Autism, Speech, Language and Communication Needs in Childhood

Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is working in partnership with the British Academy of Childhood Disability (BACD) to offer the Autism, Speech, Language and Communication Needs in Childhood distance learning course.

Audience: Doctors, specialist nurses, education staff and any other health professionals supporting children and young people with Autism and their families
Duration: Four months distance learning
Cost: £450 (£400 for BACD members and Sheffield Children’s employees)

Aims of this course

This course is for professionals involved with assessment and support for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs, including autism spectrum. This includes community, general or specialist paediatricians and allied health professionals, particularly speech and language therapists, psychologists and occupational therapists, as well as nursery, school and specialist nurses, teachers, Special Educational Needs Coordinators in schools, educational psychologists and classroom support assistants.

The course covers the range of communication conditions. Autism spectrum conditions will be looked at separately within the course.

Our aim is that through completion of this course, you will be able to evaluate children and young people, identify their speech, language and communication needs, understand to what extent these affect them and establish person-centred, goal-based and participation-related outcomes together with children, young people, their families and multidisciplinary teams.

We provide practical strategies to support children and young people and family. We also hope this course will support you in advocating for services to meet the needs of children and young people with speech, language and communication needs, particularly in discussion with service managers, commissioners or others responsible for organisation and funding of services where you practice, for this group of children and young people.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course you will be able to:

a) Understand the nature of children’s communication needs and relate these to the assessment and support of children, young people and their families and their participation in learning, activities and life skills.

b) Understand the nature and typical development of all aspects of communication, including non-verbal communication.

c) Understand different types of language and communication disorders.

d) Understand the concept of the autistic spectrum and what it includes.

e) Support the assessment and management of children/young people with speech, language and communication needs.

f) Be able to approach the evaluation of their language development.

g) Be aware of the different ways of assessing children with language disorders and communication conditions.

h) Be able to manage children and young people with communication needs as a member of a team and understand the various roles and responsibilities.

i) Be able to provide input as part of a team, into the assessment and management of autistic children and young people.

j) Make informed judgements within this area of neurodisability, knowing when to ask for help and when to refer on.

k) Provide effective advice to education, health and other services from the perspective of your specific role.

l) Critically evaluate local health and other services and contribute to service development.

Distance learning

Distance learning enables you to manage the majority of your learning in your own time. Course material is distributed by email and includes working with interactive PDFs.

Course administration is handled by the course team based at the Ryegate Children’s Centre in Sheffield.

Course booking information

Complete the form below to apply.