Get Online Speech Therapy for Your Child

Yes. Using private speech and language services does not have any impact on your access to support through the NHS and you won’t lose your place on an NHS waiting list or have sessions withdrawn/reduced if you use Saltroad.

Any child who has enough language to get a suitable sample from can receive a speech sound assessment. Even very young children can have an assessment through informal observations of their play and talking. If your child doesn’t have many words yet, it will not be possible to assess their speech. Please feel free to fill in our questionnaire if you are unsure and our speech and language therapists can advise you further.

Saltroad provides speech sound assessments only, and is not a full assessment of language and communication skills. For many children, this is the only area of need, and so the advice provided by Saltroad will be enough to support the development of their communication skills. However, if you have concerns about another area of your child’s communication skills (e.g. social communication, language skills or a stammer), it would be helpful to see a speech and language therapist face-to-face for a more thorough assessment. If you are unsure whether you should use Saltroad or not, fill in the initial questionnaire and our speech and language therapists can advise you and help you make the decision.

Assessments are key to correctly identifying a child's speech problem(s), and deciding how best to help them. We will send you guidance and a short picture naming assessment with carefully selected words to cover a range of speech sounds using vocabulary which is familiar and accessible to young children. We also encourage parents to submit further video evidence of their child talking freely so that we have an idea of how your child speaks in full sentences, as this can often be different to using single words.

Video has been proven to be very effective in assessing speech. In fact, it can allow for more in-depth assessments due to the ability to re-play the recorded assessment. It also removes barriers to traditional speech assessment services for those who live in rural areas, where there are limited services available, or where you face lengthy waiting times.

All you need is something to record a video of your child's speech - a smart phone or tablet is fine. You will also need access to the internet and an email address so you can submit your video and communicate with your assigned therapist.

Yes! Please feel free to share your assessment, report, activities etc. with anyone you feel necessary to. In fact, Saltroad encourage this, and promote joint working with anyone involved.

We will provide ideas and guidance on carrying out the assessment, including games and activities in order to encourage your child to engage. Although the formal assessment is helpful, if your child refuses to name the pictures you can just submit a video of them talking during play, as long as it is enough for us to get a good speech sample to analyse.

The first step is to complete our online screener and book a consultation call. At this stage, we will be able to advise you on your options and answer any questions you have about the service.