Ruth Jones Speech and Language Therapy

18/01/2026

Anyone who is interested in reflecting on their practice, when supporting communication, behaviour, social interactions and how to consider neurodiversity affirming practice - my books in the sale!

https://www.routledge.com/Neurodiversity-Affirming-Practice-for-Speech-and-Language-Therapists-Supporting-Curiosity-Compassion-and-Conversation/Jones/p/book/9781032689326

16/01/2026

This week I have been speaking with a parent who had a hypothesis about something causing their child upset, changes to their communication and responses and a teacher who agreed the child’s presentation had changed and they felt anxiety was driving it.

So we did a visual, kind of social story, come validating their experiences, come coaching for future experiences kind of thing..!

But it got me thinking about underlying my practice has always been the concept of the positive risk - if we weigh up making the visual, offering opportunity to explore the anxiety or the shift in a child’s presentation we could do something really powerful and meaningful.

We can worry about harm, or making things worse so it has to be weighed up. But I spend so much of my time talking to parents where we wonder ‘it could be this…’ or ‘maybe that’s what it was…’ and why don’t we test it?

To honour their communication style, appeal to their strengths in visual processing, to validate their lived experiences (or at least those who know them well and have a blooming good guess) is all affirming practice.

And sometimes, you even hit the nail on the head and have a really incredible impact.

Do you have any experiences of using visuals to ‘test the hypothesis?’

15/01/2026

Off to a school contract this morning and meeting a teacher to plan a group, I’m not sure what we will call it but it’s an exciting one!

The groups going to focus on exploring and informing the students on difference and diversity. While they are all neurodivergent we are going to offer space to just explore the concepts.

No pressure to talk or share their personal experiences, it might not feel safe for them.

But activities and content that can inform, with space to reflect. The team will attend so they can support conversations that might crop up outside of the group and feed into each weeks plan.

This kind of practice I’d have done years ago would have been called a social skills group, and we would have been talking about neurotypical skills as the ones to learn and use. It’s so nice to have space to reflect on growth and learning.

Have a good day!

13/01/2026

For any local families who might have children that can and want to access.

12/01/2026

💡 Want to help celebrate exceptional SLTs in our community?
Add the ASLTIP Awards banner to your email signature! It's a simple way to remind colleagues and contacts that nominations are open.
Every email you send becomes an opportunity to raise awareness and encourage others to nominate deserving therapists.
Why it works: ✅ Subtle and professional ✅ Reaches your entire network ✅ Takes 2 minutes to set up ✅ Helps increase nominations across the community
It's not about self-promotion - it's about celebrating our profession and making recognition accessible! 💙
Download your banner here: https://asltip.com/members-area/documents/asltip-awards-2026-nominations-email-signature/

08/01/2026

For any local home educators.

Calling all home-educators! 📣
Fancy a chance to have your lunch and hang out with others to feel part of a community? This is for you!
Eat, chat, colour, play and make friends in our club running on Wednesdays between 2-3pm.

We are also offering a ‘meal deal’ as part of this club for just £4.50, which can be pre booked through our website!

06/01/2026

This year I am increasing my supervision sessions each week, so if you would like to explore supervision with me, please do get in touch.

As part of some Intandem training on being a supervisor, we did a great activity of describing our supervision using an object as part of an 'elevator' pitch. So I thought I would share mine with you:

These wiggly fidget tools are like my supervision. They offer flexibility, can bend and twist, as supervision can often take unexpected turns. I work flexibly to meet the needs of each individual supervisee. They also stretch. Supervision does require space to stretch yourself, your thinking, your skills and growth. I like to think they also represent fun, supervision should offer space for a smile, a giggle. It should leave you feeling hopeful, rested and restored.

What do you value about your supervision? Let me know in the comments 😊