Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
Specialist Speech and Language Therapist - Permanent role
(Short term Locum also considered to support us through the recruitment process)
Based in Mamhilad near Pontypool, South Wales - Term time only - 40 hours / 5 days per week (0.91 FTE)
Speech and Language Therapists at National Star have a key role in ensuring that students gain the skills and confidence to communicate effectively as part of their journey towards living as independently as possible.
We are looking to recruit a new Specialist Speech and Language Therapist to work alongside our experienced team, supporting students to develop their skills so that they can express their opinions, make choices and communicate with family and friends.
As well as working with a fabulous group of young people, you will benefit from family-friendly, Monday to Friday, term-time only hours, giving you the opportunity to maintain your work/life balance.
Main duties of the job
This is a fantastic opportunity for a qualified practitioner with a minimum of 2 years' experience looking to build their career to develop their expertise of Speech and Language Therapy within a college setting.
You will have an interest in working with people with a broad range of physical and learning disabilities, including Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and Acquired Brain Injury. It may be that you already have experience of providing direct and indirect speech and language therapy support.
A knowledge of Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC), Makaton and/or Intensive Interaction would help you to hit the ground running in this role. You will also have excellent observational and communication skills and a creative and flexible approach to work.
Multi-disciplinary working is key to the success of our college, so being a team player is a must-have attribute as you will find yourself working alongside our occupational therapy, physiotherapy, education, nursing, and residential teams.
Job responsibilities
1. To enable students to communicate successfully through the design, development, and delivery of specialist therapy programmes for learners with complex communication needs, including completing complex assessments.
2. To provide supervision and support to SLTs and professional advice, training, and information to College staff.
3. To assess, plan, implement, and evaluate therapy programmes for learners with complex communication needs, to support their development and learning.
4. To be responsible and accountable for the management of learners within a personal caseload.
5. To design, develop, and monitor therapy programmes delivered by therapy assistants and other College staff and support SLTs with this process.
6. To promote the development of students' communication skills across College, supporting wider learning, taking an active role in the development of new provisions where required.
7. To refer students to other agencies as appropriate.
8. To work as part of a multi-disciplinary team to meet the needs of students with complex physical and learning difficulties, communicating effectively with students, their carers, members of the multi-disciplinary team and outside agencies.
9. To complete complex assessments, pre-College assessment and, if appropriately trained, Dysphagia assessments where required in accordance with the organisations Dysphagia Management Policy.
10. To demonstrate professional knowledge underpinned by current evidence-based practice within your developing area of specialism.
11. To ensure that students understand what they are doing in therapy and why it is relevant to them. With students who lack capacity to understand, to work in their best interest.
12. To accurately record all therapeutic interventions and ensure that yours and the SLTs you are supervising written and electronic documentation is completed in accordance with College and professional standards, protocols, and guidelines.
13. To contribute to student-specific meetings and Annual Review processes, including preparing reports and documentation to a high standard in complex cases.
14. To provide ongoing supervision for Speech and Language Therapists and Speech and Language Therapy Assistants.
15. To contribute to training, coaching, and mentoring of staff in developing best working practices across College and meet organisational goals.
16. To undertake relevant training to maintain and develop best practice and meet professional registration and student needs.
17. To work as an autonomous practitioner and provide clinical and statistical information including audits and outcome measures on a regular basis or as required.
18. To maintain student confidentiality, unless the consequences of disclosure are detrimental to students, staff, and College.
19. To comply with all National Star College policies and procedures and the professional Codes of Practice as defined by the Royal College of Speech and Language and Health and Care Professionals Councils.
20. To promote a professional image and raise the profile and the role of the Speech and Language Therapy service both within the College and the wider community.
21. To be responsive to the unpredictable demands of the post, undertaking other duties that may be within the scope of the role function across various National Star sites.
Person Specification
Knowledge and Skills
* Skill in selection of appropriate strategies for prioritisation and management of a complex caseload
* Ability to identify own needs and those of more junior staff, including providing Clinical Supervision
* Ability to write concisely and summarise information
* Excellent assessment skills
* Flexibility in regard to the demands of the unpredictable work patterns, deadlines and frequent interruptions
* Makaton, Signalong or BSL
* Intensive Interaction, Total Communication approaches
* AAC programming Grid 3, Boardmaker, Communicate in Print, Widgit Online
Qualifications
* Recognised Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists Membership
* Health and Care Professions Council HCPC Licence to Practice
* Willingness to undertake Dysphagia training qualification as required
* Other relevant level Dysphagia qualification
Other
* Competently use Microsoft Office: Word, Excel and PowerPoint
* Ability to meet the travel requirements of the post
* Support the ethos of the College and be fit to work with vulnerable adults and children
* Ability to travel between sites as required
Personal skills
* Excellent communication skills
* Innovative and creative
* Adaptable and flexible
Experience
* Demonstration of professional knowledge, underpinned by current evidence-based practice
* Knowledge of a broad range of professional formal and informal assessment methods and their interpretation
* Caseload management
* 2 years experience in relevant clinical field
* Experience of MDT working
* Experience of training others, e.g., key communication partners
* Experience of working in an educational setting
* Experience of working across multiple locations
* Experience of working within the field of PMLD / AAC / ASD / ABI
* Experience of completing Dysphagia assessments
* Experience of providing Support and Development
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
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