This leaflet is designed for clients and families who use our service and seeks to explain how our service works.
What is CASEE?
CASEE is a specialist team which works with your local speech and language therapist (SLT) to carry out specialist assessments for communication systems. The outcome of this assessment may be a high tech (computer) device or may be advice as to different low tech (paper based) systems that you can use. If the outcome of assessment is a low tech system, advice will be given and this will be the responsibility of your local speech and language therapist to implement with you and your family.
A high tech communication aid is a computer which you can use to support your speech, or to use instead of speech.
You can speak to your local SLT to see if they feel you would benefit from a referral to CASEE. Your local SLT will understand the criteria set for access to our service and can discuss this with you.
The CASEE team is made up of these professionals:
Image of team of health professionals
1. What should I expect on a first visit?
This appointment will take place at your home, residential care setting or your school.
The CASEE team will invite your local therapist to attend the appointment; Please invite anyone else you would like to attend, for example family / carers / teachers.
Teacher, family and friends
During the initial appointment we will:
talk to you, to people who support you and to your therapists about your communication,
look at the communication systems you use,
ask you to trial different types of communication equipment,
together, we can decide if any of the equipment is useful.
What happens next?
If we have recommended you trial some equipment we:
will order the chosen equipment, ready for the next appointment,
may ask you to fill out some forms to tell us what words to put on your device,
will book another appointment to deliver equipment to your home.
If we agree the equipment is not useful for you:
we will give you advice,
your local SLT will continue to support you with your communication needs.
2. Installation appointment
At this appointment we will:
set up the equipment,
show your family and any relevant professionals how to use the device,
discuss your communication needs and set some goals so we can be sure that the communication aid we have supplied is right for you,
provide equipment guidelines detailing how to use the device safely
You will borrow the equipment on a short-term loan for about two months.
3. Review appointment
At this appointment we will
review if the equipment is useful to support your communication
discuss any issues or problems you have had
review the goals
decide together if you would benefit from keeping the equipment on a long-term loan (a long-term loan means you keep the device for as long as it meets your needs).
Local therapy team responsibilities
to visit or contact you to check your communication needs have not changed
to contact CASEE if you need a review
to support you if technical issues arise and to help contact CASEE if further help is needed.
Image of stick people communicating
Please make sure you have your:
glasses
hearing aids
any communication aids you use (for example, communication boards, alphabet chart), any different chairs you sit in.
Client and family responsibilities
to enable you to use the communication equipment in line with the guidelines we have given you
to contact your SLT if you don’t want to or are not able to use the device any more
to tell your SLT if there are any technical issues.
Image of stick people within a circle
CASEE responsibilities
to carry out an annual safety check of any equipment provided
to resolve technical issues
to carry out repair and maintenance as necessary
to carry out further assessment if your needs change when advised by your local speech and language therapist.
Help accessing this information in other formats is available. You can find out more about this service on our patient information help page.
Service / Department
Speech and language therapy
We are smoke-free
Smoking is not allowed anywhere on the hospital campus. For advice and support in quitting, contact your GP or the free NHS stop smoking helpline on 0800 169 0 169.
Other formats
Help accessing this information in other formats is available. To find out more about the services we provide, please visit our patient information help page (see link below) or telephone 01223 256998. www.cuh.nhs.uk/contact-us/accessible-information/
Contact us
Cambridge University Hospitals
NHS Foundation Trust
Hills Road, Cambridge
CB2 0QQ