Speech and language therapy report (UK): example and template

A speech and language therapy report is a written account of a speech and language therapist's assessment of a person's communication or swallowing, with findings and recommendations for the people who support them. It may be read by parents, a SENCo, a GP or a local authority caseworker, and later used as evidence for an Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP).

This guide covers the structure UK readers expect, how to write for parents and school staff, a template you can copy as ordered headings, and a fictional example for a school-age child. For a broader template that is not UK specific, see our speech and language therapy assessment report template.

What the professional standards ask of your reports

HCPC standard 10

The HCPC standards of conduct, performance and ethics have been in force since 1 September 2024. Standard 10 is about keeping records of your work. It asks you to keep "full, clear and accurate records" for everyone you care for or provide services to. You must complete records "promptly and as soon as possible" after the service. You must also protect them from loss, damage or inappropriate access. A report is likely to form part of that record, so it makes sense to apply the same rules to it.

RCSLT guidance on writing reports

The RCSLT page on writing reports on referred individuals makes these points.

• A report should have an introduction that identifies its purpose, a middle section with the relevant information and actions, and a final section with a summary, conclusions and recommendations.
• Reports can be initial, interim or closure reports. In every case the RCSLT says "a report must be timely".
• Write with the recipient in mind. The guidance says reports should be written "in awareness of the information required by the recipient".
• Good reports show clarity. Sentences are short, headings are provided and jargon is avoided.
• List every recipient. The service user, or their advocate, must consent to the report being shared.
• Check the facts, grammar, spelling and date before you finalise. Sign the report.

The same page warns that incomplete or inaccurate reports "can mislead" and have undesirable consequences for the person.

The structure of a UK speech and language therapy report

The order below follows the RCSLT three-part logic. Adapt it to your setting and to the reader.

1. Identifying details. Name, date of birth, school and year group, date or dates of assessment, date of the report, your name, HCPC registration and contact details.
2. Reason for referral. Who asked for the assessment and what question they wanted answered. One short paragraph.
3. Background. Relevant developmental, medical and educational history, languages spoken at home, previous therapy, and the concerns raised by parents and school.
4. Assessment methods. List what you did. For example, a standardised language assessment, a language sample and a classroom observation. Name tests in full if you use them, and say if any were not appropriate for the child's language background.
5. Observations. How the child engaged, attention during the session, rapport, fatigue, and anything that may have affected performance.
6. Findings by area. One sub-heading per area you assessed. Use only the areas that are relevant.
7. Impact on education and daily life. What the findings mean in class, with peers and at home.
8. Summary. Three to five sentences a parent can read on their own.
9. Recommendations. Specific and measurable. Say what, who, how often, for how long and how progress will be checked.
10. Distribution and signature. Who receives the report, confirmation of consent, your signature and the date.

Findings by area

Use one sub-heading per area. Leave out any you did not assess.

• Attention and listening. How long the child attends to adult-led tasks, and in which conditions.
• Receptive language. Understanding of vocabulary, instructions, sentences, questions and stories.
• Expressive language. Vocabulary, sentence structure, grammar, word-finding and narrative.
• Speech sounds. Patterns of errors and how intelligible the child is to familiar and unfamiliar listeners.
• Social communication. Turn-taking, conversation, use of language in different situations, understanding of non-literal language.
• Fluency. Type and frequency of dysfluencies, and how the child feels about talking.
• Voice. Quality, pitch, loudness and any vocal habits, where relevant.

For each area, give the result, then a concrete example. If you report standardised scores, give the test name, the type of score and what it means, in words a parent will follow. Write "below the expected range for his age" next to any number.

Writing for parents and school

Parents read every word. School staff often read the summary and recommendations only. Write for both.

• Use short sentences and common words.
• Describe what the child can do before what they find hard.
• Give real examples rather than labels.
• Keep observation and opinion apart. "I observed" and "In my opinion" help the reader see the difference.
• Remember that the person, parents and others may request a copy of the report, as the RCSLT page notes. Write nothing you would not want them to read.

Your session notes feed the report, so it helps to keep them structured from the start. Our guide to speech and language therapy session notes covers what to write down after each session.

Template: speech and language therapy report (UK)

Copy these headings into your own document and delete the prompts as you write.

1. Speech and language therapy report (initial, interim or closure)
2. Personal details: name, date of birth, school and year group, languages used at home
3. Report details: assessment date or dates, report date, therapist name, HCPC number, contact
4. Reason for referral: who referred and the question asked
5. Background information: history, previous input, parent and school concerns
6. Assessment methods: formal tests (full names), informal tasks, observation settings, information from others
7. Observations during assessment: engagement, attention, factors that may affect results
8. Findings: attention and listening; understanding of language; use of language; speech sounds; social communication; fluency; voice (keep only those assessed)
9. Impact on learning, friendships and daily life
10. Summary (plain language, three to five sentences)
11. Recommendations: for each one, what, who delivers it, how often, for how long, who trains or monitors, and how progress is measured
12. Suggested outcomes (if the report may support an EHCP): what the child should be able to do by a set date
13. Distribution list and consent
14. Signature, name, HCPC number and date

Fictional example for a school-age child

This example is entirely fictional. The child, school and findings are invented for illustration. No real test scores are given. Results are described in words only.

