Early Years

The Paediatric Speech and Language Therapy Service won the 2011 Shine-A-Light Team of the Year Award for Children's Speech & Language Therapy.

The Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) team work with parents, carers, nursery staff, teachers and other professionals to help children to communicate.

Learning to talk can be quite tricky for some children and there may be problems with any of the following areas:

  • Understanding language
  • Using language
  • Developing speech sounds
  • Attention and listening skills
  • Stammering and voice
  • SLT staff in the Child Development Centre also work with children who have special needs that may include medical problems, learning difficulties, social interaction problems and eating/drinking or swallowing problems.

Children can be referred to SLT by anyone but the parent must give consent for the referral to be made. Alternatively, families of children can book a place at a Group Chatterbox session by ringing the Children's Centre at which it will take place. For a schedule of Group Chatterbox sessions, addresses and phone numbers of the respective Children's Centres please click here:

Group Chatterbox Dates January - March 2012

Group Chatterbox Dates April - June 2012

We find that we can help children best if we work in partnership with parents and carers so they will be involved in the assessment and then will agree the best course of action with the therapist. This may include attending a parent/child workshop, carrying out activities with the child at home, bringing the child for direct therapy, either on their own or in a group, and helping the therapist to monitor the child's progress.

Contact details:

SLT Dept
West Ham Lane Clinic
84 West Ham Lane
London E15 4PT

Tel: 020 8250 7340