Speech and Language Therapist - Early Years Team

Job Overview

Are you a recently Qualified or soon to be qualified Speech and Language Therapist? Or do you just want to try something new? Are you interested in a fixed Term Maternity Leave post?

Do you love working in Early Years?

We want to invite you to join the incredibly supportive Early Years Speech and Language Therapy Team working in the outer London Borough of Hillingdon.

Have a look at our Hillingdon Talks, Moves and Plays website to see if we would be a good fit for you

Main duties of the job

You will be responsible for providing assessment and therapy to

• To provide a therapy service to pre school children with speech language and communication needs
• To be responsible for providing assessment and diagnosis of children within community clinics and children's centre/family hubs
• To provide coaching and modelling to parents and Early Years staff to support them to develop children's speech language and communication skills
• To provide specialist ongoing therapy through therapy groups and individual therapy sessions
• To provide advice and training to parents and other professionals around early identification intervention and prevention.
• To prioritise the Safeguarding of Vulnerable Children at all times

You will work closely with experienced SLTAPs

Working for our organisation

• Office space to come back to - where you will get informal support, be able to ask questions and talk about your day
• Regular supervision sessions - starting at weekly/fortnightly - and moving gradually to 6 weekly
• Regular buddy sessions to help you settle into the team
• Termly peer supervision meetings where you can discuss difficult cases, share your experiences with other band 5 colleagues
• A busy but manageable caseload
• Opportunities for flexible working where it meets the service needs
• Opportunities to develop your clinical skills through termly study afternoons, shadowing more experienced therapists, membership of a CEN, internal and external training
• Opportunities to work on projects with small groups of more experienced therapists to develop your skills

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

• To provide a service to children/young people in Early Years who have a speech, language or communication need.
• To be responsible for providing assessment, diagnosis & therapy packages
• To train and support Early Years staff & parents, in order for them to implement therapy advice effectively.
• To support with the early identification of children with speech/language/communication needs.
• To prioritise the Safeguarding of Vulnerable Children at all times
• To support the service to achieve Key Performance Indicators and maintain Target Activity Levels
• To take part in quality governance, audits and projects for the team/service
• To contribute to, and provide feedback about, possible developments in the team

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree qualification or equivalent
• Current Health and Care Professions Council licence to practice
• Registered member of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
• Further training courses relevant to the post

Desirable criteria

• First class honours degree or equivalent
• Training relevant to the post

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working with pre school children as a therapist or therapy student
• Experience of assessing pre school children
• Experience of delivering training/parent workshops
• Experience of working in a multi agency/multi-disciplinary team

Desirable criteria

• Experience of developing and delivering training
• Experience of providing informal support to less experienced colleagues
• Experience of working with sign or visuals

Skills and Knowledge

Essential criteria

• In-depth knowledge of assessment tools, and experience of using them with pre school
• Knowledge of national policies and procedures relevant to pre school age children
• In-depth knowledge of a range of appropriate therapy approaches, and experience in using them with pre school children
• Knowledge of the principles of clinical governance
• Experience of contributing to an audit
• Good knowledge of the roles of other professionals relevant to pre school children
• Good knowledge of standards of record keeping

Desirable criteria

• Experience of using Systm one as the main electronic record

Attitudes, aptitudes, personal characteristics

Essential criteria

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with professionals, children and their families
• Evidence of being a pro-active and supportive team member.
• Good negotiation and problem solving skills
• Good presentation skills; both written and verbal