7th January 2025

• The Sheffield Speech and Language Therapy Service is trialling a new approach based on coaching parents to deliver interventions for their pre-school children.

  These changes are supported by research showing that upskilling parents to support their child’s communication development is the most effective approach for this age group. The shift towards parent-focussed interventions will enable the service to cope with a continued rise in referrals, by making the best use of specialist clinical time.

  During the Autumn term 2024, therapists conducted a review of all the early years children on the nursery caseload. Based on this review, children who would benefit from a parent-focussed intervention were discharged with a communication plan in place. Their names were added to a relevant waiting list for one of the following interventions (click on the links for more information):

  • Parent and child interaction sessions
  • Language groups
  • Playing together
  • Rhythm and rhyme groups
  • Phonology clinic

  Parents will be contacted when their child has reached the top of the waiting list. Current waiting times are approximately six months.

  Communication plans are shared with parents and nursery staff. They include information about the child’s communication strengths and needs and highlight specific targets for parents and nursery to work on. Any relevant resources to support this work are provided by the Speech and Language Therapy Service.

  Children who do not require a parent-focussed intervention will be discharged with their communication plan in place. Parents and nurseries can seek a re-referral to the service once the targets outlined in the plan have been achieved and it is felt that further support is required.

  For newly referred children, an initial assessment will still be carried out in clinic. This may lead to further assessment at home and/or in the nursery setting, access to a parent-focussed intervention or referral to one of the early years specialist pathways, e.g. the Dysphagia or Developmental Language Disorders Teams.

  As the service moves its focus towards offering more parent-focussed interventions, it recognises that therapists will be spending less time in nursery settings. To compensate for this, they will be offering additional training, consultation appointments and resources to nursery staff.

  The impact of these changes will be closely monitored over the coming 12 months.