A Mable Case Study
Our work with Ivy Bank
Mable Therapy have been working closely with Ivy Bank for over four years. We've supported speech sounds, social communication and developmental language disorder, working with students from early years all the way up to upper key stage two.
Interview with the staff
Q & A with the SENCo
What were the problems with the previous service?
“A large number of pupils came into school with speech, language and communication needs and required more support than the local team was able to provide. We found it could take a long time from the point of referral to assessment and even when a child was assessed they might not meet the threshold to receive therapy. This was frustrating for a lot of our families and it was also difficult for teachers to know what to do to support our children’s learning. Unfortunately, when therapy was offered, children were asked to travel to the clinic which is on the other side of town. For some of our parents who don’t have transport, travelling that far was just not feasible, for others, it meant they would take the child out of school to miss appointments and they would miss too much curriculum learning.“
What are the benefits of working with Mable?
“We have been working with Mable for over four years now. What really appeals to us is the flexibility of the appointments. We can organise the appointment times around the children’s learning so their core subjects aren’t interrupted. We have a very mixed group of students, some with social communication difficulties and many with speech sound delay or disorder. Mable allows us to work with different therapists who specialise in these areas. It means we can get very specific advice about how to support our children. Mable works really well with our staff, our TAs are learning so much about how to support the children between sessions. The therapists send homework tasks for us to complete after sessions. These also go home to parents so they can practice at home too.”
What has the impact been of your work with the Mable?
“We have noticed a big impact for children accessing Mable, particularly across the literacy subjects. Mable sends us reports after every session so we can track the children’s progress while they are in therapy. It is really lovely to see how far they have come. We have a little boy who joined us from another school and when he started he had very delayed language and his speech was difficult to understand. It really affected his confidence too and he struggled with his peers. Mable helped us get additional funding for him through an EHCP and the progress he has made in therapy is great. His confidence has improved so much and his speech is so clear. Parents are over the moon and it has had a really positive effect on his learning.“