Speech & Language Therapy Groups

For Children with Down Syndrome in Sussex

About the groups

Experts indicate that syndrome-specific speech and language therapy is vital to enabling children with Down syndrome to make best progress with speech, language and communication skills. So a local group of parents have organised weekly speech and language therapy groups that augment services available from the NHS and charities like SCOPE.

The groups are run by a co-worker who has experience, skills and training in running speech and language therapy activities for children with Down syndrome, and supervised by a specialist speech and language therapist who sees the children at least termly, sets targets and activities, and can offer support and advice to parents (but we don’t set ‘homework’, the idea is that children get the input they need by coming to the groups).

What we do

It’s recognised that children with Down syndrome usually learn best in groups where they can practise skills and learn from watching each other, so we arrange 30-45 minute sessions for 2-5 children of similar ages. These groups are for children from around 6 months old to 11 years (babies, preschool and primary) or for teenagers and young adults (16+)

Children take part in individually tailored activities to develop the building blocks of successful communication skills including vocabulary, speech production, using words, signing, and sentences, and learning to explain things, build relationships and assert themselves.

When

While the groups are fun, our children have to work hard, so we feel that children shouldn’t have to do these as extra work after school. Some groups run in school time and children come out of school to attend sessions, with agreement from staff at their school. Some also run out of school time.

Costs

The costs are usually divided between families using the service, all fees are payable in advance at the beginning of each term.