meet their needs. Once the package of care is complete the child or young person will be discharged from the service.

Children can be re-referred if clinically needed.

Therapy:

A speech and language therapist may need to see the child/young person to carry out a specific programme of work. 

Usually the speech and language therapist advises on some practice or activity to be carried out by the child or young person’s parents/carer or school staff. We ask when referring a child to speech and language therapy that parents/carers understand they will need to make a commitment to attend appointments and carry out daily practice.

Training:

Training may be required as part of a child’s package of care. School staff and/or parents/carers will be offered a place on training courses provided by the service.

Health promotion/prevention:

The service is committed to training and educating people who work with children to enable them to support speech and language development in early years with the aim of reducing the incidence and impact of speech and language delay.

Why would someone choose our service?

  • 9 out of 10 parents report that they would recommend our service to their friends and family (Jan 2020)
  • We offer training to parents, carers and professionals. 10 out of 10 people report that our training was useful, well presented and was a good use of their time (2019-20)
  • 10 out 10 people said they would come to more training in the future (2019-20)

To find out more about the children’s speech and language team explore the pages in the menu on the left or visit South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s website

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I cancel an appointment?

Please ring our main office on 01226 644331 or email swy-tr.barnsleyspeechtherapy@nhs.net. Please give your child’s full name and your name and your telephone number

Please keep in mind that if you cancel a lot, we will discharge your child.

What happens if I forget to take my child to an appointment?
  • We will discharge your child
  • You can request a re-referral. We will ask you to make a commitment to come to appointments
What will happen at the first appointment?

At your first appointment the therapist will talk to you and your child about your concerns. The therapist will ask you about your child’s early history, including details about pregnancy, birth, milestones, early sounds, first words and sentences, and eating and drinking. First appointments will last approximately 30-45 minutes.

The therapist will spend some time playing or talking with your child. It is helpful for the child to expect to be coming to play some games rather than be told he or she must ‘talk to the person’. You may like to encourage your child to bring a favourite small toy or book to share with the therapist.

At the end of the appointment the therapist will give advice about your child’s communication and what steps need to be taken. Quite often they will give you some ideas for activities that you can do with your child at home.