Speech and language: Work experience and placements
Speech and language therapy is concerned with assessing and treating speech, language and communication difficulties in people of all ages. The aim is to help you to communicate to the best of your ability.
Some therapists also work with people who have eating and swallowing difficulties.
Useful facts about speech and language therapy
- Around 2.5 million people in the UK have a speech or language difficulty
- Approximately 7% of 5 year olds entering school in England have difficulties with speech and/or language. In some areas of the country it can be up to 40-50%.
- Speech and language difficulties are more common in boys than girls
- Speech and language difficulties are the most common special educational need
Becoming a speech and language therapist
We regularly have speech and language therapy university students on placement with us. Usually they are from the University of St Mark & St John, Plymouth (MARJON). The university sometimes host days for people interested in a career in speech and language therapy as do City Lit who also run courses for speech and language therapy as a career.
We periodically run short workshops for those interested in speech and language therapy as a career, alongside local trainee nurses and doctors who want to find more about our service as part of their clinical development. Contact us to find out if there are any of these workshops coming up.
The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) has also produced a useful leaflet on ‘my career in speech and language therapy’.
Useful books
- A career in speech and language therapy (2004) by Jannet A. Wright and Myra Kesner
- The man who mistook his wife for his hat (2011) by Oliver Sacks
- How to manage communication problems in young children (2002) by Myra Kersner
- Listen to your child: A parent’s guide to children’s language (1989) by David Crystal
- Children’s communication skills from birth to five years (2003) by Belinda Buckley
- Small talk: simple ways to boost your child’s speech and language development from birth (2013) by Nicola Lathey and Tracey Blake
