A Senior Speech and Language Therapist provides care, therapy and education to children, their families, teachers and/or facilitators to facilitate their communication in collaboration with various allied professionals. This involves working in areas like speech, language, communication needs (both receptive and expressive) and feeding.

S/He serves the needs of the children from the different sectors within the Canossian Village and the wider community. S/He works collaboratively within a multi-disciplinary team to provide quality care and contributes to the Village's efforts in providing an enhanced service delivery through the Canossian Circle of Care. S/He is an expert in her/his area of specialty, providing professional development for others - this includes training, coaching, and consulting the relevant stakeholders. S/He also contributes to the development and review of processes and resources and partakes in research and evaluation as needed. S/He performs clinical supervision of interns and other speech-language therapist as needed. S/He is also involved in managing service quality and performs department administration and operations tasks.

Critical Work Functions and Key Tasks

Casework - Assessment and Intervention Planning

Conduct assessment to determine child's level of functioning in their natural environment and identify areas requiring intervention
Formulate client-centred and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely) goals based on assessment findings and educational goals in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
Select appropriate and specific outcome measures to enable evaluation of intervention progress and outcomes
Provide intervention recommendations based on evaluation of child's needs
Communicate assessment results (including Functional Age Estimates (FAE) for EIPIC cases), intervention plans, goals and outcome measures to relevant stakeholders at Individual Educational Plan (IEP) or Global Child Outcomes (GCO) meetings
Provide guidance to supervisees on utilising evidence-based practices for assessment, case formulation and intervention planning

Casework - Delivery of Intervention

Provide evidence-based intervention through individual and/or group format, pull-out and/or push-in support, depending on child's needs
Recommend communication options, including the use of Assistive Technology, according to child's needs
Facilitate/ lead in collaborations (e.g., provide consultations, co-plan activities, review progress, provide coaching) with relevant stakeholders (e.g., teachers, facilitators and parents) to support child in achieving intervention goals and generalising strategies within classroom and home settings
Improve intervention by adoption of new techniques and technologies
Evaluate intervention progress and outcomes using selected therapy outcome measures regularly
Modify intervention plans based on child's performance and motivation as well as intervention outcome measures collected
Formulate discharge or care plans based on child's performance, in consultation with relevant stakeholders
Communicate intervention plans, outcome measures, progress and discharge criteria to relevant stakeholders during review meetings
Provide guidance to supervisees on utilising evidence-based practices for implementation of intervention and progress evaluation

Casework - Performance of Clinical Administration and Operations

Comply and monitor compliance of supervisees to profession's ethical guidelines and organisation's clinical protocols, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Manage feedback and provide guidance to supervisees on response to feedback from stakeholders
Complete documentations (e.g., intervention plans, progress reports, case notes, case updates to sectors, recording of contact hours for provision of secondment/ itinerant services) accurately and promptly, and ensure they are well-maintained.
Review documentations for cases of supervisee(s) and provide supervision where needed
Coordinate with sectors to manage team's workload and roster to enhance manpower usage, and streamline processes to ensure quality and timely provision of services
Contribute inputs for funding proposals for the purposes of obtaining grants/ support to achieve department outcomes
Develop clinical practice guidelines
Participate in the development of new clinical services

System Work

Review models of care and service delivery and recommend improvements recommend aligned to evidence-based practice
Facilitate/ lead in research and evaluation for programme improvement by providing clinical expertise and consultation
Conduct audits
Implement and track progress on strategic plans - output and outcomes for the different initiatives across the Child Development Unit
Monitor teams clinical and non-clinical key performance indicators and ensure team's yearly performance targets are aligned with the Canossaville's strategic focus areas
Lead in sector or village-wide quality improvement projects/ programmes/ initiatives
Plan and deliver trainings/ workshops/ activities/ programmes to meet the learning needs for staff and caregivers
Partner sectors in the village to give presentations to schools, funders, government agencies

Personal / People Development

Enhances professional growth and development by keeping up to date with current literature and through participating in educational programmes, in-service meetings, and workshops (internal and external)
Supervise and mentor speech-language therapist and/or interns, ensuring that they are growing professionally and achieving their targets set for the year

Education, Skills, and Competencies

Undergraduate or Master's Degree in Speech Pathology from an accredited university recognised by the Allied Health Professions Council (AHPC)
At least 5 years of relevant experience in pediatric / school-based setting
(Preferred) At least 3 years of experience in supervisory / management role
Relevant experience working with students with hearing loss will be an added advantage
Professional license: Fully registered with the Allied Health Professions Council of Singapore
Capacity to work effectively in response to work demands (responding to client needs in different circumstances including critical incidents)
Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills
Ability to collaborate, build and maintain strong relationships with different stakeholders
Ability to contribute to a positive work and team culture where members strive for the highest standards of service delivery and care
Ability to adapt to change and a willingness to embrace new strategies and ways of working
Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
Ability to work effectively in a team-oriented and multi-disciplinary environment

Senior Speech-Language Therapist - Full-time / Part-time