Speech and language therapists are registered allied health professionals (a trained health professional who is not a doctor or nurse). Our service works with children and young people aged 0 to 19 with speech, language and communication needs in clinics, homes, and educational settings across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. We work directly with children and young people alongside their key communication partners such as parents, carers, and educational staff.
We help children and young people:
We want all children and young people, and their families to have timely and easily accessible support that is neurodiversity affirming and compassionate.
Children and young people with speech, language and communication needs may have difficulties with:
Speech and language therapists also provide support for children and young people with eating and drinking difficulties. These may include difficulties with:
The service follows an episodes of care model. This means we see children and young people when they need us the most and have a specific goal they need the support of a speech and language therapist to work towards. We then step back when communication partners have the confidence and skills to meet that goal and communication is well supported.
The best way to support communication is through joint working and having communication support in the child’s everyday environment. This means we require active participation when working with us.
We would value your feedback, please take the time to complete our service survey.
If you have concerns about a child or young person's eating and drinking skills, fill in a referral form (DOCX, 61 KB) and send completed forms to the Speech and Language Enquiries Team.
We support children with difficulties in the following areas:
Your child will be seen at home, or if it’s more appropriate in their pre-school, education or care setting. Inpatients will be seen in hospital.
The therapist will take a case history and observe your child eating and/or drinking. Following the assessment, your therapist will write a report with recommendations and will discuss sharing this report with any other professionals who may be involved in your child’s care. You and the education or care setting may also receive a mealtime plan to describe your child’s feeding recommendations in detail such as positioning, textures to be offered or avoided.
Depending on your child’s needs, they may be offered a review appointment to monitor progress with the recommendations or the case may be closed with the option to re-refer if required.
Your child’s case will be closed when they have developed their eating and drinking skills to their potential, or when they have the appropriate personalised mealtime plan to ensure that they are able to eat and drink safely.
To get general communication advice, email the Request for Help Team with your contact details and a brief message describing the advice you need. If you need to discuss a specific child or young person with us, complete the request for help form below.
To discuss concerns about a child's speech, language, and communication needs, ensure that you have parental or carer consent and then complete our request for help form. For young people over the age of 16, ensure that you have their consent to request support, if they have the capacity to do so.
Once the request for help form has been received, the Specialist Request for Help Team will email you to arrange a phone consultation once it has reached the top of the waiting list. The team is made up of experienced speech and language therapists.
There is a high demand for the Speech and Language Therapy Service and it could take 24 weeks for a request for help phone consultation.
Read the guidance below before completing the form:
The Speech and Language Request for Help Team will discuss your child’s presentation and undertake an initial screen of their needs. During the call we will discuss the information you have already given us. We may ask you follow-up questions so we can find out more information. The most appropriate next steps will be provided depending on your child and the support they require.
After the telephone consultation, a copy of the request for help report will be emailed to the person completing the consultation and the parent or guardian. This will include any recommendations we have made and whether the child or young person will be seen for a further face-to-face assessment session with the Speech and Language Therapy Service.
Not all requests for help will need to have a face-to-face appointment. After a telephone consultation some may get a pack of activities and/or may be given advice and clear criteria to meet before contacting us in the future. Others may be signposted to another service or group, or attendance at a training course may be recommended.
Below are some things for you to try before you contact the specialist children’s speech and language therapy team.
We have links with the Augmentative and Alternative Communication Assessment Team. This is a multi-agency team made up of professionals from the Trust and Cornwall Council.
The team can provide an assessment to establish whether a young person would benefit from using a voice-output communication aid, up until they are 18 years old. Referrals to the team are through the student’s speech and language therapist only.
Between the ages of 2 to 6 years old it is common for children to have speech sound errors as their communication skills are still developing. Some children speak very clearly from the moment they talk. Others have lots of sound errors that gradually resolve as they get older.
If your concern is around a child or young person’s speech sound development you will need to complete the speech sound screening checklist (DOCX, 1 MB) with the child or young person before completing the form. You will need to enter this information in the form to be able to submit it.
If you have concerns around a child’s speech sounds and their language skills (understanding and/or use of language), select speech sound difficulties (articulation) as the main communication need from the drop-down, to populate the speech sound screening checklist.
We are unable to give any advice or support around a child’s speech sounds unless this information has been received which may delay your telephone consultation.
You will need to complete the speech sound screening checklist in full and submit it. You will be able to save a copy of the form for your own records once submitted.
