Victoria Speech and Language Centre Resource Base

Local Offer
Victoria Orchard Community School

The Speech and Language Centre provides support for Staffordshire resident children residing in the local area with significant speech, language and communication needs.

What do we offer?

There are 20 part time places at the Speech and Language Centre.

Children attend the Speech and Language Centre for a time limited period, dependent on their needs, between years of reception and Year 4.  

The Speech and Language Centre focuses on the development of a child’s speech, language and communication utilising early intervention strategies. This enables a child to move into the most appropriate education placement well before the key transition time at the end of Year 6.

Placements

New placements at the Speech and Language Centre will be on a part time basis with a child remaining on roll at the home school with dual registration. The home school will be classed as the main school dual registered and the Speech and Language Centre will be subsidiary dual registered. This will enable a child to retain links with their home school, friendships with peers and to facilitate a smooth transition when they return to mainstream. The Speech and Language Centre is open Tuesday - Thursday each week.

Placements will be reviewed on a termly basis to monitor progress. These reviews will include parents/carers, the home school and the Speech and Language Centre.

A place at the Speech and Language Centre will only be considered if the child’s home school is in agreement with the placement and willing to work in partnership with the Speech and Language Centre to meet the child’s needs.

The Speech and Language Centre may offer outreach and in-reach training and support to the child whilst in a dual placement in some cases. 

Aims
  • The Speech and Language Centre primary purpose is the development of speech, language and communication to enable children to access learning effectively.

  • The secondary purpose is to support key areas of need for each child to enable them to access learning effectively (e.g. literacy).

  • Underpinning the above aims is the provision of a broad and balanced curriculum to meet the needs of each child.
Admission Requirements

Children will:

  • Be Staffordshire residents, residing in the local area (travel distance from home to the Speech and Language Centre must not exceed a 50 minute journey).

  • Be attending a mainstream maintained school or academy.

  • Have significant speech, language and communication needs as outlined in the Eligibility Criteria section below.

  • As this is an early intervention resource, children applying for a place will not have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

Before making an application to the Speech and Language Centre:

  • At least one cycle of speech and language therapy intervention must have taken place.

  • For school age children, at least one cycle of school intervention must be evidenced through Graduated Response - Assess, Do, Plan Review.

Applications for a place at the Speech and Language Centre (SLC) will be considered termly by the Specialist Speech and Language Admission Panel.

Members of the Specialist Speech and Language Admission Panel include:

  • Headteacher at Victoria Community School

  • Principal Educational Psychologist

  • SEND Commissioning Manager

  • SEND Assessment and Planning Locality Manager

  • MPFT Speech and Language Therapy Team Leader

  • MPFT AHP and Paediatrics Service Manager

Applications will only be considered if they include the required supporting information as outlined in the Additional Criteria section below.

If a child is applying for a place at the Speech and Language Centre for the beginning of Reception, parents must also apply for a maintained school or academy.

All parties will be notified of the outcome of any applications to panel.

How to Apply

Applications can be made by Speech and Language Therapists or education settings.

Speech and Language Therapists

  1. Refer to Sections on Eligibility Criteria and Additional Criteria below for eligibility criteria.

  2. For eligible children speech and language therapist must:

    • discuss an application to the Speech and Language Centre with parents/carers to gain consent and agreement.

    • discuss an application to the Speech and Language Centre with the child’s current educational setting to gain agreement

    • refer to the Section on additional criteria below for further information on the criteria and supporting information required.

    • complete the Application form in conjunction with education setting, gather the required evidence/supporting information and submit to the Admission panel.

Education Settings

  1. Refer to Section on additional criteria below for eligibility criteria.

  2. For eligible children the education setting must:
    • discuss an application to the Speech and Language Centre with the child’s speech and language therapist and gain agreement.

    • discuss an application to the Speech and Language Centre with parents/carers to gain consent and agreement.

    • refer to Section on eligibility criteria below for further information on the criteria and supporting information required.

    • complete the Application form in conjunction with the speech and language therapist, gather the required evidence/supporting information and submit to the Admission panel.

Please note the requirements set out in Section on Additional Criteria below.

Unsuccessful applications are often rejected due to insufficient evidence from Education settings.

 

Placements at the Speech and Language Centre
  • Before admission to the Speech and Language Centre a contract will be agreed between parents, the home school and the Speech and Language Centre to outline expectations and roles and responsibilities

  • Part time children will remain on the roll at the home school.

