We are a very small team of Specialist Speech and Language Therapists who provide a service for babies and children where there is a significant concern about swallow safety/aspiration and/or significant oral-motor eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties, ie. mechanical rather than behavioural difficulties.
We can also support babies and young children (under 18 months) where there may be concerns around sensory- aversive eating, drinking and swallowing issues as a result of lack of oral feeding experiences due to non- oral feeding/tube feeding or extended hospitalisation.
We work in partnership with families and carers and other agencies. Referrals can be made to the service by local Hospitals, Paediatricians, other Speech and Language Therapy Teams, Health visitors, Children’s Community Nurses and other Healthcare Professionals, GPs, Education settings and others.
We may visit your child in setting or at home or may invite you into clinic. This will depend on your child’s age and needs. We work in partnership and are committed to supporting children and their families through assessment and by providing advice and support and information needed to support the children.
We currently follow an episode of care Model. An Episode of Care will be different depending on the child’s needs at that time.
We do not provide an urgent or same day service in the community. In the case of new or sudden onset swallowing difficulties in a child who is otherwise well and has no history of feeding difficulties, please seek urgent medical advice via your GP or local Accident and Emergency services.
Referrals from professionals are required to have appropriate supporting evidence including observation of the baby/child eating, drinking, and swallowing, detail of the presenting difficulties AND evidence of previous advice and targeted support provided and impact of this.
Each referral is dealt with on an individual basis and will be screened/triaged against our service criteria. Please note that completing a referral is not automatic acceptance of the referral by our service. Please click on the 'RAG Rating EDS' button to review our criteria.
Please note: You will no longer receive an email from us to confirm we have received your referral.
For Children’s Speech and Language Therapy Services in Huddersfield please contact the Children’s Therapy Department on 01484 344299
For issues with using different utensils please contact Locala Occupational Therapy team: locala.org.uk/services/childrens-occupational-therapy
For concerns regarding a restricted diet/ poor appetite your child may benefit from support from the Health Visiting Team or a Dietitian. You may need to see your child’s GP for further advice or to seek a referral.
For concerns regarding ongoing vomiting when feeding/ reflux or constipation please see your GP for further advice.
