| General speech and language tips | | |
| Speech and Language UK | https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/ | Offers practical advice and resources to help parents support their child’s speech and language development. |
| BBC Tiny Happy People (0-5 years) | https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people | Provides simple activities and tips to help parents support their child's early speech and language development from 0-5 years. |
| Better Health Hungry Little Minds (1-5 years) | https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/toddler/learning-to-talk/first-words-and-little-sentences-1-to-2-years/ | Offers fun, easy activities for parents to support their toddler's language development from 1-5 years, helping them build communication skills through everyday interactions. |
| Hanen | https://www.hanen.org/information-tips/tips | Provides expert tips and practical advice for parents and caregivers to support their child’s language development, focusing on easy, everyday strategies to encourage communication skills. |
| Early Communication | | |
| Gina Davies Autism Centre | https://ginadavies.co.uk | Provides resources, training, and practical strategies for parents and professionals to support children with autism, particularly in developing communication and social skills. |
| Intensive Interaction | www.intensiveinteraction.org | Provides resources and strategies for supporting communication in individuals with learning disabilities and autism. It focuses on using simple, natural interactions to build early communication skills. |
| Words for life | https://wordsforlife.org.uk | Provides resources and advice for parents to help their children develop essential language and literacy skills. The website offers age-appropriate activities and expert tips designed to support early communication, vocabulary building, and reading development from birth to 11 years old. |
| Speech and Language UK Ages and Stages | https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/help-for-families/ages-and-stages | Provides stage-by-stage advice on supporting children’s speech, language, and communication development. It offers clear milestones for each age group, from 0-5 years, helping parents identify typical language development and offering strategies and activities to support any challenges along the way. |
| Makaton | https://makaton.org | Makaton is a communication system that uses symbols, signs, and speech to support understanding and expression for people with communication difficulties. The website offers resources, training, and information to help parents, professionals, and carers use Makaton effectively to support children and adults with speech and language challenges. |
| Small Talk: Little ways to make a difference | https://wordsforlife.org.uk/ | Provides simple, everyday tips for parents to boost their child's communication skills. It focuses on how small, everyday interactions—like chatting, listening, and sharing stories—can make a big difference in supporting speech, language, and literacy development. |
| SEND advice | | |
| Independent Provider of Special Education Advice | https://www.ipsea.org.uk/ | Offers free advice and provides resources, guides, and template letters to help navigate the SEND system, along with training and support for both parents and professionals |
| SOS!SEN | https://sossen.org.uk/ | Offers a range of services including a free helpline, walk-in advice centers, 1:1 appointments, training workshops, and webinars to families with children who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). |
| Young Minds | https://www.youngminds.org.uk/ | Free advice to support with understanding SEND processes, legal rights, and navigating complex systems like Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), mediation, and tribunal appeals. |
| National Autistic Society | https://www.autism.org.uk/ | Provides comprehensive support and guidance for autistic individuals and their families across the UK. |
| PDA Society | https://www.pdasociety.org.uk/ | Provides detailed information and resources around PDA and support strategies designed for parents, professionals and young people and adults with a PDA profile of autism. |
| Spectrum Gaming | https://www.spectrumgaming.net/ | An autistic led UK charity providing online safe spaces for autistic teens and also providing information for autistic young people, their families and professionals that support them. |
| Special Education Needs and Disability Information, Advice Support Service (SENDIASS) Manchester | https://www.iasmanchester.org/ | Free advice to support with understanding SEND processes, legal rights, and navigating complex systems like Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), mediation, and tribunal appeals. |
| Manchester Local Offer | https://hsm.manchester.gov.uk/kb5/manchester/directory/localoffer.page?localofferchannel=0 | Provides comprehensive information and support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) up to the age of 25, along with their parents and carers. |
| Support for disability equipment (including AAC) | | |
| Family Fund | https://www.familyfund.org.uk/ | Provides grants and support to families raising a disabled or seriously ill child on a low income. It helps families access essential items such as family breaks, digital equipment, white goods, clothing, bedding, furniture, and play equipment. |
| ACE Centre | https://acecentre.org.uk/ | Provides support to individuals with complex communication needs. It offers assessments, training, and information services across England, delivered by a multidisciplinary team of specialists. It also provides a free advice line and equipment loan services. |
| Communication Matters | https://www.communicationmatters.org.uk/ | Promotes Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) through information, advice, and advocacy, as well as specialist equipment and adaptations. |
| Stammering | | |
| STAMMA | https://stamma.org/ | Provides support and advocacy for individuals who stammer and offers a free helpline, webchat, and email support for those who stammer and their families, along with information leaflets and workshops. |
| Michael Palin centre for stammering | https://michaelpalincentreforstammering.org/about-stammering/parents/ | Provides specialised speech and language therapy for individuals of all ages who stammer. It offers a range of individual and group therapy programs, including Palin Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for young children and cognitive behavioral therapy for adults. |
| Action for Stammering | https://actionforstammeringchildren.org/ | Closely associated with the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering, it supports children and young people who stammer, along with their families, by providing specialist assessments and therapies. |
| Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) | | |
| AFASIC | https://www.afasic.org.uk/ | Provides information and support for families with children and young adults who have Speech, Language, and Communication Needs (SLCN), particularly focusing on Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). It also organises transition courses for children moving to secondary school and training for parents. |
| DLD and Me | https://www.dldandme.co.uk/ | Provides support and resources for children and young people with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). The program includes guided discussions, worksheets, and activities to enhance confidence and self-awareness, encouraging students to take an active role in their education and communicate their needs effectively. |
| NAPLIC - DLD bubble toolkit | https://www.naplic.org.uk/ | This toolkit offers practical strategies, activities, and resources that can be implemented in the classroom to support communication development. |
| Selective Mutism | | |
| Selective Mutism Information and Research Association (SMIRA) | https://www.selectivemutism.org.uk/ | Provides support and information for individuals with Selective Mutism (SM), their families, and professionals involved in their care. It offers advice and resources on managing SM, including early diagnosis and intervention strategies. |
| Speech | | |
| Speech Link | https://speechandlanguage.link | Provides innovative tools and training to support children with speech sound difficulties. It offers an online speech screen that helps schools identify developmental speech sound issues in children aged 4-8 years. |
| Tiny Happy People - What is phonological awareness? | https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people | Explains this crucial skill (ability to recognise and manipulate sounds) for early language development in an accessible way. |
| Other useful links | | |
| The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) | https://www.rcslt.org/ | The professional body for speech and language therapists in the United Kingdom. |
| Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practise (ASLTIP) | https://asltip.com/ | Provides support and resources for independent speech and language therapists (SLTs) across the UK and serves as a contact point for the public seeking private therapy services. |
