At Employ My Ability we aim to provide an inclusive communication environment where we understand that both partners in a interaction play an equally important role in its success.
The Speech and Language Therapy team at EMA use a combination of individual, paired and small group interventions, as well as a rolling programme of support in lessons and internal work experience. Alongside this we provide ongoing training and support to all staff, enabling them to be effective partners in promoting our students’ speech, language and communication. Our Speech and Language Therapy Lead is a licensed Elklan tutor and training in Speech and Language Support for Post-16s is available to all education staff.
Intervention and support programmes and tools include:
- Makaton signing
- Widgit InPrint symbols
- Shape Coding
- Colourful Semantics
- Keyword pre-teaching
- Comic Strip Conversations
- Social Behaviour Mapping
- Social Stories & Articles
- Alex Kelly’s “Talkabout” programmes
- Zones of Regulation
Occupational Therapy
Students that require occupational therapy are referred to the local authority occupational therapy department who work closely with the students at EMA and their support team.
Speech and Language Therapy
We have an in-house Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) provision. This can aid communication in students with cognitive learning disabilities and SEND. It can also help students to overcome psychological barriers that can arise as a result of social anxiety or other external factors.
