Therapy Pathways for Speech, Language and Social Communication
Our assessments and therapy pathways
We offer a range of therapy pathways for adults and children, to improve communication skills.
How it works:
Therapy sessions may follow from an assessment and identified needs requiring a bespoke intervention package. Alternatively, and without a recent assessment, the speech and language therapist (SLT) will carry out an informal assessment and set targets according to the area of need identified. Depending on your or your child's need, the number of therapy sessions may vary. The SLT will discuss this with you following the initial session.
Therapy includes supporting one or more of the following:
Phonetics
Phonology
Grammar
Syntax
Semantics
Social communication
Emotional literacy
Sessions will last approximately 45 minutes and a range of resources will be used, including toys, and visual and online interactive resources to capture your child's interest and support their engagement. Carry-over tasks and ideas will be provided between sessions.
Our therapy sessions may take place in our clinic, in school or online and will be carried out by either a speech and language therapist or speech and language therapy assistant. We offer weekly and block payment plans.
Therapy Pathways
Speech Therapy
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Speech therapy helps by strengthening the voice, manner and placement of the tongue, teeth, lips and palate to clearly produce speech sounds. Our speech helps us to communicate and be understood by a range of people.
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• Difficulty with producing speech sounds
• Being misunderstood by others
• Parents or caregivers may have to translate for you
• Withdrawing from communicating with others -
• Phonological awareness
• Nuffield programme
• Cued articulation
• Auditory discrimination
• oro-motor exercises -
A Speech and phonological awareness assessment may be needed to help diagnose your condition. The process follows the format below:
1) A detailed speech assessment will be carried out to identify speech and/or phonological processing errors.
2) A feedback session is offered within 7 days of the assessment.
3) A detailed report with the outcome (diagnosis), analysis of findings and recommendations are provided.
Receptive and Expressive Language Therapy
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Language therapy may support the understanding and use of vocabulary and concepts, making semantic associations, using accurate grammar, following instructions and building sentences to include conjunctions. When language is supported, children are better able to access their learning environment and confidently participate in communication exchanges.
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• Limited vocabulary: less than 50 words at 18 mos., 200 words at 2 yrs., or 1,000 words at 3 yrs.
• Difficulty formulating sentences (use of vocabulary, grammar, syntax)
• Difficulty understanding verbal instructions, questions and concepts.
• May have difficulty processing and learning new information.
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• Black sheep press resources.
• Language through colour
• Shape coding
• Vocab voyage
• Narrative resources
• CLEAR pictoys
• Derbyshire Language programme
• Language for Thinking
• Language for Behaviour and Emotions
• Time matters
• Rhodes to Language
• Semantic links -
A Language and Communication Assessment may be needed to help diagnose your condition. The process follows the format below:
1) A detailed language assessment will be carried out to identify working memory, receptive and expressive language needs.
2) A nursery/school/college observation or meeting with the class teacher is completed.
3) A feedback session is offered within 7 days of the assessment.
4) A detailed report with the outcome (diagnosis), analysis of findings and recommendations are provided.
Social Communication Therapy
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For you, your family, and your wider network to develop an understanding and awareness of neurodiversity
Use your differences to channel your strengths and achieve your goals
Learn what strategies may support you in social situationsIncrease your emotional literacy and ability to express your feelings and thoughts
Develop self-awareness and learn about your differences
Learn about the wider neurodiverse network and local support services that may help
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• Decreased/absent response to sounds and voices
• Decreased eye contact or face watching
• Limited safety awareness
• May not understand non-literal language (sarcasm, humour, idioms)
• Difficulty with understanding social cues (body language, emotions/feelings of others, etc.
• Inappropriate judgement (appropriate vs. inappropriate situations and topics)
• May prefer playing alone or only engaging in play with others on own terms.
