Assessment & Therapy

All of our Speech and Language Therapy assessments and therapy intervention sessions are carried out by HCPC Registered Speech and Language Therapists.

Speech & Language Therapy Assessments

Understanding your child's individual speech, language and communication profile is an important first step in identifying the right support.

We offer two types of Speech and Language Therapy assessment, depending on your child's needs and the purpose of the assessment.

1. Standard Speech & Language Therapy Assessment

Identifying need and setting therapy targets

Our standard Speech & Language Therapy Assessment is designed to provide a clear understanding of your child's speech, language and communication strengths and areas of difficulty.

The assessment can help to:

Identify your child's speech, language and communication needs
Understand their strengths as well as areas requiring support
Identify appropriate therapy targets
Inform recommendations for intervention and support
Provide a baseline against which progress can be measured

What does the assessment involve?

The assessment consists of one assessment session with one of our Speech and Language Therapists.

We will also ask parents/carers and, where appropriate, school to complete questionnaires and provide information about your child's communication skills in their everyday environments.

Following the assessment, we will provide a written Speech and Language Therapy report outlining the assessment findings, areas of strength and difficulty, and recommended therapy targets and support.

This assessment is suitable for families who are looking to understand their child's communication needs and determine what therapy or support may be appropriate.

2. EHCP Speech & Language Therapy Assessment

For EHCP applications, mediation and tribunal

Our EHCP Speech & Language Therapy Assessment and Report is designed for children and young people who require detailed evidence of their speech, language and communication needs for the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) process.

This assessment can be used to support:

EHCP applications
Requests for additional provision or amendments to an EHCP
EHCP mediation
SEND Tribunal proceedings

The assessment provides detailed evidence about your child's speech, language and communication profile, the impact of their difficulties on their access to education, and the provision they may require to support their communication and learning needs.

What does the EHCP assessment involve?

The EHCP assessment includes two assessment sessions with one of our Speech and Language Therapists.

It involves a battery of Speech and Language Therapy assessment tools, selected to provide a detailed picture of your child's speech, language and communication abilities.

We will also gather relevant information through questionnaires and information from home and school, where appropriate.

The resulting report provides detailed clinical evidence and recommendations relevant to the EHCP process.

Where required, we can also provide live evidence at mediation or SEND Tribunal, allowing our Speech and Language Therapist to explain the assessment findings and recommendations and answer questions about your child's speech, language and communication needs.

Which Assessment Is Right for My Child?

The right assessment depends on your child's needs and the purpose of the assessment.

If you are looking to understand your child's speech, language and communication needs, identify areas where they require support and establish appropriate therapy targets, our Speech & Language Therapy Assessment is likely to be the most appropriate option. This involves one assessment session, supported by questionnaires and information from home and school where appropriate, followed by a detailed written report.

If you require formal evidence for an EHCP application, a request for additional provision, EHCP mediation or SEND Tribunal, our EHCP Speech & Language Therapy Assessment is more appropriate. This is a more comprehensive assessment, involving two assessment sessions and a battery of Speech and Language Therapy assessments. The resulting report provides detailed evidence about your child's communication needs, the impact of their difficulties and recommendations for appropriate provision.

For families involved in mediation or SEND Tribunal proceedings, we can also provide live evidence, where our Speech and Language Therapist can attend and answer questions about the assessment findings, your child's needs and our recommendations.

If you are unsure which assessment is right for your child, please contact us before booking. We can discuss your circumstances and help you choose the most appropriate assessment

Specialist Speech & Language Therapy

All assessments are carried out by our HCPC-registered Speech and Language Therapists.

Our assessments are designed to provide clear, meaningful information about your child's communication profile and to ensure that recommendations are based on their individual strengths, needs and functional difficulties.

Clinic-based assessments are available in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Speech & Language Therapy: Intensive Direct Therapy

Our Intensive Direct Speech & Language Therapy service provides focused, individualised support for children who would benefit from working directly with a Speech and Language Therapist on specific speech, language and communication targets.

Therapy takes place one-to-one in our clinic in Edgbaston, Birmingham and is delivered by our HCPC-registered Speech and Language Therapists.

Our intensive therapy pathway combines weekly direct therapy with specific practice between sessions, helping children develop and consolidate skills and apply them beyond the clinic.

What Can Therapy Support?

Therapy can support a wide range of speech, language and communication needs, including:

Speech sound development and intelligibility
Expressive and receptive language
Language processing skills
Understanding and following instructions
Sentence structure and grammar
Listening and auditory processing skills
Social communication and pragmatics
Phonological awareness and pre-literacy skills
Developing confidence in communication

The specific therapy targets will be tailored to your child's individual strengths, needs and stage of development.

Assessment and Approval Before Starting Therapy

Your child must be assessed or reviewed by one of our Speech and Language Therapists and confirmed as suitable for our Intensive Direct Therapy pathway before a 6-session therapy block can be booked.

We do not book the six-session block and then assess suitability during the first therapy session.

If your child has not had a recent assessment

Your child will need to have an initial assessment with one of our Speech and Language Therapists.

This allows us to understand your child's current speech, language and communication needs, identify appropriate therapy targets and determine whether direct, clinic-based intensive therapy is suitable.

