If you are worried about your child’s speech and language and they have not yet started in the reception class in school, you can come to our Advice Sessions which are held regularly across the area. The service is for pre-school

children and their parents or legal guardians who are not already seeing a speech and language therapist at their local clinic.

You can arrange this by emailing drop-in@nelft.nhs.uk . We will send you a link that will take you to a list of the available session dates and times. You can book yourself in to a slot that suits you.

If your child is in school, please discuss your concerns with the school SENCo who can make a referral if their needs cannot be met through school provision.

Referrals for speech and language therapy can be made by anyone — parents or the young person themselves, teachers, health visitors, paediatricians, GPs etc.

You do not need to go to your GP to get a referral. It is useful for us to have information from your child’s school, but this is not essential.

We accept referrals for:

Children with speech, language and communication difficulties that have a functional impact on their social, emotional or educational development and are developing significantly less well than that of their peers.

All children presenting with dysfluency (stammering/stuttering) should be referred at the earliest possible opportunity.

We do not accept referrals for:

• A language delay in a child with learning difficulties where language is in line with their general learning abilities, and whose needs can be met and managed within the curriculum
• Children with specific literacy problems where there is evidence that verbal communication is normal
• Children with delayed social skills who do not have a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder
• Tongue-tie: In the majority of cases, tongue-tie will not affect the development of speech sounds. Referrals will only be accepted if there are additional speech difficulties.
• Most children will take until they are 5 to develop their speech sounds. If there are still difficulties after 5 years please refer (unless it is a lisp or ‘th’ or ‘r’)
• Where there are concerns regarding English as an additional language, but where there are no concerns about the development of their first/home language.
• Children where there is no evidence to suggest a reason for concern
• Re-referral of children within six months of being discharged because no therapy was required, and presenting with no new/additional difficulties
• Children who are immature or shy but who can interact confidently and effectively with familiar people
• Children with ASD diagnosis whose language and communication can be managed/facilitated appropriately by other people around them
• Children who use only British Sign Language to communicate where no language difficulties are evident
• Children with a hearing loss with typically developing speech/language.  This will typically include;
  • Children with a unilateral hearing loss  
  • Children with a bilateral mild hearing loss
  • Some children with a bilateral moderate loss

All referrals are sent to the Children’s Single Point of Access (CSPA), where referrals are discussed by a team of professionals from the Integrated Therapy Team. This ensures that your child is seen by the most appropriate team within our service and jointly with other therapy services if appropriate.

To make a referral please fill out the referral form to the right of this page.

Email to: CSPA@nelft.nhs.uk
Confidential email: nem-tr.childrenspa@nhs.net

Or post to:

Children’s Single Point of Access Team
Pitsea Health Centre
High Road
Basildon
Essex SS13 3AB