  • Assessments and reviews of placement at Victoria Speech and Lanugage Centre will be the responsibility of the Speech and Lanugage Centre. These will be shared with child’s home school, parents/carers and relevant support agencies

  • The home school will be expected to visit the Speech and Lanugage Centre regularly, including attending termly reviews, to gain an update on progress and to facilitate in-reach.

  • Some outreach may be available to support a child in their home school.

  • Placement length will depend on the continuing needs and progress made by the child; this will be monitored through termly reviews.

  • Robust transition plans will be in place for children leaving the Speech and Language Centre and returning to full time education in their home school. These will be jointly planned by the Speech and Language Centre and the home school.
Eligibility Criteria and Referral Pathway - Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)

Does the child have language difficulties that create obstacles to communication or learning in everyday life? Language needs must be the child’s primary area of need.

Are the child's language problems unlikely to resolve or have not resolved by five years of age, and the problems are not associated with a known biomedical condition. 

The child’s language difficulties may affect all or some of the following:

  • Phonology – processing, storing or producing speech sounds

  • Syntax – understanding sentence structure and or combining words into phrases and sentences

  • Morphology – understanding and using grammatical information such as verb tenses and plurals

  • Semantics – understanding and storing words and their meanings

  • Word finding – difficulty retrieving the word from your memory

  • Pragmatics – appropriate use of language in social situations

  • Discourse – telling an event or story in a logical order

  • Verbal learning and memory – difficulty processing and retaining information heard

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) Pathway

Referral procedure for entry into the Speech and Language Centre for children with a primary diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder: Criteria for Speech and Language and cognition need to be evidenced as set out below.

  1. Identification of language difficulties by parent, GP, Health Visitor or School.

  2. Refer to NHS Speech and Language Therapy. 

    A referral to additional Speech and Language Therapy may also be made but the child must be on the NHS Speech and Language Therapy caseload for an application to be made to panel.

  3. Initial Assessment by Speech and Language Therapist – assessed as 9 or above on NSRM.

    Assessment may include: CELF / CELF Pre-School / ACE / Reynell /DLS or informal assessments.

  4. Cycle of Treatment from Speech and Language Therapist.

  5. Match against Criteria.

  6. Request Second Opinion from Speech and Language Centre and refer to Educational Psychology or Paediatrician to obtain scores on other areas of development.

  7. Apply to Panel.

    Panel Meeting – once a term. 

    May for September entry
    Oct for January entry
    February for April entry.

  8. Decision

    • Place offered

      Typically part-time in Speech and Language Centre. School agreement signed by other educational setting.  Place reviewed termly at panel.  

      Or

    • Request for further information

      Go to point 3. Provide further evidence and consider re-applying at subsequent panels.

      Or

    • No place offered. 

      Continue Speech and Language Therapy in community.
Eligibility Criteria and Referral Pathway - Speech Sound Disorder (SSD)

Is the child’s speech not following a typical pattern of development for their age and does it affect their speech intelligibility? A child must have Speech Sound Disorder as their primary area of need.

The child’s speech disorder maybe phonological – processing, storing or producing speech sounds and will have one of the following diagnoses:

  • Dysarthria – the muscles used for speech are weak which can cause a difficulty in controlling them

  • Verbal Dyspraxia - difficulty in making and co-ordinating the precise movements needed to produce clear speech

  • Articulation Disorder - errors in speech sounds by mispronouncing, substituting, or leaving out the sound affecting intelligibility

  • Orofacial Structural Deficits – structural deficiency related to the mouth and face e.g. cleft palate, velopharyngeal deficiency.

Speech Sound Disorder Pathway

Referral procedure for entry into the Speech and Language Centre for children with a primary diagnosis of Speech Sound Disorder

  1. Identification of Speech Sound difficulties by parent, GP, Health Visitor or School.

  2. Refer to NHS Speech and Language Therapy.

    A referral to additional Speech and Language Therapy may also be made but the child must be on the NHS Speech and Language Therapy caseload for an application to be made to panel.

  3. Initial Assessment by Speech and Language Therapist – assessed as 9 or above on NSRM. Diagnosis of Speech Sound Disorder.

    Assessment may include: DEAP / Nuffield / Consistency assessment or other Speech Sound Disorder assessments.

  4. Cycle of Treatment from Speech and Language Therapy.

  5. Match against Criteria.

  6. Request Second Opinion from Speech and Language Therapy. Also consider: refer to Educational Psychology or Paediatrician to obtain scores on other areas of development.