If your child has had a recent assessment with another provider

If your child has had a Speech and Language Therapy assessment with another therapy provider within the previous six months, we may be able to use that report to inform our decision.

You will need to provide us with a copy of the report before a therapy block is booked.

Even when a recent external report is available, your child must still be reviewed by one of our Speech and Language Therapists. This allows us to confirm that:

Your child's current needs are consistent with the assessment findings
The proposed therapy targets remain relevant and appropriate
Any targets that need to be changed or prioritised are identified
Your child is able to engage with direct therapy activities
Our clinic-based intensive therapy approach is suitable

A 6-session therapy block will only be offered once suitability has been confirmed by one of our therapists.

Completion of an assessment or review does not automatically mean that a child will be accepted onto our Intensive Direct Therapy pathway. If we feel that a different type of intervention would be more appropriate, we will discuss this with you and, where possible, recommend an alternative approach.

Is Intensive Direct Therapy Right for My Child?

Intensive direct therapy in a clinic setting is not suitable for every child.

Our sessions involve working directly with a Speech and Language Therapist on specific targets within a structured, one-to-one clinic environment. Your child needs to be able to engage with and participate in direct therapy activities for this approach to be effective.

Some children may benefit more from intervention delivered in their everyday environments, such as at home or in school. This can be particularly important where the focus of intervention is on helping a child use their communication skills within the situations where they experience difficulties.

We currently provide clinic-based direct therapy only and do not offer therapy within children's home or school environments.

When deciding whether our Intensive Direct Therapy pathway is appropriate, we will consider:

Whether your child can engage with structured therapy activities
Whether they can participate in one-to-one work with a therapist
Whether their therapy targets are appropriate for direct clinic-based intervention
Whether they are likely to benefit from practising specific skills within a structured session
Whether their needs would be better addressed within their everyday environment

Our priority is to ensure that the intervention we provide is appropriate for your child's individual needs and gives them the best opportunity to make meaningful progress.

6-Session Intensive Therapy Block

Our 6-Session Intensive Therapy Block consists of six weekly Speech and Language Therapy appointments, providing a focused period of intervention towards your child's agreed therapy targets.

Sessions take place once a week over a six-week period, allowing your child to receive regular, consistent opportunities to practise and develop their skills.

Each session builds on the previous session, with specific practice activities provided for completion between appointments.

This combination of weekly direct therapy and regular practice between sessions is an important part of the intensive therapy approach.

What Is Included in Each Appointment?

Each appointment is planned around your child's individual therapy targets and includes:

Direct one-to-one therapy: Your child will work directly with an HCPC-registered Speech and Language Therapist on their agreed therapy targets.
Individualised activities and resources: Activities and resources are selected and prepared specifically to support your child's targets and are adapted to their age, interests and current level of ability.
Clinical preparation and planning: Your therapist will use information from previous sessions and your child's progress to plan appropriate activities and adapt the therapy programme as needed.
Feedback and discussion: At the end of the appointment, your therapist will provide feedback about what has been worked on, discuss progress and explain the practice activities to be completed between sessions.

The session fee covers the complete therapy service, including direct therapy during the appointment, individualised clinical preparation and resources, and feedback provided at the end of the appointment.

Supporting Progress Between Sessions

Practice between sessions is essential.

Direct therapy sessions provide focused teaching and opportunities to develop new skills. However, children need regular opportunities to practise and use these skills outside the clinic for them to become established and transfer into everyday life.

For this reason, each therapy session will include specific practice tasks for your child to complete between appointments.

Practice may take place:

At home
In school, where appropriate
With parents, carers or other family members
Through everyday activities, games and routines

The activities will be tailored to your child's therapy targets, age and individual needs.

Parent and carer commitment

Families undertaking an Intensive Direct Therapy Block must be able to commit to regular practice between sessions.

Regular practice gives children more opportunities to consolidate the skills introduced during therapy and helps them transfer those skills into everyday situations.

Without regular practice between sessions, children may make less progress from direct therapy and may find it more difficult to use newly developed skills independently and consistently outside the clinic.

We therefore ask parents and carers to commit to completing the practice activities recommended by the therapist.

If you are finding a particular activity difficult to complete, please let your therapist know. They can help you adapt the activity or provide additional guidance.

We don't expect parents to become therapists. We do ask families to provide regular opportunities for their child to practise the skills being targeted.

Where appropriate, we may also recommend that therapy targets are practised within school.

The most effective therapy is a partnership between the child, therapist, parents/carers and, where appropriate, school.

What Might Therapy Look Like?

Every child is different, so there is no single approach to therapy.

Your therapist will use your child's individual targets to plan engaging activities that provide opportunities to practise and develop the skills being worked on.

Depending on the therapy target, sessions may involve:

Games and interactive activities
Structured therapy activities
Conversation and discussion
Books and stories
Pictures and visual materials
Speech sound activities
Language-based activities
Listening and processing tasks
Activities targeting understanding and following instructions
Social communication activities
Activities designed to help transfer skills into everyday situations

We aim to make therapy engaging, purposeful and appropriate to your child's individual needs.