We offer a range of courses and training developed and delivered by qualified Speech and Language Therapists.
Explore the training offers below.
To book onto a course or find out more please call us or send the team an email. Alternatively, speak to your Speech and Language Therapist.
Stage 1 and 2
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for?
Parents and professionals who need to know more about starting to exchange a picture to communicate in home and school
By the end of the course you will
- Understand why exchanges can help children to communicate
- Know when and how to support a picture exchange
- Understand how to make a list of motivating things
Timetable
Each session lasts for 1 hour and 30 minutes
Face to face sessions are to be held in Blackburn
The cost to attend a session is £40
Virtual | Face to Face |
18 September 2024 | 8 November 2024 |
14 October 2024 | 6 March 2025 |
19 December 2024 | 3 June 2025 |
27 January 2025 | |
13 Februrary 2025 | |
1 April 2025 | |
16 May 2025 | |
21 July 2025 |
Stages 3 and 4 only
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for?
Parents and professionals who need to know more about how to extend picture exchanges to include choice making
By the end of the course you will
- Understand how to introduce and support choice making
- Know how to help to correct children who pick the wrong pictures
- Introduce simple sentences to picture exchanges
Timetable
Each session lasts one hour and 30 minutes
Face to face sessions are held in Blackburn
Each session costs £40
Virtual | Face to face |
29 October 2024 | 8 November 2024 |
9 December 2024 | 6 March 2025 |
7 February 2025 | 3 June 2025 |
25 April 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for?
Nursery and school staff who are working with children experiencing difficulties with understanding language and staff who would like to find out more about targeted approaches to support a child's understanding of language
By the end of this course you will
- Understand what we mean by communication, including the difference between receptive and expressive language skills
- Understand why language skills are important and how they can impact on a child’s learning and later life chances
- Have an awareness of general strategies to support children’s understanding within nursery/school
- Have a good understanding of the theory behind information carrying words (ICW’s) and know how to use these in your assessment and planning for particular children
- Have a good understanding of the Blank Language Scheme and know how to use this in your planning assessment and behaviour management
- Have links to practical resources and websites for information around speech, language and communication support
Timetable
Each session lasts two hours and takes place on Microsoft Teams
Each Sessions cost £40
Virtual |
6 February 2025 |
3 March 2025 |
6 May 2025 |
4 June 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for?
Teachers and teaching assistants of pre-school (3+) and key stage one children who have delayed or disordered speech
By the end of the course you will
- Understand how speech sounds developed including typical and atypical development
- Understand how to support children with speech sound difficulties
Timetable
Each session lasts 2 hours
Each session costs £40
Virtual |
31 October 2024 |
28 February 2025 |
6 June 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for?
Teachers, support workers, teaching assistants, parents or carers support pre-school, primary and/or secondary aged children
By the end of this course you will
- Understand why it is sometimes necessary to make adaptions to the environment in order to help children with their understanding
- Understand what adaptions are appropriate for children of different communication abilities and ages
Timetable
Both sessions last one hour, with the face to face session held in Blackburn
Each session costs £40
Virtual | Face to face |
26 February 2025 | 8 November 2024 |
14 May 2025 | 6 March 2025 |
3 June 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for?
For parents of and professionals working with children and young people with developmental language disorder
By the end of this course you will
- An understanding of the label 'developmental language disorder' and what that means for you and your child
- Have an understanding of some of the strategies and techniques that could work for your child
Timetable
Each session will last for one hour and 30 minutes
Each session costs £40
Virtual |
24 September 2024 |
15 November 2024 |
10 January 2025 |
24 March 2025 |
19 May 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for
- Teachers, SENCOs, Teaching Assistants working with children who stammer
- Parents and carers of children who stammer
By the end of the course you will:
- Understand what stammering is – what we know – dispelling the myths.
- Know what you can do to help and understand how people in a child’s
- environment can have a huge positive impact on how a child copes with their stammer.
- Understand stammering from a child’s perspective.
- Have opportunities for discussion and asking questions.
- Know where to access relevant and useful information and resources.
Timetable
Each session will last one hour and is via Microsoft Teams
Each session will cost £40
Virtual |
10 September 2024 |
11 November 2024 |
17 January 2025 |
12 March 2025 |
12 May 2025 |
10 July 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for:
- This course is delivered over two sessions (one week apart) and is aimed at parents and carers who have already attended Makaton Level one, who are supporting children that use Makaton signs and symbols.
- This course is also suitable for professionals who are going to use Makaton on a regular basis who have already attended Makaton Level one.
By the end of the course you will:
- Have a full and practical introduction into using knowledge of Makaton signs and symbols in Stages 3– 4 and the additional vocabulary.
- Have a nationally recognised certificate and can go on to the Makaton Level three workshop which would cover signs from stage 5-8.
- The course includes time for the participants to practice signing and to reflect on how to introduce these skills to an individual or environment.
Timetable
A total of two sessions lasting three hours and 30 minutes on Microsoft Teams
Each session costs £70
Day one | Day two |
13 January 2025 | 20 January 2025 |
11 June 2025 | 18 June 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for:
- This course is delivered over two sessions (one week apart) and is aimed at parents/carers that support children who use Makaton signs and symbols.
- This course is also suitable for professionals who are going to use Makaton on a regular basis.
- This is a beginners course and no previous training is necessary, however, we would recommend our Makaton Taster course is attended in the first instance.
By the end of the course you will:
- Have a full and practical introduction into using knowledge of Makaton signs and
- symbols in Stages 1 – 2 and the additional vocabulary.
- Have a nationally recognised certificate and can go on to attend Level two and three workshops.
