Sunderland Speech and Language Therapy Service:

Specialist Speech and Language Therapist: Childrens Speech and Language Therapy Services Autism. Band 6, 2 year contract to end March 2025, 37.5 hours per week

We are seeking an enthusiastic and dynamic qualified Speech and Language Therapist to join our Childrens Speech and Language Therapy Service in Sunderland. You will work within the Complex and Additional Needs team, supporting children with a range of speech, language and communication needs in mainstream and special school settings.

You will be part of the multi-disciplinary diagnostic pathway for ASD. You will also be integral to delivering therapy and interventions to children with a diagnosis of ASD.

We strive to ensure as a Childrens Speech and Language Therapy Service we share skills and work across our specialist clinical teams to develop our workforce, support each other but most importantly to develop our services so we can support children and families to achieve the best outcomes.

This post has been funded by the commissioners as they have seen the value of increasing the SALT resource to support children with ASD.

We work with service users and partners across health, education, social care, and commissioning as we strive to improve the services for all of our children and families across our city to ensure a Best Start in Life right up to Transition to Adulthood.

Come and work with us youll not regret it!!!

Main duties of the job

You will have experience of working with children with a range of speech, language and communication difficulties, and be able to assess, plan and provide intervention and therapy. You will have excellent interpersonal skills and be committed to working in a multi-disciplinary way to facilitate the best outcomes for children.

You will be supported to develop your ASD diagnostic and therapeutic skills as well as providing assessments and advice for Education, Health and Care Plans for children.

We have a dynamic, well established, well-run service across mainstream schools, specialist settings and clinics. We run regular playgroups for children and their families as well as one to one interventions. Our therapists working in our other specialist areas of Community, Deaf Children and Young People, Stammering, Eating Drinking and Swallowing and Intensive Intervention Team will also support you. You will work with other therapists and assistants.

You will be part of a forward thinking department that provides a range of specialist services and is always striving to be innovative and put research into practice to improve patient outcomes. Developing our team members in their career path is the corner-stone of this. Our Childrens Speech and Language Therapy Team covers South Tyneside and Sunderland localities. There are excellent links across the Childrens Therapy staff with joint supervision and sharing practice sessions.

This is a fixed term position until 01st March 2025

About us

Please help us by adding your telephone number to your application form this will allow us to contact you quickly if required.

One Team One Trust - There are many reasons to work at our Trust. From our commitment to putting people first to our accessible services and award winning teams. We have a passion for research, innovation and tackling inequalities. We are committed to respect, fairness and civility and promote a compassionate, caring and positive culture / working environment.

We welcome all applications irrespective of peoples race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups. Looking after our workforces health and wellbeing is a priority for STSFT. We also provide access to high quality education, training, career progression and support.

The Trust employs around 8,300 people and provides a range of hospital services to a local community of around 430,000 residents. We also provide a range of more specialised services outside this area, in some cases to a population as great as 860,000. We offer our staff outstanding benefits - Fitness Centre (SRH), libraries at both hospital sites, chaplaincy support and access to a Childcare Co-ordinator to help staff with childcare arrangements.

Job description

Job responsibilities

PLEASE REFER TO THE ATTACHED JOB DESCRIPTION FOR FULL DUTIES OF THE ROLE.

Overall Job Purpose:

To provide a specialist speech, language and communication service to patients with a wide range of speech, language and communication difficulties and eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties, across a range of community settings including Health Centres, schools and early years settings, working primarily in the Complex and Additional Needs Team

To provide clinicalsupport and mentoring for less experienced Speech and Language Therapists and supervision for students and Speech and Language Therapy assistants

To develop and deliver specialist training and education programmes re. speech and language disorders to parents, carers and other professionals

Person Specification

Attitude

Essential

• To maintain sensitivity at all times to the emotional needs of client and their carers, in particular when imparting potentially distressing information regarding the nature of the clients difficulties, prognosis and implications of the same
• Positive and enthusiastic attitude towards team working
• Enthusiasm for the post and the client group.
• To promote the speech and language therapy profession within the wider community, e.g. health, education and social communities.

Qualifications

Essential

• Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree qualification
• Membership of Health Professions Council.
• Certificate to practice issued by Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
• Fulfilment of RCSLT competency criteria.
• Evidence of attendance at a wide range of short courses in specialist area e.g. Motor Speech Disorders, Specific Language Disorders
• Evidence of CPD including successful completion of specialist post-graduate training e.g. RCSLT accredited Dysphagia Management Course (Paediatrics), Hanen Certificate, Makaton Signing System

Knowledge

Essential

• Membership of relevant Special Interest Groups
• Well-established knowledge of a range of specialist assessment tools relevant to a wide range of paediatric communication disorders
• Knowledge of current national policies and procedures e.g. Education, Health and Care Planning process ( Children and Families Act 2014).
• Knowledge of trends/best practice across the clinical specialisms
• In-depth knowledge of a range of therapeutic interventions relevant to the client groups and an ability to compare and contrast relative benefits of each
• Knowledge of the principles of clinical governance/audit
• Understanding of the roles of other professionals relevant to client group
• Knowledge of standards of record-keeping
• Working knowledge of child protection and vulnerable adult policies
• Working knowledge of structure, policies and functioning of the NHS and Local Educational Authorities.

Desirable

• Good working knowledge of structure, policies and functioning of STSFT and Local Educational Authorities.
• Good working knowledge of speech and language therapy service provision and examples of care pathways.

Skills

Essential

• Excellent interpersonal skills - including observation, listening and empathy skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with Health, Education and Social Services professionals, as well as parents/families/carers.
• Influencing and problem-solving skills
• Demonstrate excellent analytical, assessment, deduction and reflection skills
• Well-developed concentration skills
• Excellent presentation skills - written and oral
• Excellent organisational and time-management skills
• Prioritisation skills
• Innovative thinking skills
• Highly-developed discrimination skills and ability to transcribe speech phonetically
• Demonstrates ability to be a good team member and assume supervisory responsibilities of assistants and mentoring responsibilities of less experienced therapists
• Independent and autonomous working

Physical/Mental Abilities

Essential

• To have due regard for own personal safety and that of clients/carers, in particular to have regard to moving and handling regulations and ensure the safe positioning of self and others.
• Lifting and carrying equipment for assessment and treatment on a regular basis.
• To maintain intense concentration in all aspects of client management for prolonged periods, in particular, to monitor auditory, visual and kinaesthetic aspects of clients communication, adapting and facilitating according to perceived client needs including cultural and linguistic differences.
• To be flexible to the demands of the environment including unpredictable work patterns, deadlines and frequent interruptions.
• To employ counselling skills with carers and clients (including clients with highly complex needs)
• To demonstrate the ability to manage clients with challenging behaviours, including the application of appropriate management strategies
• To be adaptable to the demands of a variety of working conditions and/or a wide range of clients
• To work within infection control and Health & Safety guidelines in order to deal with unpleasant conditions relating to client contact as they arise, for example exposure to body fluids, infectious conditions, encountered on a regular basis
• To employ appropriate strategies to manage verbally aggressive behaviour within the workplace
• Competent computer skills

Desirable

• Valid driving licence

Experience

Essential

• Significant knowledge and experience of a wide range of developmental speech, language and communication difficulties and their treatments.
• Experience of working within multi-disciplinary teams.
• Experience liaising with other health, education and social professionals.
• Experience of planning and delivery of training for other professionals and parents/carers.
• Relevant experience at post-graduate level e.g. assessment and intervention with more complex communication disorders and writing reports on outcomes.
• Experience of working alongside highly specialised therapists for highly complex cases

Desirable

• Relevant specialist experience post-qualifi
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