Speech Link
Speech Link is our original package used to identify and support children with developmental speech sound difficulties. Launched in 2003, it is still used widely throughout the UK to help schools decide who needs to be seen by a speech and language therapist and those at risk of literacy difficulties. Suitable for children aged 4 to 8 years, Speech Link helps demystify speech work and helps support staff work effectively with children’s common speech sound errors.
Identification
Our online, screening assessment is fun, quick and easy to administer. It identifies whether a child’s speech is as it should be for their age. If a delay is present the package will recommend a programme of work. It will clearly indicate when a speech and language therapist’s opinion is required, helping you make the most of your external agency support.
Intervention
Speech Link includes 23 planned and resourced speech interventions covering all common developmental speech errors. Each programme comes with clear instructions on how to help children produce and listen for sounds on their own, in words and in sentences. Over 600+ downloadable resources are included so staff do not have to waste valuable time trying to find the right pictures for each sound. Speech work is always most effective when school programmes are backed up with home practice. Speech Link provides extensive resources for parents including over 30 activities for home practice and information sheets.
Listening Games
The ability to hear the difference between different speech sounds is essential for both speech and literacy development. Our interactive online listening games can be used across the whole class to develop good listening, auditory analysis and sound discrimination skills. These fun, engaging games guide the children through 5 different levels from listening to single sounds to identifying sounds at the beginning and ends of words. Certificates are included making them an indispensable classroom resource for early phonics work.
In-package Training
A popular feature of Speech Link is our video walk through. This takes staff though the package step by step. We also provide regular webinar training sessions which feature our Speech and Language Therapy team and cover different aspects of use of the package allowing staff to ask the experts questions.
Also included in the subscription is our online training for staff new to working with speech. Delivered in two modules this innovative course allows staff to develop skills at their own pace. The first module covers how speech sounds are produced and the second covers how to work through a speech programme.
Measuring Progress
Speech Link enables you to track impact with a set of Progress Measures. The class teacher, parent, and children complete intelligibility ratings and set a target for improvement. These are revisited on completion of a speech sound programme.
Our flexible dynamic reports provide the information you need at the touch of a button. Reports and provision maps show assessment results and in-school improvement for each child so you can easily judge the impact of each speech sound programme.
What our customers say
What our customers say
This year over 24,000 Speech Link assessments were completed. We asked one of our customers to tell us about why they use Speech Link.
The school has now been using Speech Link for three years. The package was bought for every school on the island (Guernsey) under the Every Child Our Future (ECOF) scheme.
The teacher identifies children who appear to have speech sound difficulties, and I screen them and deliver the interventions. It’s easy to use. The children love it- all the games. It’s very colourful and visual. I use the speech games as an end-of-week treat. They ask me ‘Is it a laptop day today? Is it a submarine day? Or a race car day?
We didn’t address speech sound difficulties at all before. Some children don’t realise they have a speech sound difficulty, but others are very conscious of it. After working with them, they have increased confidence and are not as embarrassed. It has an impact on their literacy- noticeable improvement (from teacher feedback). It also helps the SaLT focus on more complex children.
A boy in Reception had a number of speech sound errors. He would barely speak because he was so self-conscious. We started working on ‘k’ and ‘g’ first, which he picked up really quickly. After four months of interventions he is now freely speaking. He still has a few errors, but he is confident enough to speak now. His parents are pleased with his progress and now the adults in school can understand him.
Michelle Partington
St Mary and St Michael Catholic Primary
Guernsey