Speech & Language Referrals

Children and young people aged 0-19 are eligible for referral if they are registered with a GP located within:

• South Cheshire
• Vale Royal
• Cheshire West

Children and young people aged 0-19 who have an Education and Health Care Plan and who are in full time education at a school within our area but with a GP outside of our service area are also eligible for referral.

Click here to check if the child’s/young person’s GP surgery, or specialist school, is within our service area.

Stages of Normal Communication Development and When to Refer: 0-19 years

Click the links below to see what to expect at each age and when to refer

By 6-12 months

By 18 months – 2 years

By 2 ½ - 3 years

By 4 – 5 years

By 7 years

By 11 years

By 14 + years

AT ANY AGE refer if

• Children and Young People who are deemed to have eating/drinking/swallowing difficulties at the oral, pharyngeal and or laryngeal level with: -
• Risk of aspiration – respiratory difficulties.
• Poor nutrition – reduced oral intake – weight loss.
• Increased level of anxiety.
• Feeding aversion – history of GORD, unexplained vomiting of feeds, history of tube feeding.
• Choking – repeated unexplained episodes.

Onset may be acute of from birth. Client group may include (list not exhaustive):

• Neonates and premature babies.
• Congenital Difficulties.
• Neurological Impairment, e.g., Head injury.
• Progressive neurological disease.
• Developmental delay/hearing difficulty.
• Structural difficulties e.g., tracheoesophageal fistula after repair.
• Child is heard to have a stammer (stutter), or if parent reports hearing this.
• Child is consistently not speaking in specific familiar social situations where speaking is expected, despite speaking in other situations e.g., reported to speak freely at home.
• Child has too much air coming through their nose whilst talking or food/drink coming down nose whilst feeding.

No referral needed if:

• The child is acquiring English as an additional language but their skills in their first language are age appropriate.
• The child has literacy difficulties but NO speech and language concerns.
• The child has attention and listening difficulties, but NO speech and language concerns. See advice on website.
• The child scores green on a screening tool such as ASQ or WellComm. If the child scores amber, the setting should advise the family, complete the related interventions (e.g., WellComm, Big Book of Ideas, refer to targeted interventions run by Children’s Centres/Family Hubs) for 12 weeks and review needs again.

N.B. If there are any concerns about the child’s hearing, please refer to Audiology prior to referral.

Supporting evidence must be attached to all referrals.

We also operate an open advice line on Tuesdays, 12pm - 4.30pm. Tel: 07825 103893

Referral Form 

If a Speech, Language and Communication Difficulties referral is appropriate, please complete and submit this online referral form (opens in a new window) with full parental/carer consent.

Important:

Before completing a referral, please rate the below 2 questions with parent(s)/carer(s) from 1-8: With 1 being not worried at all/no difficulty to 8 being highly worried/very severe difficulties.

The ratings must be entered on the referral consent page:

• How worried are you about your child's communication difficulty?

• How much difficulty do you think your child is having with communication?

Supporting Information:

• You can also email supporting information to our Therapy Booking Team, such as WellComm Score Sheets, completed ASQ, First Concerns profile/SEND Support Plan and/or other professional reports (with parental/carer consent).

• Please ensure that the child’s/young person's full name and date of birth are on each document.

• Email supporting information to: CCICP.TherapyServices@mcht.nhs.uk (for South and Vale Royal areas) or CCICP.CYPSaltChesterTeam@mcht.nhs.uk (for Chester, Ellesmere Port, and surrounding areas).

Feeding and Swallowing Difficulties 

If a Feeding and Swallowing Difficulties referral is appropriate, please complete and submit this online referral form (opens in a new window) with full parental/carer consent.

(The department provides a service to assess feeding and swallowing concerns but is not currently commissioned to provide intervention for behavioural difficulties with food, e.g. aversion.)

Please note:

You will need to complete and submit both forms if you wish to refer a child/young person for Speech, Language and Communication difficulties and Feeding and Swallowing difficulties.

For general enquiries please contact 01270 826312.