Have a question about our services or speech and occupational therapy in general? You might find the answer in our FAQ below, but if not, get in touch using the form on this page, we’d be happy to help!
What is speech therapy?
Speech therapy involves the assessment and treatment of communication disorders in both adults and children.
These disorders can include difficulties with: speech sound production, receptive language; expressive language, vocabulary, stuttering, voice disorders and social skills.
In adults, difficulties may arise due to stroke, brain injury, degenerative disorders or voice disorders.
When should I be concerned?
If your child is not speaking at the same level as his peers, you may want to check the developmental norms that are attached to see what is normally expected at their age.
If people frequently ask you to interpret what your child said, if they are not producing good sentences or following directions correctly, it’s quite likely that they may have a speech / language disorder.
If your child is struggling with learning and / or reading and writing at school, they may have a speech / language delay that is affecting the development of their academic skills.
What to do if I’m concerned?
Our therapists are always available to answer questions on the phone if you would like to answer questions.
Give our friendly receptionists a call to ask questions or to book in an appointment.
Where can I have an assessment?
Either in our offices, or at one of the many schools that we provide services at.
What happens in an assessment?
An initial assessment will be booked to look at how the child’s communication skills are developing compared to other children of their age. A standard assessment goes for one hour.
In this assessment, we will assess: speech (articulation), receptive language, expressive language, stuttering, and voice production.
If the child has difficulty learning at school, an assessment of their literacy skills will also be conducted. This will add thirty minutes to the assessment.
We prepare to have toys on hand to make the child comfortable and relaxed. Most kids don’t feel like they’ve had an assessment, as they’ve enjoyed having goes at games as the assessment has progressed!
Can parents /carers sit in on the assessment?
Yes! We love for parents / carers to sit in on the assessment!
This makes it a lot easier to understand the specific difficulties that the child is having. If your child accesses school based speech therapy, we are happy to organise a time where you are able to attend as well, as long as it works out with timetabling.
However, there are times that parents can’t sit in, and we do understand that. In these cases, we will explain the results of the assessment when you come in.
When is therapy recommended?
If the child’s skills don’t meet age expectations, therapy will be recommended. It is best not to wait for the problem to go away, as most often it doesn’t.
Early intervention is very important, and the earlier the child starts accessing speech therapy, the sooner they will finish. Many children start therapy at or even before the age of two years these days!
Academic success at school is dependent on a child having good speech and language skills, so it’s very important that therapy commences as early as possible.
What is done in therapy?
The results of the assessment will determine what goals are worked on in therapy.
Our sessions will try to cover all areas of delay, in order to help the child catch up in their delayed skills as quickly as possible. Therapy sessions can be play based, table based, or a mix of both depending on the child.
We do understand the time constraints that parents have due to today’s busy lifestyle, so we will always try our best to give “on the fly” ideas of homework, in addition to formal homework activities.
How long does therapy take?
Every child is different, and there is no way of predicting how long therapy will take. Rate of progress in therapy depends on: how delayed the child is, how often they attend therapy, their ability to learn, and how often homework is done.
If the child has a disability such as Autism, Cerebral Palsy or Down Syndrome, they will be accessing speech therapy for longer than children without disabilities.
School-based speech therapy
NSPOT prides itself on having very strong relationships with many schools in the greater Penrith area.
School based speech Therapy sessions work exactly the same as in office ones, expect on most occasions, the parents /carers are not there.
The sessions go for 30 minutes. Homework is emailed to the parents, with the class teacher being cc’d so that they are aware of what has occurred in the sessions.
One of the big benefits of school based speech therapy sessions is that we are able to catch up n a regular basis with your child’s class teacher. This allows us to discuss how their delays are affecting different aspects of your child’s learning, and give some strategies to assist the child’s different needs in the classroom.
Do we see adults?
Yes, we are happy to see adults, and have therapists who are experienced in seeing adults. We service most communication impairments in adults, except for swallowing.
With the introduction of the NDIS, we have also started seeing young adults with disabilities that have affected the development of their communication skills.