Speech and Language Therapy at The Valley School

Welcome to Speech and Language Therapy at The Valley School. We are Fionnuala O’Driscoll and Alice Taylor, the Speech and Language Therapists working in the school. The Valley School receives three days of Speech and Language Therapy time a week, and we are in the school on Mondays and Thursdays.

Each class at The Valley School has a named Speech and Language Therapist. We provide support for children on the Speech and Language Therapy caseload, as well as advice and strategies for all pupils at the school, as required.  Support may be classroom based or, in some cases, small group or one to one sessions. The style of support appropriate for each pupil is discussed and agreed by the learner’s form tutor and the Speech and Language Therapist.

Some examples of the types of support we offer, dependent of the learner’s needs:

• Establishing visual support in the classroom (e.g. visual timetables and symbols to support understanding)
• Small group work such as Lego Therapy
• One-to-one therapy
• Training for school staff (e.g. key word signing)
• Support writing Social Stories

We promote the use of Total Communication, i.e. using objects, pictures, symbols and key word signing to support each learner’s communication, attention and listening and social communication skills.

We will write a report for each child on the caseload for their Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). Ongoing discussion with classroom staff means that communication can be included in a learner’s goals. The report will identify progress made over the past year, and highlight new targets and general strategies to be used at home and at school.

If you would like to discuss your child’s communication skills and the strategies in place to support them, please contact us via The Valley School on 01438 747 274. We will aim to return your call within 5 working days.

We are happy to be working as part of the school team to support learners’ communication skills throughout the day.