{"id":4443,"date":"2022-05-03T11:47:20","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T10:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/guidelines\/speechandlanguagetherapychildrenyp\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T16:03:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T15:03:10","slug":"speechandlanguagetherapychildrenyp","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/guidelines\/speechandlanguagetherapychildrenyp\/","title":{"rendered":"Speech and Language Therapy (Children and YP)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u200b<strong>Information<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The NHS Lothian Children&#8217;s Speech and Language Therapy department provides a range of services working with families and staff to support children&#8217;s <strong>communication skills<\/strong> and\/or <strong>eating, drinking and swallowing<\/strong> needs.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs\" data-active-tab=\"0\"><ul class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-links\"><\/ul>\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Referral Guidelines<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Speech, Language and Communication<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When a parent\/carer\/young person requests assistance from Speech and Language Therapy it is important to provide the correct level of detailed information directly from the person most concerned about the child.&nbsp; Rather than the GP making this request for assistance or having to formally refer, we would advise you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Suggest the parent\/carer makes direct contact with the Speech &amp; Language Therapy Department using the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lets-talk.scot.nhs.uk\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">contact details found here<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ask the parent to suggest school staff make the request for assistance\/referral if the concerns were initially raised by Education.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Eating, Drinking and Swallowing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speech and Language Therapists can support babies and children who have eating, drinking and swallowing problems.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Child aged 0-5 years:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If there are eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties alongside ongoing<em>&nbsp;complex<\/em>&nbsp;medical difficulties (respiratory \/ neurological \/ significant developmental delay), a request for assistance can be made directly to Speech and Language Therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If there are no indications of aspiration or choking with a child aged 0-5 years, and the problem appears to be sensory or behavioural, then advise parents to contact their Health Visitor for support and advice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>School-aged Child:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If there are no indications of aspiration or choking with a school-aged child, and the problem may be sensory or behavioural, then consider making contact with the CAMHS team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who to refer:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Please see above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to refer:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The preferred option is for the parent or carer to contact the department directly (see above), so there is no SCI gateway for this pathway. If a professional involved in the child&#8217;s or young person&#8217;s care wishes to make a request for assistance yourself from Speech &amp; Language Therapy please answer the following questions in your letter:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What is the parent\/carer\/young person&#8217;s main concern?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What is the impact of this?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What other medical professionals, if any, are involved.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If there are eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties: does the child\/young person have respiratory difficulties?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Have you considered also referring to community paediatrics where appropriate?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Primary Care Management<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Resources and Links<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Website for parents<\/em> with children speech issues \/ to help promote speech development: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lets-talk.scot.nhs.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Let\u2019s Talk | Speech &amp; Language Therapy | NHS Lothian (scot.nhs.uk)<\/a> https:\/\/www.lets-talk.scot.nhs.uk\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/children.nhslothian.scot\/departments-services\/?_sft_category=speech-and-language-therapy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Departments &amp; Services &#8211; Royal Hospital for Children and Young People<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8203;Information The NHS Lothian Children&rsquo;s Speech and Language Therapy department provides a range of services working with families and staff to support children&rsquo;s communication skills and\/or eating, drinking and swallowing needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":3664,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[655],"class_list":["post-4443","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-speech-and-language-therapy-children-yp"],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"NHS Lothian","author_link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/author\/nhs-lothian\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":" <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/category\/speech-and-language-therapy-children-yp\/\" rel=\"tag\">Speech and Language Therapy (Children \uff06 YP)<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"&#8203;Information The NHS Lothian Children&rsquo;s Speech and Language Therapy department provides a range of services working with families and staff to support children&rsquo;s communication skills and\/or eating, drinking and swallowing needs.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4443"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24882,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4443\/revisions\/24882"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}