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The Balanced System® for Speech Language and Communication Needs

Everyone involved with children and young people has a role to play in supporting their speech, language, and communication.

The Balanced System®, developed by Marie Gascoigne and provided through Better Communication CIC, has been adopted by us and the NHS in Kent.

This framework ensures that children and young people with speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN) get the right support from the right people at the right time, helping them achieve the outcomes that matter to them.

Five outcome strands

The Balanced System® framework has 5 outcome strands:

  1. Family support: parents have the confidence, knowledge and skills to support their role as a key communication partner for their child, and young people can make proactive choices about how they are supported.
  2. Environment: the places where children and young people spend their time are set up to help them to understand and express themselves effectively.
  3. Workforce development: everyone working with children and young people know how to support them with their speech, language and communication.
  4. Identification: speech, language and communication needs are identified early and effectively.
  5. Intervention: children and young people get the help they need to make progress with their speech, language and communication.

And within each strand, there are 3 levels of support:

  • Universal support is available to all children and young people to develop their speech, language and communication skills.
  • Targeted support is used when there is a concern about speech, language and communication or a need has been identified.
  • Specialist or individualised support is used where a child has more complicated speech, language and communication needs or may provide more specialist information and help.

Children can access all levels of support as appropriate and may benefit from support at more than one level at a given time. For most children with SLCN, universal and targeted provision will be enough to meet their needs.

Role of link therapist

A link therapist is a named speech and language therapist assigned to a school. Their role is to build a strong relationship with the school and support the development of speech language and communication provision across the five outcome strands and three levels.

The link therapist provides a range of support to schools, ensuring everyone is equipped to support children’s communication needs. They help to create communication-friendly environments in schools, making it easier for children to understand and express themselves.

The link therapist will meet regularly with the SENCo to discuss specific children with SLCN and plan how to support them. They may also work with individual pupils or groups.

Learn more about the support available for developing your child’s speech, language and communication.