Ruth Jones Speech and Language Therapy

14/02/2026

13/02/2026

We have space for young people to join us for 121 mentoring.

At GROVE, mentoring is built on deep autism knowledge and intentionally neuro-affirming approaches.

Our Mentors are highly qualified autism specialists - within our team we hold PGCerts, BAs, MAs and even PhDs in autism. In fact, we train others on autism and supporting Autistic children and teens.

And alongside that specialist knowledge - we are all Autistic ourselves.

Both of those things matter.

We believe that supporting Autistic young people well requires more than being friendly, relatable or sharing an interest. Although of course those things are helpful too!

It requires:
• A deep understanding of Autistic experience
• Neuro-affirming foundations (not behaviourist ones)
• The ability to adapt thoughtfully, safely and ethically

Our Mentors are intentionally neuro-affirming, reflective and grounded in both lived experience and rigorous study. This makes our mentoring unique.

We also don’t mentor through one set method. We adapt what we do and how we do it to suit your young person.

Recently, mentoring has included:

• Playfully mapping sensory profiles
• Exploring likes, dislikes, similarities and differences
• Building language and frameworks to understand lived experience

And that has happened through:
🎮 Gaming
🎨 Arts and crafts
🎵 Music
🐾 Talking about pets
📸 Sharing photos and stories
🔎 Deep-diving into interests

Our Mentors have availabilty.

We are registered with various Local Authorities for Section 19 provision and EOTAS/EOTIS and will expand that this year.

Have a look at our website to learn more!

13/02/2026

I love this feature of Grid Supercore. It feels like a really useful week, this children’s mental health week, to think about how we could create prompts and different social stories and support conversations around mental health with AAC users.

Communication and talking about mental health isn’t easy, and often for lots of children and young people using AAC tools will be helpful.

I have spent many times sat in corridors writing on whiteboards and drawing pictures to try and support a child to talk through something that’s bothering them, when spoken words feel too much.

We can also use it to promote mental health and well-being and maintaining mental health and well-being, by accessing and programming vocabulary around regulation and self advocacy.

Using spelling to create saved notes can create some key coaching and support tools for children young people.

Did you know Grid could do this?

12/02/2026

Next Episode Out Today!

Ali and I chat about the various AAC applications that are out there.

This was a really good chat, we both get lots of questions about which app do I choose, how do I know? So hopefully this episode will give people a bit more information, reassurance and understanding.

Have you listened? We would love a review on your preferred platform!

11/02/2026

We as therapists cannot work effectively in a silo, it’s a team approach.

Communication isn’t for 60 minutes once a week, term time only. It’s all day, everyday, from the waking moment to the last before sleep.

The environment and support within it matters so much, and therapy often becomes ineffective if the other parts of the jigsaw don’t help the whole picture fall into place.

I want to explain something that often gets completely misunderstood.

Speech and Language Therapy does not work without the right staff in place.
Especially not for children with complex autism and high support needs.

For minimally speaking autistic children, communication is not something that happens for an hour a week in a “session”.
It happens or fails to happen, across the entire waking day.

As an SLT, I can assess, plan, model and guide.
But I cannot make progress unless there are trained, consistent adults implementing that support moment by moment.

For children like this:

* communication is often non-typical (movement, behaviour, music, sensory actions, regulation)
* frustration escalates quickly if communication is misunderstood
* learning depends on trust, safety and predictability
* skills must be **generalised across people, places and routines**

This means staff must understand:

* how to recognise all forms of communication as valid
* how to model AAC and alternative communication consistently
* how sensory regulation and communication are inseparable
* how to work within low-arousal, relational approaches
* how to support personal care, eating, risk and regulation safely

Untrained or generic staff cannot do this.
Good intentions are not enough.

Without specialist staff:

* therapy plans sit in files
* AAC devices go unused
* communication attempts are missed or misinterpreted
* frustration increases
* progress stalls or reverses

This is why waking-day provision matters.
This is why 24-hour consistency matters.
This is why you cannot simply “send in an agency”.

