Access to Communication

Great day with the Access to Communication team and Hayley Makaton Tutor completing our Makaton level 1, looking forward to level 2 next month. 👍🏻😊🗣️

Exciting News!

Access to Communication is Recruiting!

Come and join our team we are looking for a Band 5 Speech and Language Therapist

Part-Time 4 days per week, Term Time Only, with 2 additional clinical admin weeks – 41 weeks. Working hours negotiable!

Location: Southwest of England, Totnes Base, Community Role

Salary: £29,000 - 31,500 Full-Time Equivalent, Salary will be pro-rata.

About Us:

Access to Communication is a developing Speech and Language Therapy service located in Totnes, South Devon. Founded by Abi Lawton, a specialist in the field of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), we are dedicated to providing exceptional support for individuals with complex communication needs across the Southwest of England. We provide therapeutic services as a small team for a diverse range of clients. We are predominantly a paediatric service but do provide services to currently a small number of adult clients, particularly where AAC is their primary need for therapeutic input. We pride ourselves on providing our therapists with a balanced and manageable caseload to ensure our clients receive the best possible, individualised and bespoke care.

About the Role:

We are looking for a dedicated Band 5 Speech and Language Therapist to join our dynamic team. This role is part-time (3-4 days per week) and operates during term time only, with two weeks a year for additional administration time (41 weeks per year). You will be part of a supportive team, working under supervision while gaining valuable experience with a diverse range of clients. This role would include some work with secondary and post-16 pupils, as part of a small bespoke SLT team. As well as work with pre-school, school age clients. We also work with a small number of adult clients. We work across a diverse range of settings, including specialist and mainstream education settings, nurseries, clients' homes and day services. We also offer specialist clinical services, to independent education provisions with a high proportion of children/adolescents with complex communication needs.

Key Responsibilities:

· Assess, diagnose, and provide treatment for a range of speech, language, and communication problems.
· Develop tailored therapy programs to meet the individual needs of our clients.
· Monitor client progress and adjust treatment plans as necessary.
· Work collaboratively with our speech and language therapy assistant on joint cases.
· Collaborate with other healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive support.
· Keep accurate and up-to-date client records.
· Adhere to professional standards and regulations.
Qualifications and Skills:

· A degree in Speech and Language Therapy or equivalent qualification.
· Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
· Registration with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT)
· Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with clients of all ages and their families.
· Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
· Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to adapt to changing situations.
· Basic IT skills to maintain digital client records and resource-making.
· Will need to be able to drive and willing to travel (and have a vehicle with business insurance to use for work purposes).
· This post is open to newly qualified applicants or Speech and Language Therapists with some clinical experience.

Why Join Us?

· Work with a manageable caseload to deliver high-quality, focused care.
· Opportunities for professional development and growth.
· Small supportive team environment.
· Term-time-only role provides a great work-life balance.
· Regular team building activities
· Flexibility in using therapeutic approaches to suit client's needs.
· Flexible working hours when available/possible
· Company phone and laptop provided.
· Therapy resources provided.
· Travel expenses paid.
· All mandatory training is provided plus a choice of CPD courses each year based on clinical interest and needs of the company.
· Regular clinical supervisions

If you are a passionate and dedicated Speech and Language Therapist looking for an opportunity to make a significant impact on the lives of individuals, we would love to hear from you.

Access to Communication is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All applications will be treated with confidentiality.

How to Apply:

Please send your CV and a cover letter detailing your experience and interest in the role to [email protected]. Applications close on 31/10/2023. If sufficient applications are received prior to this date, then this post may be subject to early closure.

This is workshop number 5!! Augmentative and Alternative Communication!

Book in for Thursday the 22nd at 10.30am at Play Cafe Torquay, if you think this is something that would be helpful for you and your child then book through the Play Cafe Torquay and attend this Workshop, free of charge.

We're looking forward to it 🥳🙌🗣

We hope you've all had a fabulous half term in the glorious sunshine 😁☀️

Next up for us is Workshop number 4 on Thursday! Total Communication Environment!

This will take place this Thursday at 10am at Play Cafe Torquay, if you think this is something that would be helpful for you and your child then book through the Play Cafe Torquay and attend this Workshop, free of charge.

