Specialist Assessment and Therapy for Children and Young People with a Range of Speech and Language Difficulties

Are you concerned about your child’s speech and language development? Are you worried that your child is not talking or not saying as much as other children of their age? Are you worried that your child’s speech is not as clear as other children and they are hard to understand? Are you worried about your child’s confidence or self-esteem in talking to others?

I offer speech and language therapy for children and young people with a range of speech, language and communication needs. You may be concerned that:

your child is late in starting to talk
has difficulties understanding what people are saying
finds it hard to link works and put sentences together
their speech is unclear or difficult to understand
They lack confidence or self-esteem in talking to others

Children and young people – Assessment

Assessment routinely takes place within your home environment or it can take place within nursery or school or another setting with prior arrangement.

For children and young people specialist assessment involves direct assessment of your child as well as a case history session with parents/carers.

Direct assessment: I will conduct an assessment of your child’s speech, language and communication to identify key areas of strength and need. This may involve play activities, structured observation of your child, talking with your child, as well as the use of standardised checklists and assessments. The assessment will enable me to establish the severity of your child’s stammering, their awareness of it and the impact it may be having on their day to day life. I will also assess their overall speech and language development and compare their skills in relation to children of the same age.

Case history session: Parents/carers are central to the assessment as you know your child best and can therefore provide valuable information regarding your child and their stammer within the context of the family.

Following the assessment I will give you a clear explanation of my assessment findings which will help you to understand the factors which are relevant to your child’s difficulties. We can then agree upon a package of therapy that meets your child’s individual needs. This may involve giving you advice and activities to carry out at home or I will recommend a block of therapy.

I can also provide a full written report of your child’s assessment session. This will include the results of the assessment, a summary of your child’s strengths and areas for development and recommendations which may include referral to another professional.

Therapy

I offer a range of specialist therapy approaches which will vary depending on the age of your child and the findings from my assessment. I work closely with parents to establish what you want to achieve from therapy ensuring effective intervention which is tailored to you and your child’s individual needs. Having a child with speech difficulties can also have an impact on parents and I want to support you with your worries and concerns (or emotions) and ensure that you understand how best to support your child at home.

Therapy can take place face to face or via Skype. The number of sessions each child needs varies. I typically start with a 6-8 week block of therapy. Sessions usually last 60 minutes. Once we have completed a block of therapy followed by a consolidation period, I will review your child’s progress and then discuss with you and your child the need for any further therapy.