Speech, Language and Communication

Find out more about speech and language therapy treatment, support and care programmes for children and young adults.

The core aim of this service is to help children and young people to develop their best possible communications skills.

Speech, Language and Communication

The ability to communicate differs with individual abilities and needs and the team are aware that the impact of any communication difficulty on a child or young person’s life can be significant. , their family and aim to find ways of reducing this as much as possible.

Northumbria Healthcare’s speech and language therapy service can support children and young people from birth to 19 years who have speech, language or communication needs, or difficulties with eating, drinking or swallowing.

The service includes a variety of speech and language therapy treatment, support and care programmes for children and young adults, which aim to reduce the negative impact of communication difficulties. Areas and difficulties covered, include:

Stammering – this is where words or sounds are regularly repeated, or it takes a lot of effort to produce them
Speaking with a persistently unusual voice quality – this can include a hoarse, breathy or croaky voice
Difficulties in saying specific sounds when talking – this can make speech difficult for others to understand
Difficulties with speaking, including difficulties putting words and sentences together which can cause problems when telling a story, asking for something or in general conversation
Understanding how to use eye contact and body language, as well as making sense of what other people say to you
Difficulties learning the ‘rules’ of conversation – typically struggling with understanding when it is your turn to speak or when it is time to change the topic of conversation
Difficulties with feeding or swallowing

These difficulties can occur on their own but are also known to be common in children and young people who have other diagnoses (such as cerebral palsy, Autism spectrum disorder, cleft palate or learning, physical or hearing difficulties).

Children and young people can access health services for speech, language and communication at nursery, school, health centres or at home.

Not only working directly with children and young people, Northumbria Healthcare supports families and carers, as well as childcare staff or teachers and other professionals.

Specialist teams at Northumbria Healthcare carry out observations and assessments during play and learning activities, as well as observing mealtimes for children who are experiencing feeding or swallowing difficulties.

You can self-refer to this service if you live in Northumberland and North Tyneside. Referrals are also accepted from any professional working with a child and their family, including from a nurse, doctor, health visitor, teacher or social worker.

You can contact the team at the main office at Shiremoor Resource Centre on 0191 297 9019.

Or contact your local area team:

Alnwick or Berwick at Alnwick Medical Group, Infirmary Drive, Alnwick, NE66 2NR Tel: 01665 511 880
Castle Morpeth, Ashington or Wansbeck at Northumberland Child Health Centre, Woodhorn Lane, Ashington, NE63 9JJ Tel:01670 564029
Blyth Valley at Brockwell Health Centre, Northumbrian Road, Cramlington NE23 1XZ Tel: 01670 293 163
Tynedale area at Cobridge Health Centre, Newcastle Road, Corbridge, NE45 5LG Tel: 01434 636940