Speech Pathology Services

1. Assessments/Evaluations
2. Therapy
3. Workshops & Training for Schools & Other Settings
4. Speech
5. Language
6. Stuttering
7. Literacy
8. AAC (Augmentative & Alternative Communication)
9. Auditory Processing

1. Assessments/Evaluations | top

If you have concerns about your child's speech, language, stuttering or literacy, it is important for an assessment or evaluation to be conducted.

Before the assessment, your speech pathologist will conduct a thorough case history with you to get a good idea of your child's development up to this point and any factors pertinent to the assessment. It is also helpful if you can bring along the results of hearing tests and other reports that will give useful information on your child's development.

What happens during an assessment?

The assessment involves using a variety of tests with your child. This is done in a fun way with motivators to help your child stay on track. An assessment gives information on how your child is performing in a variety of areas and identifies any particular difficulties that he or she may have.

The time taken for an evaluation can vary depending on the individual child and the tests used. An assessment may take anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours.

Where will the assessment take place?

Your child may be assessed at either the Newton or Payneham office, or at his or her school, kindergarten or child care centre.

What happens after an assessment?

A detailed report will be written by your speech pathologist, which you can distribute to your child's teacher and other professionals involved with your child. The report will explain how your child went with each part of the test, how the outcome may affect your child's communication and classroom learning and recommendations for the home or classroom.

Please note: Most ‘Extras' Health Insurance covers Speech Pathology. Check with your individual health cover to find out the percentage of fee that is covered.

2. Therapy | top

Therapy If your speech pathologist recommends therapy for your child, appointments can be made either for you to come to the office (Payneham or Newton), or for your speech pathologist to see your child at school, kindergarten or child care. Saturday appointments are available at the Payneham office.

Session times are 45 minutes for young children. Older children may be seen for 45 minutes or 60 minutes in a session. Weekly therapy sessions are usually recommended. Children may be seen several times a week if necessary, or attend a block of therapy sessions over the school holidays.

Therapy sessions are designed to be fun and friendly, incorporating games and fun activities. Fun take-home activities will also be provided for extra practice at home or school.

Please note: Most ‘Extras' Health Insurance covers Speech Pathology. Check with your individual health cover to find out the percentage of fee that is covered.

3. Workshops & Training for Schools & Other Settings | top

Who uses speech pathology workshops and training sessions?

Primary Schools
High Schools
Kindergartens
Child Care Settings
Parent's groups
Other organisations that work with children

What workshops/seminars are available?

Key Word Signing (with Auslan signs)
Children's Speech and Language Devlopment: what to expect
Communication for non-verbal children
Aided Language Stimulation
Phonological Awareness and Literacy
Effective Questioning: Understanding and Answering Questions
Intervention for children with speech difficulties
Helping to develop your toddler's language
Helping to develop your child's literacy

Specific seminars to meet your centre's individual needs may also be provided – just ask!

How do I book a workshop/seminar?

Please phone 8337 3188 to make a booking or discuss your centre's training needs.

4. Speech | top

Does your child…
How can Liberty Speech Pathology help?
Articulation delay or disorder
Phonological delay or disorder

Does your child have difficulty with the sounds of his or her speech? Does ‘singing a song' become ‘thinging a thong'? Does "Carry the cat to the cushion" become "Tarry the tat to the tushion"? Or perhaps "Smell the pretty flowers" becomes "mell the pitty fowers".

If so, your child may be having difficulty with his or her speech. (See Checklist to see which speech errors are still appropriate for your child's age). This difficulty may be an articulation delay or disorder, or it may be a phonological delay or disorder.

If your child's speech is delayed or disordered, people such as family, your friends, teachers or your child's friends may have difficulty understanding what your child is saying. This can be incredibly frustrating for your child who is trying very hard to get their message across. Speech difficulties in children have also been associated with literacy difficulties in school.

How can Liberty Speech Pathology help?
If you are concerned about your child's speech, Liberty Speech Pathology can provide your child with:

An assessment (evaluation) to thoroughly explore the sounds that your child uses and the sounds he or she has difficulty with.
A report to give you information and a summary of your child's speech difficulties. This is often useful information for your child's Child Care Centre, Kindy or School teacher to have.
Friendly, game based therapy to help remediate your child's speech difficulties
Fun take-home activities for home or school practice.

