Resources and links
About us
Speech and language therapy provides services for children and young people (aged 0 – 19 years) in the borough of Richmond who are having difficulties with the development of their speech, language, communication and feeding.
We work closely with parents and relevant professionals to enhance and assist the development of all areas of the child/young person’s speech, language and communication and feeding. We will also suggest and model strategies that can be reinforced throughout the day.
We have a Resources and links page, with lots of support materials for families.
We offer assessment and input in the areas of:
- Attention and listening
- Understanding spoken/signed language
- Communicating using sentences and vocabulary appropriate for the person’s age
- Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC)
- Using speech sounds appropriate for the person’s age
- Social interaction and play
- Stammering
- Voice production
- Feeding and swallowing, including sensory behavioural difficulties
As well as providing assessment and input to children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), we also provide:
- Training and support for families and other people involved in the care of children and young people with speech, language and communication needs
- Training for professionals who work with children and young people with communication needs. These are delivered in a variety of settings including schools, early year’s settings, and children’s centres. We also contribute to the local council’s workforce development training programme
- Support in the community to prevent or reduce communication difficulties from developing
Our service also participates in research and development and student therapist training.
Advice, early help and prevention
Telephone advice line
The advice line is a quick way to access our service for advice/information on speech, language and communication development for parents of children who are registered with a Richmond GP. It provides the opportunity for parents to ask a qualified speech and language therapist questions about their child’s communication or feeding.
No referral is necessary although the therapist may feel, following discussion with you, that a referral into the service is indicated.
Call 020 8614 5333 and leave a message for a therapist to call you back. Current wait times to expect a call back are approximately 2 weeks.
Professionals can also access general advice, but for information relating to a specific child parental consent must be obtained.
Supported stay and play sessions for under 5s
Specific Stay and Play sessions running in your local children’s centre will include your local NHS speech and language therapist or assistant. The speech and language therapy team will be available to answer your questions on your child’s speech, language and communication skills development. They will also be working closely with the stay and play team to give you tips on how to support your child learn to talk during play and everyday activities.
Assessment and intervention
Speech and language therapists from the Early Years Team work with children with a range of speech, language and communication difficulties.
Our approach focusses on assessing each child’s individual needs and working together with parents and key adults to introduce strategies to support the child’s speech, language and communication skills development.
Sessions may be delivered as 1:1 or group input based on each child’s individual needs and include bespoke training to parents/carers.
In addition, the team offers a consultation service to early years setting practitioners as well as a range of training modules as part of the borough’s workforce development programme. To book onto training courses, visit Richmond Council's website.
Therapists provide a consultative service to mainstream primary and secondary schools within the London Borough of Richmond for children with an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP).
The team provides ongoing assessment and monitoring of children’s speech, language and communication needs delivering input as recommended in their EHCP.
They work closely with teaching staff to offer advice, identify targets and strategies and model activities so that these can be integrated and embedded into the curriculum.
Whole school and small group training is offered as necessary in discussion with the school SENCo. The school's allocated therapist is also able to offer consultative advice and support in school for children who do not have an EHCP and whose parents have consented.
Parents who have concerns about their school-aged child's speech, language and communication needs should discuss this with the school's Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) in the first instance.
Therapists provide a speech and language therapy service to Strathmore and Clarendon schools, two of the boroughs specialist education settings.
The team provides ongoing input based on the children’s speech, language and communication needs delivering input as recommended in their EHCP.
They work closely with teaching staff to offer advice, identify targets and strategies and model activities so that these can be integrated and embedded into the curriculum.
Whole school and small group training is offered as necessary in discussion with the school leadership team.
School-aged children and young people who present with a stammer or speech sound disorder come under the care of the clinic service and are offered assessment and follow-up sessions according to their presenting need.
Input may be in the form of advice; 1:1 or group sessions and focuses on working with the key adults around the child to embed supportive strategies.
For children aged 0 – 19 years with dysphagia (chewing or swallowing difficulties) or sensory behavioural feeding difficulties.
The feeding team offer assessment, advice and monitoring according to each child/young person’s individual needs and in collaboration with parents.
We also work closely with key adults and other health professionals as part of the multi-disciplinary team caring for the child or young person.
Meet the team
Julie Hale - Divisional Manager
Tel: 020 8973 3181
Claire Schneider - Clinical Service Manager for Children’s Therapies
Tel: 020 8614 5331
We've made a short video about visiting Ham Clinic, which you can watch with your child:
Team Leads: Vanessa Gordon & Karen Griffin (Clinic, Early Help & Prevention) and Nicole Murray (Feeding)
Tel: 020 8614 5333
Team Lead: Georgina Brown
Tel: 020 8614 5333
Teams Leads: Tess Buckley (Special Schools) & Katie Varney (Specialist Resource Provisions)
Tel: 020 8614 5333
Referrals
We have an open referral system to our clinic service for advice concerning the speech, language and communication and feeding development of children and young people aged 0-19 years via our telephone advice line on: 020 8614 5333
School aged children with language and communication needs should be referred by their school Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo).
Referrals will be accepted by the service for pre-school and school aged children according to the following criteria.
- Referrals to our clinic service will be accepted for pre-school children if the child has a Richmond GP.
- School-aged children whose primary difficulty is stammering and/or significant persisting speech sound difficulties, and who have a Richmond GP, can also access our clinic service.
- Children and young people whose primary difficulty is language or social communication can be referred via the School SENCo if they attend a state-funded Richmond school and have a Richmond or Kingston address. This includes children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP).
- Consent needs to be obtained from parents or caregiver prior to submitting the referral
All referrals should be made using the Richmond Speech and Language Therapy referral form.
If you are unsure whether to refer or would like advice before referring please contact our Telephone Advice Line on 020 8614 5333.
Please return the referral form to: hrch.
Frequently Asked Questions
At Teddington Health and Social Care Centre there is free parking for visitors for up to 4 hours. Visitors must get a free ticket from the machine and display in car. Free road parking is also available on Queen’s Road just outside Teddington Health and Social Care Centre.
At Sheen Lane Health Centre, there is Pay & Display parking.
At Centre House, there is Pay & Display parking.
At Ham Clinic, there is free parking available on site for visitors and free road parking nearby.
At Whitton Corner Health and Social Care Centre, there is free parking available on site for visitors and free road parking nearby.
Siblings are welcome to attend appointments. However, if it is possible to arrange childcare this can make the session easier for parents to talk to the therapist without distractions.
Yes, email communication is possible. Parental consent for sharing programmes and documents via email is required.