EHCP for Speech, Language and Communication Needs

Speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) are among the most common reasons a child needs an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), yet they are also among the most poorly handled by local authorities. The single biggest issue is where the child's speech and language therapy is recorded in the plan, because that one decision determines whether the therapy is legally guaranteed or quietly optional. This guide explains the law, why it matters so much, and how to evidence your child's needs. Last updated June 2026.

What Counts as a Speech, Language and Communication Need

SLCN is a broad category. It includes children who struggle to produce speech sounds clearly, children whose understanding of language is behind their peers, children who find it hard to put words and sentences together to express themselves, and children whose social communication makes conversation and interaction difficult. It includes diagnoses such as developmental language disorder, as well as the communication difficulties that often sit alongside autism. For communication needs that arise within an autism profile, see also our guide on EHCP for autism.

Communication underpins almost all of school. A child who cannot follow spoken instructions, who misunderstands questions, or who cannot organise their thoughts into spoken or written language, is at a disadvantage in every lesson, not just English. The impact is wide and often underestimated because a child who is quiet and compliant can be mistaken for one who is coping.

Why SLCN Can Meet the EHCP Threshold

The legal test under the Children and Families Act 2014, Part 3, is whether the child may have Special Educational Needs (SEN) that require provision beyond what a mainstream school can ordinarily make available. A child whose communication difficulties are significant enough to require regular, skilled speech and language therapy, specialist teaching approaches, or a high level of adult support to access learning, can clearly meet that threshold. For the full picture of how the threshold works and whether your child meets it, read do I qualify for an EHCP.

The Most Important Point: Therapy Belongs in Section F

This is the part that decides outcomes. An EHCP has different sections. Section F is the special educational provision, and the local authority has an absolute legal duty to secure everything written in it. Section G is health provision, over which the local authority has more limited duties.

The law, established by the Court of Appeal in the case usually referred to as the Bromley case, is that where therapy educates or trains a child it is special educational provision and belongs in Section F, not Section G. For most children with SLCN, speech and language therapy is exactly that: it teaches the child to understand and use language so they can access education. It is therefore special educational provision and should be in Section F.

This is not a technicality. If therapy is wrongly placed in Section G, it can be delivered patchily, reduced, or dropped entirely when health budgets tighten, and the local authority can point at the National Health Service rather than fix it. If it is correctly placed in Section F, quantified and named, the local authority must secure it. Getting speech and language therapy into Section F, with the number and length of sessions, the qualification of the person delivering it, and the targets specified, is the single most valuable thing a parent can do in an SLCN case.

What Good SLCN Provision Looks Like

Provision in Section F must be specific and quantified, not vague aspiration. For a child with SLCN, good provision might include a defined number of direct speech and language therapy sessions per term, delivered by a qualified speech and language therapist, with a specified number of those sessions delivered directly to the child rather than only as advice to staff. It should also include the indirect provision: the programme the therapist designs, the training for school staff, the use of visual supports and communication aids, and time for a trained adult to deliver the programme between therapy sessions.

Watch for vague wording such as "access to speech and language therapy" or "advice from the speech and language therapy service". That kind of phrasing is not enforceable and frequently delivers nothing. Insist on numbers, names and frequencies. Our guide on Section F specificity shows exactly what the difference looks like and why it decides whether a child receives the therapy or not.

How to Evidence Speech and Language Needs

The strongest evidence in an SLCN case is a report from a speech and language therapist. Whether from the National Health Service or an independent therapist, a good report quantifies the level of difficulty against standardised measures, explains how the difficulties affect the child's access to learning, and recommends a specific level and type of therapy. That recommended level is what you then ask to see written into Section F.

Alongside the therapist's report, describe the everyday impact in concrete terms. Explain what happens when your child is given a multi-step instruction, how they cope in a group discussion, what their writing looks like compared with what they can manage with adult support, and how communication affects friendships and confidence. You do not need a report to request a needs assessment, so do not wait, but a therapist's report turns a good case into a strong one.

How EHCP Expert Helps

EHCP Expert is built to handle the Section F versus Section G question correctly. It frames speech and language needs as special educational provision where the law supports that, helps you describe the impact on learning with the specificity required, and links each communication need to quantified, named provision. It generates a request letter citing the relevant references including the Children and Families Act 2014, the SEND Regulations 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice 2015, and incorporates any speech and language therapy report you have. If the local authority refuses, see what to do if your EHCP is refused.