Liaison With Parents and Local Professionals

In depth assessment of children's speech and language skills is carried out on admission to the Unit, and individual therapy and education plans are devised. An initial report and targets are discussed with parents and distributed, within the first half term. Meetings are held with parents on a termly basis, or more frequently if necessary. Assessments are repeated, and reports prepared, in preparation for annual education review meetings.

As most chldren are brought to the Unit by taxi, daily contact with parents is not possible. It is appreciated that good communication skills between home and school is important, particularly when children have very limited communication skills. A weekly diary and topic plan is used to enable parents and children to share something of what their child has done at school, and weekend details supplied by parents are used to produce "news" pictures and stories on Mondays. In addition, parents are encouraged to phone the Unit, if they have any concerns, and staff are always happy to speak on the phone, or to arrange a meeting.

Local professionals are encouraged to visit the Unit.

(Reproduced with kind permission of the Nuffield Hearing and Speech Centre, Copyright NHSC)