Specialist children and young People’s Speech and Language Therapist: Sponsorship Available

Job summary

We have an exciting opportunity for a Specialist Children and Young People’s Speech and Language Therapist (Band 6) to join our team in Merton.

In this role, you will provide speech and language therapy support to children and young people aged 0 to 19 years, and up to 25 years for those with complex needs.

You will deliver specialist assessment for children and young people with a range of speech and language therapy needs, special educational needs and disability. You will provide written reports and advice for Education Health and Care Plans and give education and advice around strategies to support identified needs along with delivering treatment and reviews.

The role involves responsibility for supporting newly qualified and student speech and language therapists and supporting the wider integrated complex needs services development and inductions.

You will also have responsibility for providing education and training to both internal and external agencies, service development and continuing professional development.

We welcome applications from candidates with experience working with children in early years settings and with children and young people who present with eating and drinking difficulties, speech disorders and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) needs.You will be joining a supportive, collaborative and experienced team that is committed to professional development, high-quality care and positive outcomes for children and young people.

Main duties of the job

Key duties include:o Providing a Speech and Language Therapy Service to a clinical caseload of children with a broad range of speech, language and communication (SLCN) needs including children 0 -19 years.o Act as an integral member of the SLT team involving close liaison with other team members as well as working with external partners to meet children and young people’s SLCN needs in Merton.o Work closely with parents, early years centres/nurseries, school and college staff and other staff to support children and young people’s speech, language and communication needs.o Deliver appropriate in service training independently for educational provisions, school staff and other professionals, such as respite.o To have an interest in developing a specialism in a health aspect of care for 5-19 years eg: voice, stammering, AAC, eating and drinking and severe speech disorders.o Provide some day to day supervision and peer review support to less experienced colleagues and students, including second opinions regarding speech, language and communication and speech sound disorders.o The post holder will liaise with other colleagues across a range of statutory and non-statutory agencies.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree and Licence to Practise from the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists
• Current registered membership of HCPC and RCSLT
• Competencies and/or experience working with children and young people presenting with eating and drinking difficulties

Experience

Essential

• Working with children in clinics and/or school based settings
• Experience in education health and care needs assessment and annual review processes

Desirable

• Training others
• Adult-Child Interaction (ACI)
• Working with multi-cultural client groups

Skills

Essential

• Awareness of needs of parents, teachers and others
• Flexibility
• Good problem-solving skills
• Excellent communication skills both verbal and written
• Highly developed auditory and perceptual skills in the assessment diagnosis and treatment of children with a broad range of speech, language and communication difficulties
• Well-developed concentration skills
• Good auditory discrimination skills and ability to transcribe speech phonetically
• Manual dexterity for signing
• Manual dexterity sufficient to carry out swallowing assessment and use of high and low technical assessment equipment
• Knowledge of Child Development including Speech and Language, Play and other milestones
• Knowledge of appropriate range of assessments and interventions for children with Speech, Language and Communication impairments and an ability to compare and contrast relative benefits to individual children
• Education Practice and Policy and National Curriculum
• Religious, Cultural and Linguistic issues impacting upon caseload management
• Awareness of national policies and procedures (relevant to school aged children)
• Awareness of the principles of audit
• Understanding of the roles of other professionals (relevant to the client group)
• Knowledge of professional standards of record keeping
• Contribution of other agencies in supporting school aged children

Desirable

• Clinical Governance
• Principles and models of Adult-Child Interaction

Other

Essential

• Able to maintain prolonged concentration in order to assess the speech, language and communication skills of children using formal and informal assessments
• Travel around district and access different venues, with or without adaptations

Closing Date: 25 August 2026