Speech and Language Therapy

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  

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.

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 see below for more information on the sessions and how to register.

We've had some great feedback from previous attendees:

• 9 out of 10 people said they would recommend this workshop to a friend, family member or colleague
• 94% rated their knowledge after the workshop as good or excellent
• 93% rated their confidence after the workshop as either somewhat or extremely confident.

“Lovely, positive approach from the speakers; the strategies recommended were accessible and the speakers gave great explanation of how they could be implemented. I feel much more positive about helping my child to communicate now.”

In November the workshops will also be running live from the Health Bus. People can either attend in person, or join us online.

Communication Foundations

Does your child struggle to pay attention to you?
Does your child pay fleeting attention to you or their toys?
Does your child find it difficult to allow or tolerate you sitting next to them?
Does your child struggle to use words to communicate?

The Early Years Speech and Language Therapy Team will be talking about different strategies that may support your child.

People that attended this course have said:

“Really useful and very clearly set out”
“The pace and length of workshop is spot on… I will certainly use information heard today”
“These are brilliant and very helpful for practitioners”

Choose from the following dates. 

Communication Building Blocks 

Does your child have a limited number of words?
Does your child only use short phrases?

The Early Years Speech and Language Therapy Team will be sharing ways you can support your child’s early language development. 

People that attended this course have said:

“Very informative and to the point”
“The content is very informative and the convenors have positive energy and delivered well"
“I was on the verge of contacting the gp or speech therapist... but the workshop was very [re]assuring. I think it needs to be emphasised throughout that patience and consistency is key with these techniques, and you don't have to rush to a health service at the first instance, and that it needs to be done for at least 3 months. I've come out far more informed than before"

Choose from the following dates. 

Scaffolding Communication 

The Early Years Speech and Language Therapy Team will provide an overview of how we can use gestures, objects and pictures to support language development. 

People that attended this course said:

“Workshop is extremely informative and easy to follow"
“Thank you a great session and love the tip at the end!”
“It was great, very beneficial for the settings and families I support”

Choose from the following dates. 

Important information about your personal data

When you visit the link for the training session, Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust will use the information you provide for service development purposes. Your email address will only be accessible to those Berkshire Healthcare staff involved in the delivery of the training. 

Personal data will be deleted after the webinar, your information will not be shared with any third party and you will not be contacted by Berkshire Healthcare as a result of this training, unless safeguarding concerns arise from the session around your own, or your child’s wellbeing. If this is the case, data will be used to escalate appropriately to the safeguarding team.

Cameras and microphones will remain disabled throughout the session, however, please note that if you do not select ‘Join as a guest’ at the time of the training, your name will be visible to other attendees. Please select ‘Join as a guest’ when you enter and choose a name unrelated to you.

 If your child/young person is already known to our service 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)
• Reading: 0300 365 4000 (option 1)
• Wokingham: 0300 365 4000 (option 3)
• Newbury: 0300 365 4000 (option 2)

If you would like some advice from your local early years’ speech and language therapy team (for pre-school children), you can also email the team: 

• Bracknell -  CYPITBRACKAdmin@berkshire.nhs.uk
• Slough –   CYPITSLOUGHAdmin@berkshire.nhs.uk
• Windsor and Maidenhead – Please contact our Triage team as above for advice and support on 0118 904 3700 or alternatively complete our online referral form.

• Reading: cypit.adminreading@berkshire.nhs.uk

• West Berkshire: cypit.adminnewbury@berkshire.nhs.uk

• Wokingham: cypitadminwokingham@berkshire.nhs.uk

Please include your child’s name and date of birth or NHS number in the email 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.