Speech and Language Therapist

Whittington Hospital NHS Trust; City Of London; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

A local healthcare provider in London is seeking an experienced Speech and Language Therapist. The role involves working with children who have communication difficulties, including Autism. The therapist will develop care plans, provide evaluations, and work collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team to deliver high-quality interventions. Applicants should have a relevant degree and experience in working with special needs. The position offers a salary range of £46,419 to £55,046 per annum, pro-rata.

Qualifications

• Successful completion of specialist short courses relevant to field of SLT and Autism.
• Experience of working with clients with Autism and/or Severe Learning Disabilities.
• Knowledge of a range of assessment tools for communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Deliver a comprehensive service to children with communication difficulties.
• Develop individualised care plans and evaluate outcomes.
• Provide advice to families and multidisciplinary team members.

Skills

Clinical expertise in assessment and treatment of language difficulties

Knowledge of Autism and special educational needs

Highly developed perceptual skills in assessment

Ability to communicate complex information

Skills in motivating clients and/or parents/carers

Education

BSc. Speech Therapy or Equivalent

HCPC licence to practise

Job description

Islington Additional Needs and Disability Service provides a multi-agency team approach to working with babies, children and young people who present with additional needs and complex disabilities. We are looking for an experienced, dynamic and highly motivated Speech and Language Therapist to join this service, who is able to work sensitively with children and young people and who is committed to family centred practice.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work in the multidisciplinary and multi-agency environment including working with, specialist teachers, social workers, therapy assistants, psychologists, dieticians, paediatricians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and other professionals.

The post holder is an autonomous practitioner and is responsible for organising and managing a defined caseload of children. They is responsible for delivering a comprehensive and specialist service to children and young people who have special educational needs that may include Autism, Down's syndrome and social and emotional difficulties. The majority of children use a form of AAC including Makaton signing, paper based or powered communication aids.

The service provides universal, targeted and specialist interventions, and includes assessment, liaison, and direct and indirect intervention for individual/groups of children and young people, working within the MDT. The post holder will devise and provide individualised care plans that are evaluated via outcome measures. They will employ specialist communication strategies used with the client group as appropriate. They will have knowledge of the school curriculum in order to ensure that the child's treatment programme is dovetailed with the curriculum in the child's educational environment.

They will liaise with educational colleagues in order to undertake joint planning and reviewing of targets, production of reports, and staff training.

About us

We have an excellent reputation for being innovative, responsive and flexible to the changing clinical needs of the local population. We are treating more patients than ever before and are dedicated to improving services to deliver the best for our patients.Our missionHelping local people live longer, healthier lives.Our visionProvide safe, personal, co-ordinated care for the community we serve.Our goalsWe have developed six key strategic goals to make sure we continue to support people to live longer, healthier lives.

• To secure the best possible health and wellbeing for all our community
• To integrate and coordinate care in person-centred teams
• To support our patients and users in being active partners in their care
• To be recognised as a leader in the fields of medical and multi-professional education, and population-based clinical research
• To innovate and continuously improve the quality of our services to deliver the best outcomes for our local population

Job responsibilities

• 1. To demonstrate clinical expertise in the assessment, treatment and management of, language and communication difficulties in children and young people providing appropriate specialist intervention and evaluating outcomes.
• 2. To demonstrate specialist knowledge in Autism and special educational needs underpinned by current evidence based practice and outcome measures.
• 3. To demonstrate highly developed perceptual skills in the assessment and treatment of young people with special educational needs.
• 4. To make appropriate specialist clinical decisions on evidence from assessment of complex cases, seeking advice as appropriate.
• 5. To develop knowledge and skills in managing children with special educational needs, seeking training, support and supervision from clinical supervisor as appropriate.
• 6. To develop clear care plans based on best practice.
• 7. To demonstrate clinical effectiveness reflecting on evidence based practice and outcome measures.
• 8. To provide advice to others regarding the management and care of children with communication difficulties.
• 9. communicate complex condition related information to carers, families and members of the multi-disciplinary team/other professions, demonstrating empathy and ensuring that effective communication is achieved, particularly where barriers to understanding exist.
• 10. To work closely with clients, carers and families, in order to agree plan of management.
• 11. To deal with initial complaints sensitively, avoiding escalation where possible
• 12. To form productive relationships with others who may be under stress and/or have challenging communication difficulties.
• 14. To demonstrate skills in motivating clients and /or parents/carers to engage in the therapeutic process.
• 15. To maintain sensitivity at all times to the emotional needs of children with special and complex needs and their carers, in particular when imparting potentially distressing information regarding the nature of the clients difficulties and implications of the same.
• 16. To demonstrate the ability to manage children with challenging behaviours including the application of appropriate management strategies.
• 17. To monitor and review the progress of children and young people against the targets set and agreed, and to modify targets as appropriate.
• 18. To adapt practice to meet individual client circumstances.
• 19. To reflect on clinical practice both individually and with peers identifying strengths and needs and providing evidence of sound clinical judgements based on research and the evidence based practice.
• 20. To develop the ability to reflect on auditory, visual and kinaesthetic aspects of clients communication and to identify appropriate strategies to facilitate and enhance communicative effectiveness.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Successful completion of specialist short courses relevant to field of SLT and Autism
• BSc. Speech Therapy or Equivalent (including PGDip/MSc)
• HCPC licence to practise, and Registered member of RCSLT

Experience

• Experiences of working with clients with Autism and/or Severe Learning Disabilities
• Experience of delivering training in collaboration with other SLTs and/or professionals
• Experience supervising SLT students and therapy assistants
• Experience of working within Special Schools

Knowledge

• Knowledge of a range of assessment tools and procedures to evaluate communication skills relevant to young people with Autism and/or severe learning disabilities
• Knowledge of the key characteristics leading to differential diagnosis of children and young people with Autism and Severe Learning Disabilities
• Experience of attendance at multi-agency meetings/annual reviews/EHCP meetings

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£46,419 to £55,046 a yearPer Annum (Pro - Rata) Including HCAS