There are some useful tools you can use as a rough guide about what to expect from children at different ages. www.talkingpoint.org.uk has an ages and stages guide from 0-11 years, a progress checker tool and advice on some simple ways to support communication development. www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk also has an excellent leaflet called “Small Talk” giving lots of information about speech, language and communication skills from 0-5 years. This can be downloaded from the “Resources for parents” section of their website.

We provide a full range of packages, from a therapist in school regularly each week to one off pieces of work. Our approach is flexible and school centred and we are happy to discuss the needs of your setting and provide you with a quote that matches those needs. Please give us a call or drop us an email!

We are a schools based service and therefore we provide support for children via a contract with the school. We are unable to accept referrals for individual children directly from families. We may be able to arrange an individual service for a child via their school, however this would have to be discussed on a case to case basis and is not part of our core service model.

Yes – training is a passion of ours! We can provide training sessions on a wide range of topics, including:

• Links between oral language and literacy
• Use of colour coding at the individual, targeted and universal levels
• Supporting communication development in the early years
• Whole school vocabulary approaches
• Use of visuals to support communication
• And more!

Our approach to training is centred on the ethos that strategies are most effective when built in to a child’s everyday learning environment. Therefore close liaison with, and the empowerment and engagement of staff is central to our everyday work with individual children, as well as through our specific training sessions.

Research shows that good reading and writing skills are built on a foundation of strong oral language skills. 50-90% of children with speech and language difficulties will go on to develop reading and writing difficulties. We have established whole school approaches with this in mind; developing the two areas of oral language ability that are evidenced to have the greatest impact on literacy (vocabulary and phonological awareness), and the use of colour coding systems to help children build structure in both their oral and written language. These whole school approaches alongside developing children’s question comprehension and active listening skills provide an excellent foundation for literacy development.

Yes. Research shows up to 80% of children today are entering Reception class without the adequate speaking and listening skills to enable them to access learning. If these children don’t “catch up” with their speech and language before the age of five and a half they are likely to go on to develop reading and writing difficulties. With this in mind we have developed nursery and reception “school readiness” group interventions which, along with our whole school approaches can help those children make accelerated progress and prevent them from falling further behind.

Behaviour difficulties can often be caused by poor comprehension skills, leading to poor self-esteem and feelings of being “cut off”. Therefore identifying language and communication needs is crucial to understanding the root causes of challenging behaviour and finding the most effective, appropriate and accessible interventions for the child.

The NHS provides a core service for all children who may require support from a Speech and Language Therapist. To find out what support a child will be eligible for, please contact your local NHS service. Interactions Speech and Language Therapy can provide additional support where and when a school feels it is needed. We liaise with NHS therapists to help provide continuity and consistency of care for the children on our caseloads.