After spending 15 years living in the United Arab Emirates, Emma graduated from the University of Manchester as a fully qualified speech and language therapist in 2016. Like all of our therapists, Emma is registered with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) and the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC).
Since graduating, Emma has worked privately in a range of mainstream primary schools across Manchester, managing her own diverse paediatric caseload. She has worked with children with a range of speech, language and communication difficulties.
Emma is experienced in assessing children, providing therapy treatments, and report writing including specialist reports such as Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan and annual reviews within the education setting. Emma is also experienced in working closely with education staff and providing them with training and support in order to create communication friendly environments within the classroom and promote a whole-school approach to supporting speech and language development. Emma also provides support and training for the parents of the children she works with to ensure that each child is fully supported outside of school as well.
Emma has also done lots of volunteering with the ‘Giving Voice’ campaign during her time in university, and is passionate about raising awareness of speech and language therapy and its impact on people's lives. Emma has also been part of the Global Young Leaders Conference in 2011 during her time in Abu Dhabi, and she volunteered at Abu Dhabi’s Future Rehabilitation Centre special school.
Education
BSc (Hons) Speech and Language Therapy - University of Manchester (2016)
Emma is a passionate and enthusiastic speech therapist who works hard to enable children with Speech, Language, and Communication Needs (SLCN) to achieve their best possible outcomes.
Emma McElroy
Emma is registered with
Experience
Emma has paediatric experience in school settings working with a range of children, she has experience working with children who have:
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Speech sound delays and disorders
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Expressive and receptive language delays
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Specific language impairment (SLI) / developmental language disorder (DLD)
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English as an additional language (EAL)
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Social communication difficulties
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Attention and listening difficulties
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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
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Down’s syndrome
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Selective mutism
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Dysfluency
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Cerebral palsy
Emma has also had additional training in:
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Makaton signing
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I CAN Key Stage 1 Talk Boost intervention programme
Professional memberships
Emma works in accordance to the professional and ethical guidelines set by the HCPC and RCSLT.
- Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
- Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT)
July 2016
BSc (Hons) Speech and Language Therapy
Q&A
What inspired you to become a speech and language therapist?
During my time in sixth form I volunteered to help out in the Nursery classes at my school in Abu Dhabi. I loved spending time with the children in Nursery and led a lot of activities around language development which sparked my interest in how speech and language skills develop in young children. When I researched into a career in Speech and Language Therapy, I realised it was the perfect fit for me as it combined my enthusiasm for working with children and their families and my interest in linguistics and education.
What additional training do you have?
I have Foundation level training in Makaton signing which is a very useful tool for working in primary schools as so many children benefit from having a signing system to use which helps support their language development. I’m also a licensed tutor for I CAN’s Talk Boost Key Stage 1 programme, which means I can train KS1 teachers and teaching assistants to carry out the intervention with students identified as having language delay in their classes.
Are there any particular speech, language, and/or communication difficulties that you enjoy working with?
I really enjoy working with children who have speech sound delays and disorders, it’s so much fun working on speech sound production with the child. The harder cases can be very challenging but it’s really rewarding when a child makes progress in therapy after struggling to make him or herself understood to others for a long time. I also work with children who are reluctant speakers or have Selective Mutism, which is very interesting.
What do you like doing in your spare time?
Since growing up in the Middle East, I’ve always been eager to travel as much as possible so I always try to visit new cities and countries during the holidays. Travelling is also the best way to meet new people, experience other cultures, and learn new languages. I’m also hoping to improve my Arabic speaking skills in the future.
What is your favourite thing about being a speech and language therapist with SLT for Kids?
Apart from the amazing schools that I work in, I think one of the best parts of working with SLT for Kids is being part of a big multi-disciplinary team. Everyone is very supportive of each other, and it’s great learning from other disciplines such as the Occupational Therapists and Educational Psychologists.
Join our team
We are a team of enthusiastic speech and language therapists that are always looking for more dedicated paediatric therapists to join our valued team.
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