• Difficulty making and maintaining relationships with others
• Getting overly upset with change or transitions from activity to activity
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• Talking mats
• Social Thinking
• Lego Therapy
• Zones of Regulation
• Black sheep press
• Talkabout by Alex Kelly
• Emotional literacy
• Social stories
• Play-based activities
• Parent and Child interaction therapy
• Makaton
• AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication)
• Picture Exchange Communication System -
A Speech, Language and Communication Assessment, Autism Assessment or ADHD Assessment may be needed to help diagnose your condition. The process follows the format below:
1) A consultation is offered to determine what assessment pathway is required.
2) A pre-screen questionnaire is completed.
3) A Speech and Language Therapist will conduct an assessment with you or your child.
4) For child-only assessments - A nursery/school/college observation or meeting with the class teacher is completed.
5) A feedback session is offered within 7 days of the assessment.
6) A detailed report with the outcome (diagnosis), analysis of findings and recommendations are provided.
Social Communication Therapy for Adults
Have you received a diagnosis from childhood, or recently been given a late diagnosis of ADHD, ASD, or both?
Did your assessment provide you with the level of understanding you need to move forward with your life? Do you understand your social communication profile?
Do you ever feel misinterpreted? Do you misinterpret others? Do you avoid some social interactions or question what you say is relevant? Can you comfortably express feelings, opinions, and thoughts? Do you ever overthink how other people perceive you? Or worry that you may have offended someone?
Does this affect your interpersonal relationships? with colleagues, friends, a partner, or family?
Following a diagnosis, it can be confusing to determine what presenting social communication symptoms are associated to a diagnosis and what are possibly explained by something else such as childhood experiences, trauma, mental health needs, coping strategies, masking behaviours etc.
To move forward, it can be useful to better understand you and your neurodiverse profile. Linked communication offers a range of interventions to help explore and unlock an individual’s awareness and authenticity to promote positive social communication experiences in varying contexts.
Prior to Intervention, all individuals will access an assessment of their pragmatic profile.
A speech and language therapist will use an initial screening tool to evaluate your social communication skills in context. You will receive a short report, highlighting areas of strength and differences.
The following areas we cover are:
· Communicating with friends
· Communicating in romantic relationships
· Communicating with colleagues in the workplace
· Communicating with family members
Levels of support
It is advisable to commit to a minimum of 8 sessions to support with generalisation of skills learned.
1-1 (1 hour)
Bespoke communication therapy sessions aimed at providing individualised communication support based on your personal circumstances and pragmatic profile.
Small group sessions 1 hour (2-4 participants)
We understand that group situations may be unsettling for some and as a team of experienced therapists we are mindful and attentive to this. The small group sessions will provide an opportunity to meet others and participate in exercises in break out rooms; these exercises aim to support your communication skills. There is no obligation to share personal or sensitive information and you will certainly not be ‘put on the spot’ or be expected to join in with anything you are uncomfortable with.
Not sure which service you need?
Reviews
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“Thank you so much for all your help, support and care. You have explained everything we needed and thank you for saying I can get in touch if we need any more help.”
— Janet, 09-08-2022
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“You were very patient with our son and always gave us ideas so that we could support him between therapy sessions. Thank you so much!”
— Lisa, 01-06-2022
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“After our daughter's Speech and language assessment, you offered great feedback and your report was very detailed. This was a huge help towards the EHCP process.”
— Trish, 24-07-2022
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“Heidi was very engaging and really listened to the needs of my son. She explained her methods and gave us tips to try at home. We are really pleased with the service.”
— Sophie, 01-03-2023
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“The calls have helped me to find more space and given me a safe space to discuss and release emotions. Tim's nature and communication is comforting and supportive, he adds thoughts and questions which offer space to analyse and to help growth.”
— Clark, 06-03-2023
About Linked Communication
Linked Communication offers a professional and friendly service where time and attention can be taken to ensure the service received is of the highest standard and there is minimal waiting time. Our specialist team will always take the time to provide expert advice so you are aware of all the pre- and post-diagnostic and therapy services available. Our clinic is for children and adults, based in Margate. We provide online or in-person therapy sessions.
