services
initial consultation
This is a parent-only telephone consultation to discuss your concerns about your child’s speech, language and communication skills. You may be asked about your child’s developmental and medical history to help determine if they would be suitable for assessment, and you will have the opportunity to ask questions. Based on the discussion, the therapist will be able to suggest the level of assessment your child will require. For school clients, a longer complimentary consultation can be arranged to discuss your needs.
assessment
Your child’s case history will be discussed and their speech and language will be assessed through observation and formal/informal assessments to determine your child’s speech and language needs, and inform their therapy plan. Their strengths, difficulties and recommendations will be explained to you, and you will be provided with a written summary or detailed report with recommendations following the session which you will be able to share with your child’s educational setting should you wish. Please note that assessments for stammering require a detailed parent interview and therefore take longer.
therapy
Intervention will be tailored to your child to help target and support their areas of difficulty and achieve their therapy goals through motivating and engaging sessions. Sessions take place at home or at pre-school/school, and parents and education staff are welcome to attend and can be trained to carry out activities between sessions if appropriate to maximise therapy success. Stammering therapy for younger children is typically indirect and involves working more with parents.
F.A.Q.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use the form here to submit an enquiry, or call/text/Whatsapp 07434866655, and Pooja will get back to you as soon as possible.
As this is a remote service, payments are made in advance usually via bank transfer following the issuing of an invoice. Please note that sessions are cancelled if payment has not been received. Payment procedures differ for school clients and are agreed with the school.
You may cancel or reschedule sessions without charge if there are more than 24 hours until your appointment, but please let Pooja know as soon as possible. Sessions cancelled with less than 24 hours will be fully charged.
Who we are
Clear Speech Kids is an independent Speech and Language Therapy service for pre-school and primary-school age children, owned by Pooja Kulkarni, Speech and Language Therapist, who is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Clear Speech Kids is committed to protecting the privacy of information provided by clients.
Collection of personal information
Information about your child may be collected via spoken or written information from parents/carers. With parental consent, information may also be collected from other professionals working with your child such as school and pre-school staff or NHS Speech and Language Therapists. We may also collect information about family members where this relates to your child such as contact details for parents and relevant medical or developmental history.
Clear Speech Kids operates a website at www.clearspeechkids.co.uk. You may use the Clear Speech Kids website without providing any personal information. The website may contain links to other Internet sites which are outside our control and are not covered by this privacy policy. We are not responsible for data which you provide through any such linked websites.
If you wish to make an enquiry via phone, email or the contact form, you are requested to provide relevant details, such as your name, e-mail address, contact telephone number and postcode to enable us to respond to your enquiry. You may add comments or queries which might also contain personal information about you or your child. If your enquiry does not result in your child being seen by Clear Speech Kids, then this personal information will be deleted once your enquiry has been dealt with. If your child is subsequently seen by Clear Speech Kids, relevant details may be added to their case record.
Our use of personal information
Personal information collected by us via email, telephone, videoconferencing or in person is stored and used by us for the purpose of delivering your child’s speech and language therapy. Any sensitive personal details are stored in a secure and confidential system and processed in confidence by Clear Speech Kids and shall only be used for the purposes of delivering appropriate speech and language therapy services to your child.
With your consent, information about your child’s speech and language needs will be shared with other professionals involved in your child’s care, when it is in your child’s best interests. A record of your consent is kept within your child’s case notes. Unless we are required to do so by law, we will not disclose any personal information collected to any person other than as set out above.
We do not employ agents to process personal data, for example specialist mailing companies to send out communications, and we do not give or sell client details to any third parties.
How we use personal information
We use this information:
- To prepare, plan and provide speech and language therapy services appropriate for your child’s needs
- To communicate with you via post, email, telephone, WhatsApp, mobile messages and SMS in relation to:
– confirming and preparing for appointments
– general communication in between appointments
– sending you reports and programmes for your child (password protected)
– copying you in to communications with other professionals involved with your child (your child’s initials rather than full name will be used in emails)
– sending you resources
– sending you invoices and receipts - For clinical audit to assess and improve our service. Results of audits are always presented with all client identities removed
- For management and administration, for example surnames of clients are included when managing our accounts
Whenever personal identifiers are not needed for these tasks, we remove them from the information we use where possible.
How we store personal information
All information about you, your child and their speech and language therapy is stored securely in our systems to ensure that we have a complete record of our service to them. We use a secure electronic cloud-based system called WriteUpp which is compliant with general data protection regulations. Prior to being uploaded to this system documents are temporarily stored on a mobile device which is only accessible via a password held by Pooja Kulkarni. Documents which contain confidential information such as reports are also individually password protected from the outset. Any paper-based confidential information such as assessments are stored securely in accordance with Data Protection Regulations.
Audio recordings and videos may be taken of clients with parental consent. These are temporarily stored on a password-protected mobile device or laptop. These may then be viewed by the therapist in order to make notes in a client record within 24 hours of the child’s appointment. These can be sent to us by a secure method of your choosing, and will be deleted once they have been viewed and no copies are retained unless we have gained express consent to do so.
For in-person sessions, the minimum amount of confidential information will be taken out of the therapist’s office base. When your child’s information is taken out of the office base it will be kept with the therapist or locked in the boot of the therapist’s car (whichever is deemed to be the most secure at that time). In accordance with law, all records will be kept securely until your child is 25 years old, after which they will be destroyed.
Our lawful basis for processing personal information
We process and store personal information to comply with our legal obligations. It is a legal requirement for all Speech and Language Therapists to be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). The HCPC has clear standards of conduct, performance and ethics that all registrants must adhere to. These standards affect the way in which we process and share information. Specifically:
Standard 2: Communicate appropriately and effectively
“You must share relevant information, where appropriate, with colleagues involved in the care, treatment or other services provided to a service user.”
Standard 10: Keep records of your work
“You must keep full, clear, and accurate records for everyone you care for, treat, or provide other services to. You must complete all records promptly and as soon as possible after providing care, treatment or other services. You must keep records secure by protecting them from loss, damage or inappropriate access.”
For further information the full document can be found at: https://www.hcpc-uk.org/standards/standards-of-conduct-performance-and-ethics/
The Data Protection Act (2018) and General Data Protection Regulations (2018)
The Data Protection Act (2018) and The General Data Protection Regulations (2018) lay down wide-ranging rules, backed up by criminal sanctions, for the processing of information about identifiable, living individuals. It also gives individuals certain rights in relation to personal data held about them by others.
Pooja Kulkarni is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a Data Controller. You can view her ICO registration by visiting: https://ico.org.uk/ESDWebPages/Entry/ZB320770
Our responsibilities
We are committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your child’s record. We actively implement security measures to ensure their information is safe. We will not release your personal details to any third party without first seeking your consent, unless this is allowed for or required by law. We are constantly working to ensure compliance with current data protection regulation.
Your rights
Data protection legislation gives you, the parent, various rights. The most important of these are as follows:
- You have the right to a copy of information we hold about your child.
- You have the right to ask for your record to be amended if you believe that it is wrong.
You can access the information we hold about you by writing to us with your signature at info@clearspeechkids.co.uk. We will provide access to your child’s records within 30 days of receipt of all necessary information. If you have any further questions about how we use your information, please contact us. Further information about data protection legislation and your rights is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office or by calling 0303 123 1113, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
These are based on the services required and half and full day rates are available on asking. Please submit an enquiry stating what you are looking for.