We're looking forward to it 🥳🙌🗣

Incoming . . . Workshop number 3! The why? how? where? when? and who with? -How we can support the communication skills of children and young people😀

This will take place on 17/05/2023 (Wednesday) at 10am at Play Cafe Torquay, if you think this is something that would be helpful for you and your child then book through the Play Cafe Torquay and attend this Workshop, free of charge.

We're looking forward to it 🥳🙌🗣

Looking forward to seeing some of you at the Play Cafe Torquay tomorrow! Don’t forget to book your space.
🗣️😊👂🏼

Incoming . . . Workshop number 2! Phonological awareness 😀

This will take place on 04/05/2023 (Thursday) at 10am at Play Cafe Torquay, if you think this is something that would be helpful for you and your child then book through the Play Cafe Torquay and attend this Workshop, free of charge.

We're looking forward to it 🥳🙌🗣

Don't forget to book onto our second workshop at Play Cafe Torquay 😃 Phonological awareness!

It's next Thursday, so still plenty of time!🙌🗣✏️

Incoming . . . Workshop number 2! Phonological awareness 😀

This will take place on 04/05/2023 (Thursday) at 10am at Play Cafe Torquay, if you think this is something that would be helpful for you and your child then book through the Play Cafe Torquay and attend this Workshop, free of charge.

We're looking forward to it 🥳🙌🗣

Incoming . . . Workshop number 2! Phonological awareness 😀

This will take place on 04/05/2023 (Thursday) at 10am at Play Cafe Torquay, if you think this is something that would be helpful for you and your child then book through the Play Cafe Torquay and attend this Workshop, free of charge.

We're looking forward to it 🥳🙌🗣

Two days to go until our Attention and Listening Workshop! 😀

If this sounds interesting and relevant for you and your child, don't forget to book through Play Cafe Torquay! Once you've sorted your entrance, the Workshop is free to attend!

See you there! 👏

After spending some time with the wonderful families and the team at Play Cafe Torquay, we are very excited to announce we are going to be doing some further collaboration with Play Cafe Torquay.

We have set up some workshops which we hope will support families who are currently awaiting support, on the waiting list. These workshops for parents/carers are free to attend once you’ve booked through Play Café and will come on a first-come, first-served basis.

Each workshop will come with an information flyer which will advise you as to whether you feel that workshop is appropriate for you as a parent/carer. Please read this before you book. We will ensure we post this information 2 weeks prior to each workshop.

Our first Information Flyer is here! 😃👏🗣

We can’t wait to see you soon!

Great to meet so many families at the Play Cafe Torquay yesterday! We are really looking forward to planning further stages of our collaboration and future community projects supporting communication and interaction needs locally! Thank you to everyone who came to chat with us! 😊💬✨

One of the strategies we love to use when developing communication skills, at A2C, is aided language stimulation. This is when we model visual language alongside spoken language to support the development of receptive (understanding) and expressive language skills.

We are looking forward to sharing some of our Aided Language Displays at Play Cafe Torquay on Sunday at 9am!

This is Sara using this strategy in one of her sessions! 💭🙌🏻💬

We're very excited about our collaboration with Play Cafe Torquay and look forward to meeting lots of new people on Sunday! 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

The faces behind Access to Communication!
Meet Abi, Tanita, Amelia and Sara here at Play Cafe Torquay next Sunday the 19th February
9am - 11am.

“ We’re so excited to be collaborating with Play Cafe Torquay and to be setting up some community groups additional to what we do day to day. We believe everyone should have a voice and want to help create more accessible support in some small way. Please come along to meet us and give us some ideas on how we might be able to help you! “

“*All of our events through Play Cafe Torquay are free of charge other than your Play Cafe entrance*”

At Access to Communication, we believe anyone who has not acquired verbal communication using language learning strategies, should have access to robust Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)

Do you know someone who doesn’t use verbal communication or needs support to develop their verbal communication and traditional language learning strategies are not helping?


Do they have access to robust AAC that allows you to talk to them, using colourful language (a range of language functions)?

This could be the key to developing communication skills with AAC users – modelling a robust language system may help you find the things they are interested in which could support them to be motivated to communicate expressively whilst having a tool to support this 💬