Please find our Clinic and Office opening hours here
Poole Road Medical Centre, 7 Poole Road, Bournemouth, BH2 5QR
Tel: 01202 743674
Speech and Language Therapy
Our friendly Speech and Language Therapists at TCT help children to meet their communication goals through speech therapy and family-centred support.
​
We are a dedicated team working with children and young people with a range of speech, language, communication and swallowing difficulties. Our skilled and experienced SLT therapists work across a broad caseload with a variety of families with different needs and backgrounds.
​
Our SLT team's approach has a strong family focus. Your knowledge of your child is combined with our thorough and skillful assessment to identify any underlying weaknesses in the foundation skills needed for successful communication and learning.
​
The service is designed for children and young adults aged 0-18. If the young person is known to us, we are happy to transition them past 18 and into their early 20s.
​
We work closely with other professionals involved with a child in order to develop a comprehensive therapy program. Our SLT team can provide training and consultation for other professionals where it is most effective, including in childcare settings, home, pre-school and schools.
​
Full details of our Speech and Language Therapy services are available in the brochure.
​
​
​
Late Talkers
Children’s first words usually begin to develop between 8- 12 months and they begin combining words together by 24 months, with full sentences present by 3 years. Sometimes this is late starting, and your child may need a little extra input in order to help them catch up. Our team will help caregivers to develop the skills they need to support their child’s Language Development.
Speech & Language Disorders
Speech and language disorders are complex long-term difficulties. We offer the full assessment and the ongoing support children will need to develop their skills. The team will also provide functional strategies to lessen the impact of the difficulties.
Selective Mutism
Selective Mutism is a commonly misunderstood phobia of talking. Children and young adults are unable to talk in certain situations or with certain people. Our team can work with your child and the adults in their life to help them to understand what is happening and to reduce the impact on their functioning.
Feeding & Eating
This service is led by fully qualified and highly experienced dysphagia (swallowing problems) therapists. They offer full dysphagia assessment, advice, management and training, and sensory feeding. We can also offer joint sessions with an SOS-trained OT.
Gestalt Language Learners
At TCT our speech and language therapy team are trained in and registered to deliver the Meaningful Speech Natural Language Acquisition therapeutic approach for supporting gestalt language learners. Gestalt language learners access language learning in chunks or phrases rather than in single words (as analytical language learners do). Sessions are child led and play based and support the child and their family to decode language for gestalt learners so that they can begin to build new language with added variety.
Other
We provide a range of additional SLT services as outlined in the flyer here. These include assessment and reporting for EHCP, therapy for Autism and Down Syndrome, and our SLT therapists can support your child as part of TCT's diagnostic teams.
Unclear Speech
Sometimes children can be unclear when they first start to talk, they may have lots to say, but people who are not familiar can find it difficult to follow. This is normal when beginning to use words, but your child should become clearer as they practice their words. If clarity is not improving as they approach 30 months, then we can provide the extra help they need.
​Social interaction and friendship skills
Sometimes children and young adults have difficulty with the social interaction elements of communication. At TCT we provide support for non-verbal communication, non-verbal language difficulties and more. Plus training and advice for families and educators in this specialist area.
Stammering
Our SLT team has specialist training for working with stammering. They will support individuals, and also tailor support for families and educators to provide a joined-up service that meets the needs of the child/young person.
ACC
Our Alternative and Augmentative Communication services include comprehensive assessment of AAC needs, help for overcoming barriers, assistance to set-up low and high tech communication systems and signposting to access support for AAC needs.
Social Communication
At TCT, we offer a Social Communication Specialist service designed to help children overcome barriers to learning and socialising.
​
This service equips children and young people with the tools and confidence needed to overcome communication and social difficulties that may be holding them back, making a positive impact on their ability to feel confident in various social situations.
​
Our specialist therapist has the perfect skill set to assist families, children, and young people in understanding recent neurodiverse diagnoses and in better understanding the world around them in real-life situations. They also have significant experience working with children who have visual, hearing, or cognitive impairments, as well as those with Developmental Language Disorder.