When Local Authorities approve therapy but fail to approve or provide suitable staffing, they are setting the child and the therapy up to fail.

And then families are blamed for lack of “progress”.

That is not how communication development works.
And it is not how evidence-based practice works.

If we want real outcomes, we have to stop pretending therapy can exist without the people who make it real.

Children deserve better than that.

10/02/2026

Don’t overlook mental health for AAC users, when planning vocabulary and what to teach, how and when.

Regulation and communication go hand in hand. For everyone, speaking, minimally or non. Part time AAC users or full time.

So have a little look this week at your AAC users vocabulary. Do they have accessible files for mental health topics? Phrases for self-advocacy, boundary setting and strategies?

Importantly, are their messages given space and time for communication partners to listen, and respond. Are there tools to expand the conversations?

If an AAC user is learning about themselves and well-being, are we centring communication support on their AAC system? Is that what we are using to teach and model?

09/02/2026

It is children’s mental health week supported by the theme being linked to belonging.

Mental health is incredibly important for our children and young people to feel seen and safe and supported. When I think about what helps anybody feel safe and seen and supported it is often grounded in communication and connection, which had me thinking what helps foster that connection and communication. If we get this right children truly feel like they have space where they are accepted, and belong. Conscious responses from adults can foster a sense of belonging and acceptance.

The power of an adult communication response to a child’s communication, can make such a difference to them feeling seen and safe to express themselves.

When communication is difficult an adult who can offer them an alternative way to communicate, helps them feel seen and supported and safe, and like they belong, just as they are.

This doesn’t have to be complicated, something as simple as a pen and paper for some children.

There is power in our our words and the way we choose to respond to children, connecting and communicating with us

“Thank you for telling me”
“I believe you “

As an adult if you’re sharing some information with somebody about something linked to your well-being and mental health, how would you feel if somebody said thank you for telling me, I believe you?

These simple ways of communicating can really foster a safe space and sense of belonging.

What are your top tips?

05/02/2026

Fun little trend, I’m always intrigued with AI. This was its character… I think my favourite bit is the job title “communication ecologist” can we rebrand the profession with this please!? 😁

Character Concept: Dr. Maren Solace

Overview

Dr. Maren Solace is a visionary communication ecologist — a profession she essentially invented. She works at the intersection of language, environment, and human connection, helping communities redesign systems so that every voice can be heard. She’s known for her ability to translate dense research into vivid metaphors, practical tools, and emotionally resonant stories that shift how people think about inclusion.

Core Traits

• Visionary Pragmatist: Maren sees the big systemic picture but never loses sight of the child, the family, or the individual in front of her.
• Creative Synthesizer: She can take a tangle of theory, lived experience, and data and turn it into a single, elegant visual that makes people say, “Oh… now I get it.”
• Quietly Fierce Advocate: She doesn’t shout to be heard — she changes the room by speaking with clarity, compassion, and unshakeable conviction.
• Reflective and Self‑aware: She journals after every major interaction, not out of obligation but because it helps her stay grounded in her purpose.
• Neurodivergent Thinker: Her mind works in constellations rather than lines. She sees patterns others miss and designs systems that honour the way real humans actually function.

Signature Abilities

• Environmental Mapping: Maren can “read” a space — a classroom, a clinic, a meeting — and instantly identify the invisible barriers that shape communication.
• Metaphor Crafting: She creates metaphors that become cultural touchstones. Her most famous is the Sunflower in the Cave, used worldwide to teach about environment‑supportive practice.
• Adaptive Design: Give her any tool — a whiteboard, a napkin, a tablet — and she’ll sketch a resource that’s both beautiful and accessible.
• System Whispering: She can walk into a chaotic organisation and gently, methodically, help it become more humane.

29/01/2026

SEN EYFS Teacher job from Silverwood School. Apply by 2 Mar 2026.

29/01/2026