Children’s Speech and Language Therapy Service – Warrington

General introduction

Our Warrington Children’s Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) Service works with children and young people aged 0 to 16 years (0 to 19 in special schools) 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

How to access this service

Referrals

You can refer children aged 0 to 16 years (or 0 to 19 years if they attend a special school) 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:

referral guidelines – please read before completing a referral form
Children’s Speech and Language Therapy referral form
Children’s Speech and Language Therapy re‑referral form (for children known to the service within the last two years)
eating and drinking referral guidelines – please read before completing the eating and drinking referral form
Children’s Speech and Language Therapy eating and drinking referral form

What happens after referral

Referrals are triaged by our speech and language therapists (SLTs) and will be either accepted or not accepted. The referrer and parents / carers will be informed of the outcome by letter.

If a child’s referral is accepted, parents / carers will receive a letter once the child reaches the top of the waiting list, inviting them to arrange an initial appointment. Parents / carers must reply to this letter in order to be given an appointment. If there is no response, the child will not be offered an appointment and will be discharged.

Current waiting times for first assessment is approximately 30 weeks from the date we receive the referral.

Initial appointments take place either at one of our Warrington 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 any impact these difficulties have on day‑to‑day life.

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

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

If you are concerned about your child’s social communication skills, you may want to discuss this with your child’s nursery, school or health visitor.

About the team

Child Development Centre Team

The Child Development Centre Team comprises healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses and therapy staff who work together to support families with a child who has a health or additional need.

Schools Team

Our speech and language therapists work closely with school staff and provide advice and activities to support children in mainstream schools, designated provisions and special schools.

Useful information

Speech and Language UK advice line

You can book a free 30‑minute call with a speech and language advisor through Speech and Language UK. They can offer guidance and signpost you to other services, including whether a referral to our local Speech and Language Therapy Service may be needed.

You can book a call on their website: Talk to a speech and language advisor – Speech and Language UK.

Please note that Speech and Language UK is a separate organisation. To make a referral to our service, please see the 'how to refer' section below.

Resources

We provide a range of information sheets to support parents, carers and professionals. These resources offer practical advice and strategies to help children and young people develop their speech, language and communication skills.

Visit our resources page.

Training programmes

We offer a wide range of training groups for parents, carers and teaching assistants at Health Services at Wolves and at the Child Development Centre at Sandy Lane.

Your speech and language therapist will recommend the most appropriate training package to support your child or young person. This forms an essential part of their therapy programme.

Your therapist will also provide information on how to access the training.

If you are invited to attend one of these sessions, please do not bring your child or young person, as we are unable to provide childcare.

If you are unable to attend, please let us know as soon as possible. Places are always in high demand, and we can offer you an alternative date if you are still interested.

Our training sessions include:

Early years

Early communication skills group - this group will help you understand how non-verbal and verbal language develops in young children who are not yet talking or only using a few first words.
Early language parent group - this group will help you understand how language develops in young children and give you ideas to support your child’s use of spoken language at home.
Fluency parent group - you will learn more about why children stammer and how to support your child in developing improved fluency for parents of children who stammer.
Makaton - we offer a practical demonstration session of early Makaton signs that you can use at home with your child or children in your setting.
Hanen - the programme is designed to help parents/carers learn how to develop their child’s communication skills at home.

School aged

Auditory memory – for children who struggle to retain information, this session gives strategies to support active listening.
Narrative – for children who find it hard to tell or sequence stories, this session shows how to use WH questions to build narrative skills.
Verbal reasoning – for children who have difficulty with abstract or complex questions, this session explains the four levels of questioning and how to support each one.
Vocabulary – for children who struggle to find the right word, this session covers how vocabulary develops and strategies such as categorising and word webs.
Social communication 1 – for primary‑aged children with social communication difficulties, this session supports emotional understanding, behaviour, and friendship skills.
Social communication 2 – for secondary‑aged young people with social communication difficulties, this two‑part training explores perspective‑taking, body language, imagination, and conversation skills.
Talkabout – for teaching assistants, this session shows how to set up and assess a social skills group covering self‑esteem, body language, conversation, and assertiveness.

SEND support in Warrington

Special educational needs and disability (SEND) | warrington.gov.uk
A wide range of support to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families.

Useful resources

Online training