  7. Apply to Panel.

    Panel Meeting – once a term.

    May for September entry.
    October for January entry.
    February for April entry.

  8. Decision

    • Place offered

      Typically part-time in Speech and Language Centre. School agreement signed by other educational setting. Place reviewed termly at panel. 

      Or

    • Request for further information

      Go to point 3. Provide further evidence and consider re-applying at subsequent panels. 

      Or

    • No Place Offered

      Continue Speech and Language Therapy in community.
Additional Criteria
  1. The child must be a Staffordshire resident and reside within the local area (travel distance from home to the Speech and Language Centre must not exceed a 50 minute journey)

  2. At the commencement of the place the child will be in Reception up to Year 4.

  3. At the point of application/admission the child will not have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

  4. Any child who is being considered for the Speech and Language Centre must have an NHS Speech and Language Therapist.

  5. Communication needs should not be due to a primary diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Condition, Hearing Impairment, Cerebral Palsy or Dyslexia; however, these diagnoses may be part of the child’s overall presentation – their Speech, Language and Communication needs must be their primary area of need.

    Speech and Language Therapist

  6. The child must have completed at least one therapeutic care aim consisting of direct therapy.

  7. The child’s risk score will be at least 9.

  8. The child must demonstrate the capacity to benefit from an enhanced provision over and above the provision routinely offered in the community/core Speech and Language Therapy service.

  9. A second opinion must have been requested from a member of the Speech and Language Centre team in order for them to advise on the child’s eligibility for the Speech and Language Centre.

  10. A possible placement must have been discussed with the parent/carer and they must be in agreement with this and have provided consent

  11. The child’s education setting must have been consulted and must be committed to supporting the Speech and Language Centre placement provision/dual placement.

    Education Specific Evidence

  12. The child’s education setting must be in agreement with the placement and agree to work jointly with the Speeh and Language Centre if a place was offered.

  13. An application for a child MUST be supported by quantitative evidence to show that there is a mismatch between language and communication and/or verbal and non-verbal ability.

  14. Evidence for the child up to and including Reception must be provided. This can include evidence from Development Matters and Early Learning Goals, Schedule of Growing Skills or other quantitative data such as WellComm.

  15. Evidence for school age children must be provided. This can include standardised assessments and other robust data such as standardised test results. Evidence from an Educational Psychologist, whilst not essential, is strongly advised, especially where a child has Developmental Language Disorder because this will clearly demonstrate areas of strength and difficulty.

  16. The setting should indicate how the child is being supported, e.g. evidence of the graduated response – Assess, Plan, Do Review should be provided.

  17. Parental views should be included.

  18. Successful applications to Panel are typically able to clearly evidence the areas of strength, specific needs, interventions, strategies that have been tried and their impact.

    An application must be submitted on the Application form to the email inbox slcadmissions@staffordshire.gov.uk
Exit Criteria from Speech and Language Centre

At the end of the placement at the Speech and Language Centre at least one of the following will apply:

  • The child no longer requires the placement to make progress.

  • The child’s risk score is 9 or below.

  • The child’s functional communication skills enable them to access the curriculum and integrate socially.

  • The child is at the end of Y4.

  • The child has not made expected progress in response to the SLC provision.

  • The child’s home setting is unable to commit to the level of support required while the child remains at the Speech and Language Centre.

  • The child no longer meets the provision specific criteria.

  • The child is no longer a Staffordshire resident.


On exit from the Speech and Language Centre, the child will either be:

  • Transferred to their local community Speech and Language Therapist.

  • Discharged from the Speech and Language Therapy Service.


On exit the following contextual criteria will apply:

  • The child’s educational needs will have been established

  • Appropriate levels of support are available and in place in school. This will be informed through multi-agency planning, either within robust Transition Plan, Staffordshire Early Help or the Education Health and Care Plan Pathway.

Who to contact

Contact Name
Helen Coulthard
Contact Position
Head of Centre
Telephone
01283 247420 01283 247420
E-mail
slc@victoria.staffs.sch.uk
Website
Victoria Speech and Language Centre website
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Notes

For general information email slc@victoria.staffs.sch.uk

For admissions email: slcadmissions@staffordshire.gov.uk

Where to go

Name
Victoria Speech and Language Centre
Address
Belvoir Road
Burton upon Trent
Staffordshire
Postcode
DE13 0RA

Availability

Referral required
Yes

DBS Checks

Have staff or volunteers been DBS (CRB) checked?
Yes

Actions

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