We are available to discuss concerns and provide advice to parents and patients. We also liaise with local teams who can help closer to home.
We are actively involved in research and clinical audit projects and share our findings in journal publications and through education and training.
Your child's appointment
SLTs will routinely be at your child's multidisciplinary clinic appointments. Appointments are an opportunity for you to talk to us about your child's progress and to ask questions. At some clinic appointments, your child will be offered a speech and language assessment.
Speech and language assessment
If your child has surgery, we will carry out an assessment beforehand. We will also see your child for routine assessments at age three and age five.
SLT assessments are usually conducted alongside your child's multidisciplinary clinic appointment, however we can arrange a separate appointment if a more detailed consultation would be helpful.
Assessments usually take 30 minutes to one hour. The SLT will assess your child's understanding of language, how well they are talking, and which sounds they are able to use in their speech.
Sometimes we will ask you to complete a screening questionnaire to provide information about your child's feeding or communication at home. This helps us decide if further assessment is needed.
If your child's assessment shows any difficulties, we provide you with advice and then request additional support from local services.
How to support your child
Playing and talking to your child from birth helps their speech and language development. We have produced a guide to supporting speech and language development in young children (age 0-3) which you can find here:
Sing and Say - Oxford University Hospitals
As your child gets older (age three to five), you can continue to support their speech and language development with conversations and stories.
You can find activities and tips for this on our Language Launchpad website:
Language Launchpad - Oxford University Hospitals
Extra support
Most children born with craniosynostosis develop feeding, speech and language skills as expected and do not require extra support.
However, some children have difficulties which benefit from Speech and Language Therapy.
Some children with craniofacial syndromes may have feeding difficulties, hearing loss or speech and language difficulties that are specifically linked to their genetic condition. If your child needs a referral to your local SLT team we will help with this.
Children with complex feeding and communication difficulties may benefit from a team approach to their support. If your child has complex needs, the craniofacial SLT will share relevant information with your local SLT.
We will also liaise with teachers and other local teams who may be involved.
This may include:
- Health Visiting
- Paediatrics
- Audiology
- Ear Nose and Throat
- Dietetics
- Educational Psychology.
Contact us
If you have a question about your child's speech, language, communication or feeding development, please get in touch and we can arrange a phone call or video consultation
Contact us