Alice Thornton

Alice Thornton

Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Alice joined Psychology Associates in 2022. She has been qualified for over 30 years and is passionate about enabling everyone to understand how best to enhance language and communication development in children and young people. She loves delivering training which is practical and relating theory to everyday practice. She has extensive experience with children who have suffered early trauma, as well as those who have been placed for fostering or adoption. She has worked in a specialist nursery placement for children with Developmental Language Disorder and in Sure Start, so getting in early with young children is a priority for her.  

Much of her work is supporting families and education settings to identify any language difficulties and develop ways to build up skills so that each child and young person can be confident in processing information and communicating who they really are. 

As you may be aware, on the 14th April 2025 the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) announced changes to the Fair Access limit with a reduction of funding to £3000 and the discontinuation of the separate Fair Access Limit for specialist assessments.

We are currently working really hard to amend quotes for ongoing therapy work to fit within the new Fair Access Limit and working closely with Adopt South West and other local RAAs. We are also working closely with other specialist adoption support providers and therapeutic organisations including DDP connects and Theraplay UK to explore how we can continue to deliver specialist therapies within this limit.

If you are waiting for a new package of therapy please look out for correspondence from ASW or your regional adoption support agency, as they will need to regain your consent for the amended therapy contract.

If you are concerned about the impact of the delay on your family or have questions about the therapy or assessment you are waiting for please get in touch with Ellen or Jen and we will do our best to support you.

We will be contributing to a wider response to this and the following is a link to a petition requesting government action – Petition · Action Against ASGSF Changes (Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund) – United Kingdom · Change.org