Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

To independently assess and manage the speech, language and communication needs of children attending special schools in Warwickshire.

To deliver training to parents, school staff and other professionals.

Exercise full responsibility and autonomy for a highly complex caseload of children with special needs aged 4-19 years attending special schools with a wide range of speech language and communication disorders and/or Dysphagia needs, seeking support from the lead clinician for the special school as needed.

Clinical Responsibilities

Facilitate communication so that the needs of the child and family are central to the clinical process.

Play a pivotal role in ensuring effective joint working for children with communication difficulties and their families.

Prioritise own caseload and manage own complex workload effectively and efficiently.

Use specialist knowledge to assess, analyse and diagnose speech, language, communication disorders in children with highly complex learning and medical conditions and syndromes using specialist knowledge to select appropriate formal and informal assessments including standardised psychometric tests and skilled observation. This requires a high level of concentration and analytical skills.

Use specialist knowledge to assess, analyse and diagnose dysphagia needs seeking supervision as determined by the clinicians established dysphagia competency level.

Formulate a differential diagnosis and a detailed individual management plan based upon analysis of assessment finding, case history, medical knowledge of conditions and syndromes and environmental factors, taking into account research evidence and best practise.

Independently formulate detailed patient management plans according to individual need, using assessment findings and case histories, and involving careful negotiation with carers, clients and other professionals.

Negotiate with parents/carers, education staff and other professionals to agree appropriate Outcomes and management for the individual which may include any combination of the following.

Therapeutic intervention with children either individually or in groups.

Groups run jointly with teachers and teaching assistants (TAs) or other professionals

Programmes jointly planned and implemented with Teaching staff, or other professionals.

Directing and supporting others in carrying out individual programmes e.g. parents, TAs, Speech and Language Therapy Assistants.

Providing advice on curriculum differentiation through Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and regular liaison with Teachers.

Providing advice on specific strategies to employ in the home, preschool setting or classroom.

Advising referral to other professionals where indicated.

Evaluate and make decisions about therapy options taking into account the child and familys aspirations, learning style and curriculum requirements.

Formulate a detailed individual management plan based upon relevant research and best practice.

Recognise potential conflict or breakdown in the above process and use negotiation and problem solving skills to reach agreement.

Manage the behaviour of children with complex needs and motivate them to achieve positive therapy outcomes, including children who are challenging or have severe/complex difficulties.

Provide expertise and advice to enable others to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of care of individual children.

Communicate complex and specialist information to others by way of written reports, programmes and face to face discussions, adapting own communication style and content to the needs of the situation.

Liaise with other professionals and teams in a consultative capacity in relation to management of individual children and attend and contribute to meetings involving parents and other professionals e.g. case conferences.

Use specialist knowledge of communication disorders and to recognise and manage emotional needs of client/carer when imparting distressing information.

Contribute Assessment advice and reviews of Education, Health & Care Plans as required by the Children and Families Act 2014 and SEND Code of Practice 2014.

Form productive relationships with families, recognising the need for and ensuring sensitivity and care.

Communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning assessment findings and provision of care for children.

Be a resource to other Speech & Language Therapists, for information about children with Learning Difficulties (LD) and/or Cerebral Palsy (CP) with respect to communication.

Negotiate with parents/carers, education staff, other professionals and the lead clinician for the school to agree additional appropriate specialist management for the individual.

Attend Special Schools parents evenings.

Come and join a Trust rated Outstanding by the CQC. South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust have been rated as outstanding following our latest inspection by the CQC and we are recruiting new staff to come and help us improve even further.

We provide services across Warwickshire and beyond ranging from Hospitals in Warwick, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Royal Leamington Spa and Shipston-on Stour to Community Services across the county. We are a progressive, expanding organisation with great ambition around improving quality, integrating pathways and delivering high levels of productivity.

Our values can be summed up in one sentence. We are 'Trusted to provide safe, effective and compassionate care'. Throughout the recruitment process you will be asked to think about how you demonstrate these values and how they impact on your work. It doesn't matter what role you do, whether it is patient facing or not, we are all working in the same way with our values at the core.

Qualifications

Experience

Skills

Personal Qualities

Other