early years speech and language therapist

Hello I was looking at this job role and I really liked it however i only want to work with children up until the age of 11. How can I do this? I know that you have to do an undergraduate degree in speech and language therapy but how would I specialise in the area I want to do?

Reply 1

normaw

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by madina008

You will be able to specialise once you have completed your degree. Have a look through the professional development section of the job profile on the following link:

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/speech-and-language-therapist

Other resources:

https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/allied-health-professionals/roles-allied-health-professions/speech-and-language-therapist
https://www.rcslt.org/speech-and-language-therapy/become-a-speech-and-language-therapist/

Reply 2

madina008

Original post by normaw

You will be able to specialise once you have completed your degree. Have a look through the professional development section of the job profile on the following link:
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/speech-and-language-therapist
Other resources:
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/allied-health-professionals/roles-allied-health-professions/speech-and-language-therapist
https://www.rcslt.org/speech-and-language-therapy/become-a-speech-and-language-therapist/

thank u sm for this!!!

Reply 3

UniofReading

Official Rep

Original post by madina008

Hi @madina008

Hope you're doing well, it is great to hear that you would potentially be interested in speech and language therapy!

Whilst undertaking the degree you will learn about and do placements with both adults and children to maximise your options once you graduate. However, there are options to focus more heavily on one client group if you are certain that that is the demographic you would like to work with.

I'm not too sure how it works with other unis, but at Reading there are a couple of possibilities to explore your own preferences further. For example, your dissertation could focus on paediatrics rather than adults, and you can request for your longer 4th year placement to be in a children's setting if this is your preference.

I hope this has been helpful, and please feel free to ask if you have any more questions!

Hattie 😊
4th year MSci Speech and Language Therapy student

Reply 4

madina008

Original post by UniofReading

Hi @madina008
Hope you're doing well, it is great to hear that you would potentially be interested in speech and language therapy!
Whilst undertaking the degree you will learn about and do placements with both adults and children to maximise your options once you graduate. However, there are options to focus more heavily on one client group if you are certain that that is the demographic you would like to work with.
I'm not too sure how it works with other unis, but at Reading there are a couple of possibilities to explore your own preferences further. For example, your dissertation could focus on paediatrics rather than adults, and you can request for your longer 4th year placement to be in a children's setting if this is your preference.
I hope this has been helpful, and please feel free to ask if you have any more questions!
Hattie 😊
4th year MSci Speech and Language Therapy student

hello thank u for replying to this!
what if I choose to only work with school aged children? or would my employer make me work with patients up until the age of 18 or 11+ ?

Reply 5

evantej

Original post by madina008

hello thank u for replying to this!
what if I choose to only work with school aged children? or would my employer make me work with patients up until the age of 18 or 11+ ?

You will be expected to do placements with a range of clients whilst studying. But once you graduate you can choose to work with whoever you like. Most (NHS) paediatric roles are with pre-school and primary school children.

Any reason why you wouldn't want to work with secondary school children?

Reply 6

UniofReading

Official Rep

Original post by madina008

hello thank u for replying to this!
what if I choose to only work with school aged children? or would my employer make me work with patients up until the age of 18 or 11+ ?

Good afternoon @madina008

During degrees, you usally have the option to specialise by choosing optional modules. Similarly, a placement year would allow you to find employers who specialise in preteen speech and language; this would then be a way to begin to specialise your degree.

Once you graduate, you will be able to apply for jobs that focus on pre-teens. Alternatively, you can attempt to get any speech and language job, and once you have worked there for a while, you will have more experience and be able to look for alternative jobs which help pre-teens.

Another option for specialising would be to undertake a master's or PhD. These will cost extra money and also take longer, however they will be most likely to specialise you to where you wish to be.

If you have any more questions, please let us know. I hope this helps answer your question.

Alll the best,
Ella 😀
Bsc Ecology

Reply 7

UniofReading

Official Rep

Original post by madina008

hello thank u for replying to this!
what if I choose to only work with school aged children? or would my employer make me work with patients up until the age of 18 or 11+ ?

Hi @madina008

No problem at all!

Once you graduate and are looking for jobs, you can absolutely find jobs which are only working with school-aged children. Most jobs adverts clearly lay out which ages you would be working with as an SLT. If you want a job with just school-aged children, it would be very unlikely that you would be working with anyone outside of this age group.

I hope this helps, and just let me know if there's anything else you're not sure about.

Hattie 😊
4th year MSci Speech and Language Therapy student

Reply 8

kuponut

I graduated a couple of years ago now, but I went into the course only wanting to work with kids - we had to do one "big" placement with adults one year, and the following year with kids - or vice versa (half did one first, half did the other)... my adult placement changed my mind completely, so it's good the course skilled me for all of it really and I now work with adults and have no intention of switching over!

When it comes up to job hunting you just apply for roles that match up - so some of my course went off to work with paediatrics and some went off into various adult services, and then it tends to be as you move up the bandings you specialise more and more into specific areas. Tends to be very clear in job descriptions what client group you're going to be working with as well.

Two things I'll mention - remember SLT covers dysphagia (swallowing) work as well - it can be a big (or only) part of some roles - some people really hate it, some people love it and some people (I'm like this one) are getting their heads around it and building up confidence more and more and kind of starting to like it.... and lots of paediatric work these days tends to be in blocks of approximately 6 sessions, and much more developing programmes and working indirectly teaching parents and school staff to deliver therapy, rather than working directly 1:1 with kids for weeks on end (unless you go into working in special schools).