Reason for referral. Sam (fictional), aged 8, Year 4, was referred by his parents with the agreement of his school SENCo. They asked whether Sam has difficulties with understanding and using language, and what support would help in class.

Background. Sam lives with his parents and speaks English at home. He had a short block of NHS speech and language therapy for speech sounds at age 4. His teacher reports that he often does not follow whole-class instructions and finds written work hard to start.

Assessment methods. A standardised assessment of receptive and expressive language. An informal narrative task using a picture sequence. A 40-minute observation in a literacy lesson. A parent questionnaire and a conversation with the class teacher.

Observations. Sam settled quickly. He worked well one-to-one for about 20 minutes, then needed a break.

Attention and listening. In a quiet room, Sam attended well to short tasks. In class, he looked at peers to see what to do after longer instructions.

Understanding of language. Results on the standardised assessment were below the expected range for his age. Sam followed one-step instructions reliably. He found instructions with two or more parts and words such as "before" and "unless" difficult.

Use of language. Results were below the expected range for his age. Sam used short sentences and general words such as "thing" and "stuff". When retelling the picture story, he named events but did not link them with words such as "because" or "so".

Speech sounds. Sam's speech was clear to an unfamiliar listener. No further assessment is needed.

Impact on education and daily life. Sam is likely to miss parts of whole-class teaching that rely on long spoken instructions. Explaining his ideas and sequencing events will affect his writing and his ability to tell adults about problems at school.

Summary. Sam is a sociable boy whose speech is clear. He has difficulty understanding longer and more complex spoken language, and in putting his ideas into connected sentences. These difficulties affect his learning in class.

Recommendations.

• A trained teaching assistant to deliver a language programme planned by the SLT, three times a week for 20 minutes, in a small group, for one term.
• The SLT to train the teaching assistant at the start of the term and review the programme with them every half term.
• The class teacher to give instructions in short chunks, check Sam's understanding by asking him to say what he will do first, and display the steps of each task in writing or pictures.
• Review by the SLT at the end of the term, repeating the narrative task to measure change.

Suggested outcome. By the end of the spring term, Sam will follow a two-part classroom instruction without a visual prompt in four out of five observed opportunities.

Distribution. Parents; school SENCo (with parental consent); GP (with parental consent).

When your report feeds into an EHCP

In England, a local authority carrying out an EHC needs assessment must seek advice and information from several people. The SEND Regulations 2014 list the parent, the head teacher or principal of the school, a health care professional, an educational psychologist, social care, and any other person the authority thinks appropriate or the parent reasonably requests. A private SLT report often arrives through that last route, or as evidence submitted by the family.

The plan itself has lettered sections. Regulation 12 says section B sets out the special educational needs, section E the outcomes sought, section F the special educational provision, and section G any health care provision reasonably required. Under section 21(5) of the Children and Families Act 2014, health care provision which "educates or trains" a child is treated as special educational provision. RCSLT guidance, citing the SEND Code of Practice, says that speech and language therapy for children in an education placement should normally be recorded as special educational provision in section F, with their speech and language needs set out in section B.

The RCSLT guidance on the Children and Families Act gives clear writing rules for SLT advice:

• Advice should be "clear, accessible and specific".
• Provision "must be detailed, specific and should normally be quantified". When someone else delivers an intervention, describe it, say how often, what skills and training the person needs, and how often the SLT will monitor.
• Outcomes should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound). They describe what the child will be able to do, not the service.
• Do not name a school. Describe the type of communication environment the child needs.
• Advice requested by the local authority must be given within six weeks.

The fictional recommendations above follow these rules. For a full walk-through of EHCP advice from independent professionals, see our EHCP professional report template.

How Delta can help with reports

Delta is an AI assistant for mental health and allied health practitioners, including speech and language therapists. During a session it transcribes what is said and prepares a session report that you review. You can also dictate your observations right after the session or add written notes. Delta also drafts assessment reports, letters and certificates, which you read, correct and validate before anything is sent. Each report is added to the client's file, so the follow-up sits in one place. Data is hosted in France with a host certified for health data (HDS, the French health data hosting certification), and AI processing, transcription included, runs on servers in France. The client's name and identifying details are pseudonymised before AI processing, no audio file is kept, data is never used to train models, and it is encrypted in transit and at rest. As with any provider, ask for the data processing agreement before you start. More on the Delta page for speech therapists and in our article on AI in speech and language therapy.

Sources

• HCPC, Standards of conduct, performance and ethics (standard 10)
• RCSLT, Writing reports on referred individuals
• RCSLT, Guidance for speech and language therapists on their roles and responsibilities under the Children and Families Act 2014
• RCSLT, Education and health care (EHC) plans and speech and language therapy provision
• The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014, regulation 6
• The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014, regulation 12
• Children and Families Act 2014, section 21