Specialist Children’s Speech & Language Therapist - Band 6 in Carshalton

The post holder will provide an evidence‑based service that anticipates and responds to the needs of children with speech, language, communication and swallowing difficulties. They will work in partnership with children and their families and with other professions and agencies to reduce the impact of these difficulties on children’s social and emotional development, learning and their ability to participate in daily life.

Main duties of the job:

• To be responsible for the management of a caseload of children with a range of speech, language and communication difficulties.
• To provide support to children with a range of speech, language and communication needs under supervision from more specialist and senior team members.
• To assess, diagnose, treat and manage a caseload of children with a range of speech, language and communication difficulties.
• To provide support and training to families and education/nursery staff as needed to enable SLT programmes to be implemented as part of children’s therapy package.
• To be involved in the development of the SLT service including a range of pathways to support therapy delivery from preschool into primary aged placements.
• To be accountable for own professional action and recognise own professional boundaries, seeking advice as appropriate.
• To work across agreed clinical populations; to manage the implementation of a service that is targeted to need; to improve health and life chance outcomes for children, by giving every child the opportunity to develop their potential.

Working for our organisation:

• Demonstrate a well‑developed knowledge of paediatric therapy for both eating and drinking and communication skills, underpinned by current evidence‑based practice.
• Manage a specialist and highly complex clinical caseload as an autonomous practitioner.
• Use and demonstrate highly specialist knowledge to inform sound clinical judgements and decision‑making for complex case management and advise others, often in the absence of a robust evidence base.
• Make appropriate differential diagnoses and highly specialist clinical decisions based on assessment findings.
• Contribute to and when appropriate coordinate applications for AAC devices including funding requests.
• Work in partnership with education SLTs to research and implement the use of AAC devices within school.
• Develop clear care plans and pathways based on best practice and update these according to departmental standards.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities:

• Assess, develop and implement Specialist Speech and Language Therapy Treatment.
• Demonstrate a well‑developed knowledge of paediatric therapy, underpinned by current evidence‑based practice.
• Manage a caseload including more complex needs independently, prioritising own workload.
• Develop skills in motivating clients, carers, families and members of the multidisciplinary team and other professionals to engage with the therapeutic process.
• Reflect on auditory, visual and kinaesthetic aspects of a client’s communication and identify appropriate strategies to facilitate and enhance communicative effectiveness.
• Use specialist knowledge to inform sound clinical judgements and decision‑making for case management.
• Make a differential diagnosis based on evidence from assessment, seeking advice as appropriate.
• Communicate complex condition‑related information from assessment to clients, carers, families and multidisciplinary team members.
• Develop clear care plans based on best practice and update these according to departmental standards.
• Write reports reflecting specialist knowledge according to departmental standards.

Person specification:

• Professional Registration: You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
• 6 Months Experience: Minimum six months experience as a Speech & Language Therapist is required.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Equality and Diversity: ESTH values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of under‑represented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities. As a Disability Confident Employer we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve. Internal applicants from under‑represented minority groups are encouraged to seek development support such as work shadowing and interview skills coaching.