Articulation Delay or Disorder
If your child has difficulty with his or her articulation, it means that he or she can not produce a particular sound correctly. For example, he or she might be placing her tongue in the wrong place for the sound.

An articulation delay means that the child is making articulation errors that are typical in normal development (eg ‘f' for ‘th'), only at an age where this error should no longer be occurring.

An articulation disorder means that the child is making articulation errors that are not typical in normal development (eg a lisp).

See Checklist to see which articulation errors are still appropriate for your child's age.

Phonological Delay or Disorder
The majority of speech difficulties are phonological difficulties. This is where your child is making errors that follow a particular pattern. The error lies in your child's understanding of the ‘rules' of speech, rather than in the way that your child is physically making the sound.

For example, your child may have an error pattern of ‘cluster reduction'. This means that where two consonants are next to each other (eg ‘sm' in ‘smell', ‘pr' in ‘pretty', ‘fl' in ‘flower'), your child reduces this to only one consonant (eg ‘mell' for ‘smell', ‘pitty' for ‘pretty', ‘fower' for ‘flower). Cluster reduction is an example of a phonological error that is part of a child's normal speech development. However, if a child is still using this pattern after age 4, then he or she has a phonological delay.

Another example of a phonological error patter is ‘Initial Consonant Deletion'. This means that the child does not pronounce the consonants at the beginning of words. For example, ‘feet' becomes ‘eet', ‘shop' becomes ‘op', ‘teddy' becomes ‘eddy'. This is an example of an error that is not part of a child's normal speech development and means that this child has a phonological disorder.

See Checklist to see which phonological errors are not usual for your child's age.

5. Language | top

Does your child ever…
How can Liberty Speech Pathology help?
Examples of language delays and disorders

Does your child look at you blankly when you ask tell him to do something? Does your child mix up her words (eg "See that girl, he's my friend!) or sometimes have trouble remembering the word she wants to say? Does he answer a question like "how are you Johnny?" with "I'm four years old"? Your child might have difficulty with his or her language.

'Language' is different from 'speech'. When we talk about speech, we mean the sounds (eg consonants and vowels) and how they are put together to form words. When we talk about language, we mean the words themselves and how they are put together to form meaning.

How can Liberty Speech Pathology help?
If you are concerned about your child's language, Liberty Speech Pathology can provide your child with:

An assessment (evaluation) to thoroughly explore your child's understanding of language and use of language.
A report to give you information and a summary of your child's language difficulties. This is often useful information for your child's Child Care Centre, Kindy or School teacher to have.
Friendly, game based therapy to help remediate your child's language difficulties
Fun take-home activities for home or school practice.

Examples of Language delays and disorders
Your child may have a language delay or disorder if he or she:

Uses fewer words than other children his or her age
Uses gestures and pointing rather than words to request things
Has trouble understanding what some common words mean
Uses shorter sentences than other children his or her age
Has trouble remembering the word he or she want to say
Uses incorrect grammar. For example, getting ‘he' and ‘she' mixed up – "I like that girl. He's pretty"; using the wrong verb tense (we walks yesterday), difficulty with plurals (eg. "I have two bird" instead of "I have two birds").
Doesn't understand questions
Has difficulty asking questions
Has trouble retelling a story
Has trouble telling you a sequence of events that has happened in the day
Has difficulty following instructions
Has difficulty using social language (eg asking permission, apologising)
Doesn't understand particular concepts (eg tall, short, new, old, clean, dirty, wet, dry)
Finds it hard to express how he or she is feeling (happy, sad, upset, angry)
Has difficulty expressing his or her physical state (eg hungry, thirsty, sore)
My child doesn't understand multiple meaning words (eg "bark": a dog barks, bark on a tree)
My child doesn't understand figurative language ("he turned over a new leaf")
My child finds it difficult to follow a conversation when he is in a group
My child often doesn't quite understand jokes

See Checklist to see which language difficulties may be a concern for your child's age.

6. Stuttering | top

Did you know…
How can Liberty Speech Pathology help?

