Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist -Autism | East London NHS Foundation Trust

Band 7 – Highly Specialist Paediatric Speech and Language Therapist Schools service and autism diagnostic assessment

Paediatric Community Services- Newham, East London Foundation Trust

We are looking for an experienced Speech and Language Therapist to work across in our schools service and within the CHAND multidisciplinary autism diagnostic service .

Are you an experienced, innovative, creative speech and language therapist? Would you like to bring your skills and ideas to help us deliver change and new services?

We have an exciting opportunity for a Speech and Language Therapist with specialist skills and knowledge in paediatrics to join our team. This role is a split post that will involve working as an integral part of thehools service and also within CHAND our autism diagnostic service.

In the CHAND Service, you will work with other members of the MDT to assess a range of children, under the age of 11 years, referred for autism diagnostic assessments. You will undertake ADOS assessments (training will be provided), contribute to the diagnostic discussion and develop skills around autism history taking. You will also be required to deliver parent workshops pre and post diagnosis.

Within the Schools Service You will hold a caseload and responsibility for a number of schools where you will provide specialist assessment, intervention and advice for children and young people who present with a variety of speech language and communication needs. This includes children with social communication difficulties, developmental language disorder, dysfluency and language delay.

The post-holder will manage their own caseload and will support more junior staff through supervision and competency development. There will be opportunity to undertake service improvement work along with audit and pathway development. The post holder will on occasion deputise for the 8a Clinical Lead.

The successful applicant will have relevant experience of working with children and families, especially where a diagnosis of autism has been given, In providing support within school settings including writing EHCPs and participating in annual reviews. Previous experience of autism diagnostic work is desirable but not essential as training can be provided.

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve.

Our values are

We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

we can offer you

· An amazing working environment, with a warm, welcoming and supportive team of SLTs and colleagues who bring experiences from all over the world.

· 1:1 monthly supervision, appraisal and CPD

· Team learning programme

· Protected service development time and regular team away days

· Opportunity to supervise and develop junior staff

· Monthly team meetings and band 7 leadership meetings

· On-going clinical skills development, MDT working

· Opportunity to lead service improvement

· Involvement in audit and quality improvement work

In the CHAND Service, you will work with other members of the MDT to assess children, and young people referred for autism diagnostic assessments. You will undertake autism assessments including ADOS assessments.

Within the Schools Service You will hold a caseload and responsibility for a number of schools where you will provide specialist assessment, intervention and advice for children and young people who present with a variety of speech language and communication needs. This includes children with social communication difficulties, developmental language disorder, dysfluency and language delay.

The post-holder will manage their own caseload and will support more junior staff through supervision and competency development. There will be opportunity to undertake service improvement work along with audit and pathway development. The post holder will on occasion deputise for the 8a Clinical Lead.

The successful applicant will have relevant experience of working with children and families, especially where a diagnosis of autism has been given, In providing support within school settings including writing EHCPs and participating in annual reviews. Previous experience of autism diagnostic work is desirable but not essential as training can be provided.

This advert closes on Sunday 14 Jun 2026