We specialise in:
- Speech Sound Development
- Speech Clarity
- Late talkers
- Oral-Motor Difficulties
- Pre-School Children
- School-Age Children
- Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)
- Stammering
- Physical Disability
- Intellectual Disability
- Down’s Syndrome
- Autistic Spectrum Disorders
- Voice Disorders
- Hearing Impairment
- Feeding/Swallowing Disorders
If you have any concerns or you don’t see the issue listed contact your local Speech Centre
Speech Therapy for Children
Your local Speech Centre can provide professional and effective speech therapy for children. This usually takes place in the clinic, but occasionally we may also visit the child’s home or school if necessary.
When a child is growing up, their speech and language gives them access to the world and people around them. They learn to communicate with other people, and shape their own thoughts with words.
Some children struggle with this. This can be because their speech isn’t clear, or because their language development needs a helping hand. The earlier this is addressed the better for the child. If you have any concerns at all about your child’s speech or language development, it is very important to talk to a health professional about it.
When a child attends for speech and language therapy, you can be assured that each session has been designed specifically for that child’s individual level of ability, interests, and goals.
There are lots of things about speech and language that a child can find difficult.
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Children
The muscles of the mouth or tongue may be weak.
The child might have trouble shaping different sounds correctly (for example R or S).
Even if the child can repeat all the sounds, they might get them muddled up when they’re talking, or leave sounds out altogether.
The child may have trouble putting words together or making sentences. Older children might leave important endings off words.
Children can find it difficult to follow even short instructions. They might get lost in conversations, or miss the details of a story.
We can provide the following services according to the needs of the individual child.
Child Services
This is a structured language assessment that has been tested on thousands of other children so that we can see exactly where your child is in comparison to the average child. It is very useful to have this information if you are applying for a language class, resource hours, or looking for a formal diagnosis. We use a given set of pictures, toys, questions and grammar structures to assess your child’s specific areas of ability. This is a comprehensive assessment, and covers all areas of language, speech, and oral-motor muscles. This can be done with a child of any age.
This is a more play-based assessment process, more suitable for younger children (4 years and younger). It looks at the child as an individual, and pinpoints their own particular pockets of difficulty, rather than comparing them to other children. Each area of language is examined, including the understanding and use of different language structures, as well as speech clarity and oral-motor muscles.
This is a specific formal assessment that looks at the clarity of your child’s speech, the sounds they are using, and the patterns they put these sounds into. We also examine the muscles of the child’s mouth to see if there are is structural weakness. If your child uses lots of language but is very hard to understand, this is the assessment for you.
Assessment fees are usually higher than therapy fees because of the time needed to analyse the information, make a diagnosis, and plan the right therapy path and methods. The assessment itself can take anything from 45 minutes to 2 hours, but we try not to keep a child in the clinic for longer than an hour at a time, as we don’t get the best out of them if they’re tired. If the assessment takes longer than this, we will ask you to return on another day. There is no additional cost for this.
Written reports from assessment are available on request. These can be used to support access to additional services or in making an overall diagnosis in conjunction with other professionals.
We provide a wide range of information, education and training sessions on various topics. These are designed with each specific environment and client group in mind, to give parents, carers and teachers further knowledge and training
Many parents and schools find these programmes extremely useful to help a child continue their progress during a break from therapy or in different environments. Programmes are tailor-made to meet the child’s individual level and needs, and include all written materials.
If necessary, we can refer a child on for further or specialised assessment, depending on assessment findings. Examples of these types of services include developmental services, occupational therapy, language classes, hearing assessment, etc.
If you have any concerns about any aspect of your child’s speech or language development, please do not hesitate to contact your local Speech Centre. Significant improvements in speech and language development can be seen with early intervention.
We specialise in:
- Speech Sound Development
- Speech Clarity
- Late talkers
- Oral-Motor Difficulties
- Pre-School Children
- School-Age Children
- Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)
- Stammering
- Physical Disability
- Intellectual Disability
- Down’s Syndrome
- Autistic Spectrum Disorders
- Voice Disorders
- Hearing Impairment
- Feeding/Swallowing Disorders
If you have any concerns or you don’t see the issue listed contact your local Speech Centre