Speech and Language Therapist

An exciting opportunity has arisen to employ an additional speech and language therapist into a well-established and friendly team working with children and young people aged 7-19 with special educational needs and therapeutic care for adults with learning disabilities. This role would suit a newly qualified therapist (other experience will be considered).

The post would be based at Cotswold Chine School and William Morris School to support young people and adults who have experienced trauma and/or adversity at some point in their lives and present with SEMH needs.

Main duties of the job

The role would include assessment, observation, creating therapeutic support plans/goals and carrying out therapeutic interventions for the children and young people.

You will have a manageable case load where you will be able to deliver speech therapy on a 1:1 and small group basis, supported by therapy assistants.

Support colleagues to understand the communication needs of children/adults that we work with.

Our children and young people have varied communication needs based on the impact of their adverse childhood experiences alongside additional diagnoses. Therefore, the candidate will need to be flexible with their approach to working and be able to plan engaging age and developmentally appropriate therapeutic sessions.

About us

Novalis Trust is a charitable organisation which focuses on trauma informed care, priding itself on a relationship-based approach, that is evidence supported, attachment focused and all within a therapeutic environment.

Job responsibilities

1. To provide speech and language therapy support to young people/adults across the trust where needed.
2. To understand and follow the ethos and values of Novalis Trust.
3. Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team for children and adults with a range of learning difficulties.
4. To undertake and partake in joint assessment and therapy sessions with other trained therapists.
5. To have an understanding of how trauma and adverse life experiences impact upon communication and development, and use this knowledge to set goals and implement therapeutic support.
6. To work with other speech and language therapists, to support the language needs of the young people and adults at Novalis Trust.
7. To meet with all new young people/adults to assess their communication needs in their new setting.
8. To work with care teams and teachers to implement speech and language goals, ensuring there is a Total communication approach.
9. To identify and create appropriate visual supports where needed, and ensure they are implemented correctly within different settings.
10. To be creative and flexible in the way therapy is implemented.
11. To identify students' communication needs and be able to plan and prioritise intervention.
12. To undertake assessments and provide detailed diagnostic assessment reports, which are accessible to other members of the disciplinary team and external teams.
13. To set specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-specific goals, which are regularly reviewed and adapted if needed.
14. To include the views and wishes of the young person/adult in goal setting, and ensure they are aware of the goals that they are working on where appropriate.
15. To carry out therapy sessions on a 1:1 basis, and group basis where needed.
16. To ensure other team members working with young person/adult are aware of their communication needs and put strategies in place across different settings to support this, and regularly review that these strategies are being followed.
17. To be able to use and follow an Education Health Care Plan/care plans to plan future intervention and link the goals into therapeutic support you provide.
18. To facilitate effective communication and both devising and implementing specific therapy programmes for groups and individuals using evidence-based and student-centred principles.
19. To write up to date, evidence-based reports for annual reviews, LAC reviews and EHCP reviews, and attend these reviews if asked to do so.
20. To support teachers, clinical therapy assistants and other staff members in being able to select appropriate resources at a level that the young person/adult will be able to understand.
21. To support with any training for staff members on communication.
22. To attend regular clinical supervisions and line management supervision, and use this time to learn and develop in order to best support the young people/adults.
23. To undertake and participate in training run by the Trust, focusing on a trauma informed approach and to use this ethos in supporting the people you work with.
24. To keep up to date with continual professional development.
25. To be registered with the HCPC and RCSLT.
26. To understand and implement safeguarding procedures.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Speech and Language Degree

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.