About us
We believe that language is the
absolute fundamental life skill that all children and young people need to be
independent, to build relationships and to gain employment. We are committed to
supporting our future generations to achieve this, by providing a high quality
professional and holistic service, which demonstrates measurable impact with
the child and young person at the heart of our work. We pride ourselves on a
service which goes beyond the pre-school and the primary years, into secondary
schools and post -16 settings.
Stepping Stones SaLT Services Ltd was founded in early 2018 by Deeba Akram, a
highly specialist speech and language therapist. Our services include specialist
assessment, treatment and reports for monolingual and bilingual children and
young people aged 2-18 years, presenting with a broad range of developmental
and acquired Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN’s). As well as
providing assessment and therapy in English, we are able to offer these
services in a number of additional languages. Stepping Stones are able to
provide a range of strategic, solution focused services to support educational
settings wanting to improve literacy and attainment, through a focus on
innovative, whole school oral language approaches. These have been applied very
successfully with primary, secondary and post-16 settings, and have supported
schools improve their Ofsted ratings. Our services are responsive and
work within CQC and Ofsted frameworks.
Deeba Akram, Director of Stepping Stones
Deeba achieved a BMedSci (Speech) in 2003 followed by an MSc (Human Communication Sciences Research) in 2006, both from the University of Sheffield. She has won a number
of prestigious awards for her work in the field of Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) over the years including a Health Sciences Association (HSA) Major Scholarship, the ‘Dorothy Dixon Barrow Award’ for tackling health inequalities,
Sheffield South West PCT Award for ‘Innovation in an Area of Service delivery’, and the Communication Trust’s ‘Shine a Light Award’. Deeba’s specialist interests include Developmental Language Disorder; communication disorders in bilingual children; Autistic Spectrum Disorder; and acquired language disorders. Deeba is a trained ELKAN tutor and has completed additional training in Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), Makaton, Lidcombe, ‘Attention Autism’, ‘writing medico-legal reports’ and ‘Quality Improvement’. Deeba has delivered teaching on ‘working with bilingual children with language disorders’ on both the undergraduate and post graduate SaLT courses at the University of Sheffield. Deeba is a member of the Executive Committees of both the North West RCSLT Hub and the West Yorkshire Clinical Excellence Network for Bilingualism.
Since qualifying, Deeba has worked for two large NHS SaLT services for over fourteen years, as well as running an independent practice since 2009. During her eleven years with the Sheffield SaLT Service, she gained extensive experience of assessment and therapy with monolingual and bilingual children presenting a range of developmental language difficulties in a number of different settings including a specialist language centre; a pre-school provision for children with autism; mainstream schools; and community clinics. Deeba specialised in supporting children aged 18 months upwards living in deprived communities, as well as ensuring an equitable service was available for bilingual children with SLCN’s. From January 2015 to March 2018, Deeba worked with a multi-academy trust, which comprised seven mainstream academies (three primary, three secondary and one post-sixteen college) and one special school located in the north-west region. In this highly specialist and strategic role, Deeba co-ordinated the speech and language provision across all the mainstream academies. She was part of an inter-disciplinary team with a number of Educational Psychologists, and worked alongside both the senior and middle leadership teams of the academies to apply innovative and bespoke models of service delivery at universal, targeted and specialist levels; outcome measures demonstrated significant impact for pupils and schools at a systemic level, quality first teaching and individual level. This work received recognition in academy and college Ofsted reports, as well as Challenge Partners rating the work in this area as ‘Outstanding’.
In Deeba’s independent Practice, she has provided highly specialist SaLT services to children and young people aged 2-18 years living across the country, with a range of developmental and acquired communication disorders including Developmental Language Disorder, Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Acquired Brain Injury. She has held contracts with families and schools, as well as local authorities (including Barking and Dagenham), legal practices (including Slater & Gordon Lawyers) and rehabilitation services (including Northern Case Management and Bush and Company).
Isla Crawford, Speech and Language Therapy Assistant
Isla is a current Speech and Language Therapy student at the University of Manchester. Whilst she enjoys all areas of SLT and communication, bilingualism and speech sound disorders are of primary interest. Prior to training as an SLT, Isla was a teacher of ESOL for over 14 years working in China and France, but mainly in the UK, particularly Salford. She taught adults and teenagers and wishes to develop those communication skills with different groups.
Rachel Kenney - Speech and Language Therapy Assistant
Rachel qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist in 2018, achieving a combined honours degree in both Psychology and Speech Pathology. She has worked with children in clinics and schools across Cheshire and Manchester. Rachel supported children with SEN whilst completing her degree in Education, with many years of experience in facilitating inclusivity in mainstream schools, specialising in Autism and ADHD.
Now within Speech Therapy, Rachel continues to work within the paediatric population. She enjoys working with children and their families to enhance communication skills and give a voice to all children. Being a mother herself, she fully understands how important it is to provide your child with the very best start in life, sourcing quality therapy, resources and services that will support and scaffold your child in achieving their very best potential. Rachel prides herself in providing a high standard of therapy with attention to detail at every stage, following evidence based practice.
Carol J Ostell, Administrator
After leaving school, with Typing, amongst other qualifications, Carol started her administration career at British Aerospace plc on their 3 year, day release, secretarial training course. She attended Oldham College to gain qualifications in Shorthand, Typing, English and Office skills and as part of the practical training worked in a new department every three months. Carol was the Secretary to the Machine Shop Manager for many years after which she was promoted to the Production Manager’s Secretary. After nearly 18 years in the engineering world, it was time to move on, so in 1990 Carol began work as Clerical Assistant to the Heads and Lecturers of the Industrial Design and Interior Design Degree Courses within the School of Art and Design at Manchester Metropolitan University. Throughout her time at MMU, courses changed and merged and she had a varied and interesting career working as Assistant Administrator for; 3D Design, Fashion and TextileDesign, Embroidery, Illustration, Theatre, Photography, Landscape Architecture, Architecture, etc. Carol loved working with the students, the academics and administrative staff in the Manchester School of Art. She took Early Retirement in November 2014, due to personal reasons. Carol's hobbies include designing and making clothes and upholstery, decorating and some DIY, gardening, travelling, meeting up with friends and family, singing in the local choir (plus being the Social Secretary and Assistant Librarian for the choir) and last but not least, spending time with her lovely and very entertaining 2 year old cat; Rosie!
Nicole Walsh, Speech and Language Therapy Assistant
Nicole is currently undertaking the Speech and Language Therapy degree program at the University of Manchester, with a particular interest in developmental language disorder and acquired language disorders. After completing her BA International degree in English Literature and Sociology at the University of Ireland Maynooth and the University of Miami, Florida, Nicole worked as an ESL teacher in Ireland and the UK for over eight years. She has worked with individuals on a one-to-one basis and in groups with a wide range of ages, cultural backgrounds and first languages.
Dawn Cheshire
Dawn completed a degree in Health Sciences in 2021 having studied part time whilst bringing up her three young sons, one of whom has Special Educational needs. She has worked previously in Childcare with 0-18 year olds including children/teenagers with SEND and English as an additional language. Dawn is keen to develop her skills in Speech & Language Therapy with children of all ages with a keen interest in supporting those with Autism/Social Interaction difficulties to enhance their communication skills.
