Speech, Language and Communication

Learning to communicate is complex and relies on the development of different skills, including social interaction, language (understanding and talking) and speech sound skills.   

The Speech and Language Therapy team at Sheffield Children’s provides a specialist service to children who have significant and persistent speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN).   

Advice for parents and carers  

For ideas about how to support your child’s speech, language and communication development please see the Resource Library.

Advice for professionals 

For universal and targeted advice on how to support children’s speech, language and communication development please see the Resource Library.

Specialist support and referring to us

Some children have significant and persistent speech, language and communication needs that require specialist input from a Speech and Language Therapist.

You should implement the advice above before making a referral for a specialist assessment. If after implementing the recommendations, you still need more support, please see our service referral criteria.

Please use the relevant referral checklist below to ensure that you have all of the information required to make a referral to the specialist Speech and Language Therapy service.

• 4-12 months
• 1 year – 1 year 11 months
• 2 years – 2 years 11 months
• 3 years – 3 years 11 months
• 4 years – 4 years 11 months
• 5 years – and above

Parent and carer referrals 

We recommend that parents and carers who wish to refer into the service discuss this with your child’s education or healthcare provider who can complete the form on your behalf. If your child is not in an education setting, or you require any further support, please contact the Speech and Language Therapy service on 0114 226 2333 or scn-tr.slt-sheffield@nhs.net   

Please see guidance below regarding the following conditions:

• Hyponasality 

Some children have speech that sounds blocked or congested, or like they have a cold when they haven’t. For more information, please see the Resource Library.

If this is the only concern with your child’s communication, you should talk to your GP about the concerns.   

• Voice difficulties 

Some children sound like they have a weak or hoarse voice or lose their voice a lot. If this is the only concern with your child’s communication, you should talk to your child’s GP about it. The GP may need to refer your child to the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) team for an assessment of their voice box (known as the ‘larynx’).  ENT will refer to Speech and Language Therapy if this is needed. Please see advice for voice difficulties: Encouraging your child to produce a healthy voice – gosh.nhs.uk 

• Possible Selective Mutism or difficulties with talking freely 

A child may lack confidence with talking or may not be able to talk freely all the time (for example, they may have a ‘fear’ or ‘phobia’ about talking in certain settings). Lots of these children can be supported by adults making adaptations to the environment and routines and it essential that the adults around the child understand what helps. For more information, please see the Resource Library.

If there are additional concerns relating to your child’s communication skills, please use our screening tools and referral criteria to guide next steps. To make a referral to us for speech, language and communication, click the button below.