Speech and Language Therapy

Please note that the Speech and Language Therapy enquiries line will close at 12.30pm on 24 December and reopen at 9am on 2 January.

We support children and young people to understand what is being said to them, express themselves and produce the sounds needed for clear speech. In some cases, speech and language therapists also work to help children with their eating and drinking.

We can also help with social communication skills and interacting with others, as well as specific conditions such as stammering or hearing impairment.

Visit our communication and hearing pages to find advice and strategies to support your child.

How was your care?

Please tell us about the care you received from us. All your comments are really important to us and will help us to improve the service you receive. Please visit the iWantGreatCare website and choose 'Children's Therapy Services'. Thank you.

How we can help

We support children and young people whose difficulties are impacting on their everyday life.

They may find it difficult to:

Communicate their wants, needs, ideas and opinions
Understand language eg following instructions and answering questions
Speak clearly
Have meaningful interactions with others
Speak fluently (without stammering/stuttering)
Eat and/or drink

How to access support

Please check that all the strategies relating to the difficulties your child or young person is currently experiencing in our Health and Development area. If you have tried these and you still have concerns please contact us as below.

Preschoolers

If you have a Berkshire GP, you can:

Attend our early years online language development workshops. These are run by Speech and Language Therapists to provide you with everyday strategies you can use. There is also an interactive question and answer session. Sign up for these here.
Look on our advice pages. Here you will find all sorts of advice on many different issues that might affect your child’s communication.
Call us and speak to a Speech and Language Therapist to discuss your child’s communication. Our phone lines are open from 9am-3.30pm on a Tuesday and Thursday. Many issues can be helped by talking, so please call us on: 0118 9043700

As of 22 December 2023 the online referral form is no longer be needed to access Early Years Speech and Language Therapy Service. Therefore please do not complete a referral form, instead we encourage you to contact our enquiries line to discuss your concerns with a Speech and Language Therapistover the telephone.

If you require additional support to make a phone call, please email: cypittriage2@berkshire.nhs.uk

Attending school in Berkshire

We work with school staff and families to support children and young people that attend schools across Berkshire.

If your child attends a mainstream or special school in Berkshire and you have concerns about their communication, please speak to their teacher or the school's Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO). They will be abe to discuss your child with a member of the School-Aged Speech and Language Therapy team.

Living in Slough

Referral to the school-age service in Slough can only be made by Slough Borough Council for children that have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. Please discuss any concerns regarding your child’s speech, language or communication skills with the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) at your child’s school.

Home educated or attending an independent school

If your child is home educated or attends an independent school you will need to complete an online referral form (opens in new window).

Specialist services: Eating, Drinking and Swallowing team

If your child is not yet in school and you have concerns about their eating, drinking and swallowing, please speak to your health visitor first, and also visit our advice pages on food textures and finger feeding.

If you continue to have concerns eg your child is losing weight, has repeated chest infections, refuses certain food textures, is coughing/gagging on food and/or drink, and you feel this needs further assessment, ask your health visitor or doctor for help to refer to the Eating, Drinking and Swallowing team. You can also self refer using our online form.

If your chid is school-aged, please discuss any concerns regarding their eating, drinking or swallowing skills with the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) at their school or complete an online referral form (opens in new window).

Specialist services: Speech and Language Therapy for Deaf Children

If your child has a permanent hearing loss and hearing or communication is their primary need, then your child may be referred to this team, often in consultation with your audiologist or teacher of the deaf.

Early language development online workshops

Our Early Years team are pleased to offer monthly online workshops covering early language development. They are designed for parents and carers and those working within early years settings.

Please visit this page for information on the sessions and to register.

Speech and language therapy advice line

If your child is not known to the service and you would like some advice from your local early years’ speech and language therapy team (for pre-school children), please contact our triage team for advice and support on 0118 9043700 between 9am-3.30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Please note that the enquiries line will close at 12.30pm on 24 December and reopen at 9am on 2 January.

If your child/young person is already known to our service

If your child is already known to us and you have a query, concern, or need advice, or you need to cancel/re-arrange a scheduled appointment, please call your local administration team:

Bracknell, Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead: 0300 365 0123 (option 2)
Newbury: 0300 365 4000 (option 2)
Reading: 0300 365 4000 (option 1)
Wokingham: 0300 365 4000 (option 3)

Please provide your child’s name and date of birth or NHS number so that we can access your child’s records, along with the best telephone number to contact you on. It is also helpful if you can let us know the best day(s) to contact you. We aim for all families to be called back by a speech and language therapist within a few weeks, but it can take longer if lots of requests have been received.