Experience

About Sarah Bradley

BA (Hons) Reg MRCSLT

After graduating from Leeds Metropolitan University in 2000, I have spent 20 happy years working as a Senior Specialist Speech and Language Therapist within the NHS. I am excited to now find myself within independent practice, bringing with me a wealth of experience of working with a range of communication needs for children from the ages of 2-18. I have spent over fifteen years of my practice as lead speech and language therapist working within a specialist education provision supporting children with specific communication difficulties, and then extending this to mainstream schools as contexts changed. My experience has allowed me to develop knowledge and skills related to specific and complex speech and language difficulties, which continue to be an area of interest for me. Nevertheless, I am eager to support any communication needs in order to enhance your child’s self confidence, as well as their social and educational development.

I feel as passionate as ever about supporting children and their families, wanting Clear to be a service that is easy to access, values joint working with all those involved, and is a service in which you can trust.

Clear speech and language therapy service is designed to support you and your child as we begin to learn where your child’s communication skills are, and where they can be taken. My aim is to knit together the needs of your child and your family with my own knowledge and skills to ensure optimum communication achievements. I truly believe that to share this knowledge with those close to your child is to build a firm foundation on which to then implement targeted and specific speech and language activities and strategies.

Sarah Bradley Speech Language Therapist

I have worked in a range of different settings including:

  • Community clinics
  • Nurseries
  • Schools
  • Special schools
  • Specialist Speech and Language provision
  • Independent Schools

I have worked with children from the ages of 2 – 18 years of age, supporting the following needs:

  • Attention and listening
  • Receptive language skills / understanding of language
  • Expressive language skills / use of language
  • Phonology / speech
  • Delays and disorders in communication
  • Developmental Language Disorder / Specific Language Impairment
  • Verbal Dyspraxia
  • Dysarthria linked to Cerebral Palsy
  • Hearing Impairment
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder
  • Down Syndrome
  • Di George Syndrome
  • Communication difficulties within the context of overall learning / global developmental delay

I have been able to assess and deliver therapy to children in the following formats

  • One to one sessions
  • Paired workings
  • Group work
  • Teaching of whole classes in specialist provisions and mainstream schools
  • Video therapy with individuals

I have been extremely fortunate with my work for the NHS and am particularly proud of the following pieces of work:

  • Establishing and developing mainstream school service to support the language and learning needs of children within the classroom
  • Leading meetings with education staff to review and progress the service delivered into educational settings
  • Informal research projects into the efficacy of different ways of supporting children and staff in schools related to receptive and expressive language skills
  • Designing and delivering functional and accessible training to colleagues, health professionals and staff within education
  • Close liaison and training with support staff such as Autism Outreach and Teachers of the Deaf in particular, linking knowledge and targets to best support a child and their overall development.
  • Promoting and establishing communication friendly classrooms
  • Initiatives in clinics to support caseload management
  • Developing different ways of working linked to needs of population and resources available
  • Colour coding framework to support the understanding and use of language in the classroom linking to tasks such as vocabulary development, sentence structure and narrative.
  • Mentoring and supporting students and newly qualified speech and language therapists
  • Managing and guiding a team of speech and language therapists related to the management of caseloads within community clinic and mainstream school.