Did you know…
Stuttering is a disorder which causes problems in the control and coordination of speech. It may present itself as one or a combination of the following:

Repetitions of sounds (c-c-c-cat)
Repetition of words (but-but-but-but I don’t want to)
Repetition of phrases (will you - will you - will you – will you come with me?)
Prolongations or stretching of words or sounds (ssssssssoldier)
Silent blocks (tension and difficulty getting a word out) - pushing really hard to say a word but nothing comes out
Unusual facial movements, eye blinks, body or hand movements while talking
Excessive adding of extra words (um, ah, like, you see)
Any form of struggling behaviour associated with speech

Stuttering is highly variable and is likely to occur more frequently in some situations (eg speaking in front of the class, speaking under pressure, speaking on the phone) than in others (eg talking to a pet, reciting memorised lines).

Stuttering is a disorder that can have a great impact upon a person’s life. A child who stutters may become anxious and self conscious about their speech and choose to avoid speaking in certain situations rather than risk a possible event of stuttering. This can put great limitations on the child and their ability to interact with people.

Stuttering may become harder to treat with age, so it is important to start therapy as soon as possible. Stuttering often begins between the ages of 2 and 5 and early treatment is always best. Don’t wait for your child to ‘grow out of it’ – seek advice from a speech pathologist as soon as possible.

How can Liberty Speech Pathology help?
If you think that your child might be stuttering, Liberty Speech Pathology can provide your child with:

An assessment (evaluation) to determine whether your child is stuttering, how frequently he or she stutters and the types of stutters that are occurring.
A report to give you information and a summary of your child’s stuttering. This is often useful information for your child’s Child Care Centre, Kindy or School teacher to have.
Information about stuttering and what you can do at home (and what your teacher can do at school) to help.
Age-appropriate therapy to help your child overcome their stutter and regain control of their speech.
Activities for home or school practice to help your child meet his or her goals.

7. Literacy | top

Did you know…
How can Liberty Speech Pathology help?
Examples of literacy difficulties

Did you know approximately 16% of Australian children have difficulties learning to read? (Westwood, 2001)

Literacy If a child has difficulty reading and writing, they will have difficulty with their overall academic performance, which will of course impact on further life choices.

So what do speech pathologists have to do with literacy? Speech pathologists are in a unique position of having expertise and training in the area of sound awareness and oral language skills which impact greatly upon literacy. They are qualified to target specifically the underlying causes of a child’s literacy difficulties.

Children who have speech or language difficulties earlier in life may go on to have difficulties with literacy as well. This makes sense when you think about all the different skills required for literacy: ability to hear and manipulate sounds in words, understanding the meaning of words and sentences, understanding grammar and syntax. Good oral language skills and auditory skills are important skills for literacy development.

How can Liberty Speech Pathology help?
If you are concerned about your child’s literacy (or pre-literacy) development, Liberty Speech Pathology can:

Evaluate your child’s literacy: this includes exploring his or her ability with underlying skills required for literacy development.
Recognise if your pre-literate child is at risk for developing a literacy impairment
Provide you with a report to give you information and a summary of your child’s specific literacy (or pre-literacy) difficulties. This is often useful information for your child’s School or Kindy teacher to have.
Provide friendly, game based therapy to help remediate your child’s literacy difficulties.
Provide fun take-home activities for home or school practice.

Examples of Literacy difficulties
Difficulties with literacy development may include:

Difficulty with phonological awareness (the ability to recognise and manipulate sounds and syllables in words). Phonological awareness is a skill that is fundamental to the later development of making connections between printed letters and the sounds they represent.
Difficulty with letter-sound correspondence: knowing what sound each letter makes
Difficulty with decoding unfamiliar words
Difficulty recognising sight words
Difficulty with reading comprehension
Difficulty with spelling
Difficulty with reading fluency (reading smoothly and automatically)
A diagnosis of dyslexia

Westwood, P (2001). Reading and learning difficulties: Approaches to teaching and assessment. Camberwell, Victoria, Australian Council for Educational Research Ltd.

8. AAC (Augmentative & Alternative Communication) | top

Training in AAC can be provided in individual sessions or to groups. This may include:

Key word signing
Communication boards (pointing to pictures on a board or in a book to communicate)
Technology & devices (using low or high tech communication devices to communicate)

9. Auditory Processing | top

Coming Soon.