Speech Therapy (or Speech Pathology) is a health profession that assists in the assessment and treatment of children who are unable to communicate effectively or who have difficulty with feeding and swallowing.
At Sensational Kids our specialised therapists assess and manage children from 18 months to 16 years who have difficulties with:
- Language development (understanding and expression)
- Speech development (articulation, stuttering, motor planning/dyspraxia)
- Engaging and relatedness
- Auditory Processing
- Literacy (reading and writing)
- Swallowing or Eating
- Voice (quality, loudness & awareness of voice use)
- Social communication (greetings, making friends, social interactions etc.)
Speech Pathologists are essential in identifying the influences impacting on a child's ability to effectively communicate. These may include co-occurring sensory integration difficulties, Autism Spectrum Disorder, anxiety, lack of social confidence, ADHD/ADD, visual processing difficulties, family history, personality and hearing difficulties.
Every child is different but there are a number of key signs that can alert you to the possibility of your child struggling with communication. These include:
- Frustration
- Withdrawal from social situations
- Attention difficulties
- Behavioural difficulties
- Difficulties following directions
- Difficulties with using the correct grammar or words in a sentence
- Using made-up words (jargon)
- Difficulties in the classroom with listening and completing tasks
- Difficulties with reading or writing (making up words, skipping words, mispronouncing, guessing, not liking to read)
- Echoing language (repeating back rather than answering a question)
- Difficulties with making friends
Early Intervention has demonstrated to be the most effective in treating children's communication difficulties long term. It is essential you don't wait - generally these difficulties won't just improve or go away on their own. Sensational Kids offers a screening assessment for children if parents are uncertain if longer-term treatment is required. This assessment allows the Speech Pathologist to determine if your child's speech and language is developmentally appropriate and offers the option of further treatment if needed.
Sensational Kids offers therapy following the DIR-Floortime model. Floortime is a child and family-centred approach to treatment that takes into account children's developmental levels & individual differences to formulate an appropriate treatment plan. Every child has recognised individual differences that can impact on their functional communication and their understanding of the world. Floortime's primary value is to establish strong communication and emotional growth with either verbal or gestural skills within children and assists the child to follow a strong developmental pathway from verbal to abstract ideas.It is a natural play-based therapy and helps children develop robust and meaningful interactions.
Traditional therapy is also offered for school-age children or for those children requiring therapy for school-readiness.
Sensational Kids is also an integrated service allowing for referrals, as appropriate to our Occupational Therapists (to help manage sensory difficulties, fine and gross motor and processing), Psychologists, Social or Developmental Groups. This team approach allows for holistic management of your child.
 Meet Our Speech Therapists
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