Assessment usually takes place within the family home for younger children, where you and your child are comfortable and relaxed. Interacting with children within an environment they are familiar with enables me to observe their communication skills at their most natural.
For older children and teenagers, it may make more sense to assess them at school so that I can also observe them within the classroom and engaging with their peers.
When regular therapeutic input is recommended, this can be organised to take place within the school setting for school-aged children and teenagers, or for preschoolers either at home or within their nursery setting.
Assessment sessions may involve a mix of both formal and informal measures to assess your child's communication skills, depending on their age and the areas of communication being investigated. The results will be discussed with you at the end of the session, along with suggestions of targets, if appropriate, and a written report with recommendations will be provided in due course. Charges for an initial assessment can be found in the Services & Fees section of the website.
Therapy sessions are typically 30-45 minutes, including time for feedback and discussion with parents and/or school staff. Ideally one parent (or teaching assistant if in school) will be present during therapy session, so that the activities focussed on can be practised between sessions, leading to better generalisation and carryover of skills and therefore quicker progress. Charges per session can be found in the Services & Fees section of the website.
Therapy sessions can be used to target a broad range of speech, language and communication skills, including but not limited to:
-Expanding Listening and Attention Skills
-Supporting the Stages of Natural Language Acquisition for children who are Gestalt Language Processors
-Developing Vocabulary Understanding, Storage and Retrieval
-Supporting Sequencing and Narrative Skills
-Expanding Expressive Language Skills (this may include a focus on language expansion, sentence structure, grammatical elements, tense markers, increasing sentence length and complexity, using language for different purposes e.g. defining and describing, asking questions etc)
-Using a Total Communication Approach e.g. AAC, objects of reference, photo prompts, communication books, Makaton signing etc
-Developing Receptive Language Skills (this may include understanding of vocabulary, following spoken instructions of increasing length and complexity, developing concept knowledge, understanding different question forms etc)
-Developing Speech Intelligibility for children with a Speech Delay/Disorder
-Using the Principles of Motor Learning to support children with/suspected to have Childhood Apraxia of Speech
-Working with children who Stammer/Stutter
-Building Inferential Reasoning skills
-Supporting Social Communication: this may include a focus on supporting a child or young person with the areas listed below, however my approach is person centred and focussed on supporting children to celebrate and embrace their true selves. I do not promote goals which encourage children to mask or change who they are to fit in with their peers or society. My aim is to increase childrens’ knowledge of their strengths and develop their awareness of what helps them, and learn to advocate for these supports. Target areas may link to joint attention, reciprocal interaction, collaborative play, understanding of vocabulary linked to feelings and emotions, developing awareness of others perspectives, conversation skills, social problem-solving, understanding of the concept of friendship, team-working, self-advocacy, emotional regulation, interoception etc)
For older children and teenagers, it may make more sense to assess them at school so that I can also observe them within the classroom and engaging with their peers.
When regular therapeutic input is recommended, this can be organised to take place within the school setting for school-aged children and teenagers, or for preschoolers either at home or within their nursery setting.
Assessment sessions may involve a mix of both formal and informal measures to assess your child's communication skills, depending on their age and the areas of communication being investigated. The results will be discussed with you at the end of the session, along with suggestions of targets, if appropriate, and a written report with recommendations will be provided in due course. Charges for an initial assessment can be found in the Services & Fees section of the website.
Therapy sessions are typically 30-45 minutes, including time for feedback and discussion with parents and/or school staff. Ideally one parent (or teaching assistant if in school) will be present during therapy session, so that the activities focussed on can be practised between sessions, leading to better generalisation and carryover of skills and therefore quicker progress. Charges per session can be found in the Services & Fees section of the website.
Therapy sessions can be used to target a broad range of speech, language and communication skills, including but not limited to:
-Expanding Listening and Attention Skills
-Supporting the Stages of Natural Language Acquisition for children who are Gestalt Language Processors
-Developing Vocabulary Understanding, Storage and Retrieval
-Supporting Sequencing and Narrative Skills
-Expanding Expressive Language Skills (this may include a focus on language expansion, sentence structure, grammatical elements, tense markers, increasing sentence length and complexity, using language for different purposes e.g. defining and describing, asking questions etc)
-Using a Total Communication Approach e.g. AAC, objects of reference, photo prompts, communication books, Makaton signing etc
-Developing Receptive Language Skills (this may include understanding of vocabulary, following spoken instructions of increasing length and complexity, developing concept knowledge, understanding different question forms etc)
-Developing Speech Intelligibility for children with a Speech Delay/Disorder
-Using the Principles of Motor Learning to support children with/suspected to have Childhood Apraxia of Speech
-Working with children who Stammer/Stutter
-Building Inferential Reasoning skills
-Supporting Social Communication: this may include a focus on supporting a child or young person with the areas listed below, however my approach is person centred and focussed on supporting children to celebrate and embrace their true selves. I do not promote goals which encourage children to mask or change who they are to fit in with their peers or society. My aim is to increase childrens’ knowledge of their strengths and develop their awareness of what helps them, and learn to advocate for these supports. Target areas may link to joint attention, reciprocal interaction, collaborative play, understanding of vocabulary linked to feelings and emotions, developing awareness of others perspectives, conversation skills, social problem-solving, understanding of the concept of friendship, team-working, self-advocacy, emotional regulation, interoception etc)
