Children’s Speech and Language Therapy Service – Halton

General introduction

The Halton Children’s Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) Service works with children and young people aged 0 to 19 years (up to 25 years where the young person has special educational needs) who have speech, language, communication or swallowing difficulties.

The service is delivered by a specialist team working in partnership with everyone involved in the child or young person’s life.

Any difficulty with communication can affect a child’s social interaction and academic development. Our focus is on supporting children and young people to develop their communication skills so they can participate fully at home, in education and in their community.

Many children will not naturally grow out of their difficulties without some level of speech and language therapy. We aim to help each child reach their full potential, and to ensure that parents and carers feel confident in supporting their child’s communication.

Our work also supports children and young people’s social interaction, emotional wellbeing and educational development.

We do this through:

a preventative approach, including health promotion and parent training
coaching parents, carers and professionals
providing advice, strategies, therapy and programmes to support communication skills
working closely with other professionals involved in the child’s life
creating environments that help children use and develop their current skills

Our speech and language therapists work primarily with children to support their communication, language and speech development.

Some therapists have specialist training to support children with eating and drinking skills. This may be needed if:

they have swallowing difficulties (dysphagia)
they are over‑sensitive to food or touch in and around their mouth
they need help learning to eat and drink independently

Important information

The Halton Children's Speech and Language Therapy Service transferred from Communicate SLT to the Trust on Wednesday 1 April 2026.

All referrals made to Communicate SLT before this date, and all children and young people who were under the care of Communicate SLT on 31 March 2026, have transferred to the Trust as the new service provider.

Over the coming weeks, we will be reviewing all clinical records to identify children and young people with the greatest clinical need, who may require a more urgent appointment.

We will update waiting time information on this webpage as this work progresses and further information becomes available.

How to access this service

Referrals

Anyone can refer children aged 0 to 19 years (up to 25 years where the young person has special educational needs) who have difficulties in any of the following areas:

understanding language
spoken language
speech sounds
stammering
voice problems
attention and listening
social communication
feeding and swallowing
hearing impairment

How to refer

We operate an open referral process, which means anyone can refer a child to the Speech and Language Therapy Service, including parents and carers, education staff and healthcare professionals.

Please make sure you have parent / carer permission before referring and include a signed consent form.

Referral documents

What happens after referral

All referrals are reviewed by our Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs). Referrals will be either accepted or not accepted, depending on the information provided on the referral form and whether the referral meets our criteria.

The referrer and parents/carers will be informed of the outcome of this review by letter.

If the referral is accepted, parents/carers will receive further communication when the service is able to offer an initial appointment. Parents/carers must respond to this letter to be offered an appointment. If no response is received, the child or young person will not be offered an appointment and will be discharged from the service.

Initial appointments take place either at one of our Halton clinics or in the child’s school.

During the appointment, the SLT may use formal and/or informal assessments, including toys and pictures. They will ask parents/carers about their child’s communication skills and how any difficulties affect day‑to‑day life.

The SLT will explain their findings and discuss next steps. Parents/carers will also be given advice and strategies to use at home.

To provide integrated, high‑quality care, we share assessment outcomes and recommendations with the child or young person’s educational setting (for example, nursery, pre‑school or school). This helps ensure everyone involved understands how best to support the child. If you do not wish information to be shared, you can withdraw your consent at any time.

Useful information

Information sheets

Useful websites

BBC - Tiny Happy People
Tiny Happy People is here to help you develop your child’s language skills, with simple activities and play ideas to help you learn about babies and toddlers’ amazing early development.

British Stammering Association
The British Stammering Association (STAMMA) is the UK’s national charity offering information, support and advocacy for people who stammer and their families.

CLAPA
A UK-wide voluntary organisation specifically helping those with, and affected by, cleft lip and palate.

Communication Matters
Charity supporting research and training for those with complex communication needs who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)

Contact a Family
In touch with hundreds of groups across the UK. Call their freephone helpline on 0808 808 3555 or visit their

Developmental Language Disorder
Learn more about DLD (developmental language disorder) is a relatively new term used to describe a severe ongoing difficulty with talking and/or understanding what other people say for which there is no obvious cause.

The Down’s Syndrome Association (DSA)
Supports people with Down’s syndrome at every stage of life.

Down Syndrome Education International
Work with parents and teachers worldwide to improve educational outcomes for children with Down's syndrome.

The Hanen Centre
A non-profit organisation who help parents, early years teachers and speech and language therapists to support children with communication difficulties.

The Makaton Charity
Provides information on the use of symbols and signs for teaching communication, language and literacy.

Michael Palin Centre for Stammering
The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering is a specialist NHS‑supported service providing expert assessment and therapy for children, young people and adults who stammer.

National Autistic Society
A charity for people with autism and their families. They provide information, support and services.

National Literacy Trust
For information on how to talk to your young child.

Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
The professional body of and for speech and language therapists (SLTs) in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Visit the website to find out more about the role of a speech and language therapist.

Speech and Language UK
Speech and Language UK website. They want every child to face the future with confidence.