- The course includes time for the participants to practice signing and to reflect on how to introduce these skills to an individual or environment
Timetable
One day session, face to face in Blackburn
Each session costs £70
Face to face session |
15 October 2024 |
14 February 2025 |
Two sessions at three hours 30 minutes each on Microsoft Teams
Day one | Day two |
13 September 2024 | 20 September 2024 |
6 November 2024 | 13 November 2024 |
16 January 2025 | 23 January 2025 |
14 March 2025 | 21 March 2025 |
2 May 2025 | 9 May 2025 |
8 July 2025 | 15 July 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for
Parents and staff from Early Years Foundation Stage settings or parents and staff of children who are non/minimally verbal
By the end of the course you will
- Understand why children are having difficulty understanding language.
- Understand why children are having difficulty using language and communication
- Understand why children are having difficulty interacting with others
- Understand strategies to help with these difficulties
Timetable
Each session will last one hour and take place on Microsoft Teams
Each session costs £40
Virtual |
6 September 2024 |
2 October 2024 |
5 November 2024 |
5 December 2024 |
8 January 2025 |
10 February 2025 |
7 March 2025 |
3 April 2025 |
8 May 2025 |
9 June 2025 |
2 July 2025 |
Delivered by qualified speech and language therapists for parent/carers
Who is this course for
This is a one hour 30 minutes course aimed at parents and carers who are working with children who use Makaton signs and symbols
By the end of the course you will
- Describe the purpose and benefits of using Makaton.
- Use 34 concepts in symbols and signs from the Makaton core vocabulary
- Use a further 12 concepts in symbols and signs relevant to their own environment and needs
- You will also know how to access further information and training
Timetable
Each session is one hour and 30 minutes and takes place on Microsoft Teams
Virtual |
4 September 2024 |
25 November 2024 |
29 January 2025 |
27 March 2025 |
23 May 2025 |
4 July 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for
Parents and professionals
By the end of the course you will
- Understand the difference between social stories and comic strip conversations.
- Understand when these different approaches can be used and will be able to reason why you’ve used an approach.
- Have practiced writing a social story/comic strip conversation.
- Feel ready to try out these techniques with your child/the child you support.
Timetable
Each session, virtual and face to face lasts for one hour and 30 minutes
Each session costs £40
Virtual | Face to face |
16 September 2024 | 8 November 2024 |
8 October 2024 | 6 March 2025 |
11 December 2024 | 3 June 2025 |
21 January 2025 | |
12 February 2025 | |
28 April 2025 | |
22 May 2025 | |
16 July 2025 |
1
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for:
- Nursery and school staff who are working with children experiencing difficulties with sentence building and retelling events
- Nursery and school staff who would like to find out more about targeted approaches to support a child’s sentence building and storytelling skills
By the end of the course you will:
- Have developed your understanding of how children develop sentences.
- Be able to use strategies to support sentence building.
- Understand how children develop story building skills (narrative).
- Have an awareness of how to extend language skills through narrative by using tools to support story building.
- Have links to practical resources and websites for information around speech, language and communication support
Timetable
Each session will last two hours on Microsoft Teams
Each session costs £40
Virtual |
26 September 2024 |
30 January 2025 |
20 May 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and langauage therapists
Who is this course for
Parents of and professionals working with children who have a diagnosis of autism
By the end of the course you will
- Have an understanding of the theory of autism
- Have an understanding of some specific strategies used with children with autism
Timetable
Each session lasts one hour and 30 minutes on Microsoft Teams
Each session lasts £40
Virtual |
18 October 2024 |
17 December 2024 |
24 February 2025 |
23 April 2025 |
26 June 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for
Parents, carers and staff in nurseries, early years settings and foundation stage supporting a range of children from pre-verbal to those that are understanding and using one to two words
Aims of the course
- An overview of pre-intentional communication, intentional communication and the communication stages
- An awareness of the how and why of communication
- An introduction to the parent-child interaction strategies to use at home or in the educational setting
- Knowledge of websites, useful resources and any support groups
Timetable
Each session lasts 2 hours and takes place on Microsoft Teams
Each session costs £40
Virtual |
7 November 2024 |
4 February 2025 |
7 July 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for
- Parents/Carers
- Staff in nurseries and schools supporting pre-school, primary and/or secondary aged children.
By the end of the course you will
- Have a greater understanding about what we mean by “sharing interactions”
- Understand what the strategies look like and who they can be used with
- Feel ready to use the ideas you have seen on the training with your child/ the child you support
Timetable
Each session lasts 1 hour and takes place on Microsoft Teams
Each session costs £40
Virtual |
30 September 2024 |
29 November 2024 |
7 January 2025 |
10 March 2025 |
13 May 2025 |
18 July 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for
Parents, teachers, tutors, support workers, teaching assistants supporting primary and secondary aged children
By the end of the course you will
- Understand what ‘social communication’ is and how it develops
- Be able to identify appropriate targets for social communication
- Understand the nature of group work and how to put a group together to support social communication
- Understand and have strategies to support social communication
- Have an awareness of available published resources and programme
Timetable
Each session lasts two hours and takes place on Microsoft Teams
Each session costs £40
Virtual |
2 December 2024 |
12 June 2025 |
Developed and delivered by qualified speech and language therapists
Who is this course for
- Parents/Carers
- Staff in nurseries and schools supporting pre-school, primary and/or secondary aged children
By the end of the course you will
- Have a greater understanding what gestalt language development is
- Understand the difference between analytical and gestalt language development
- Have an greater understanding of how to identify a gestalt language processor (GLP)
- Feel ready to use strategies to support a child who is a GLP
Timetable
Each session lasts one hour and takes place on Microsoft Teams
Each session costs £40
Virtual |
10 October 2024 |
13 December 2024 |
3 February 2025 |
30 April 2025 |
30 June 2025 |