Assisting Children Through Paediatric Speech Pathology
Our team of dedicated Paediatric Speech Pathologists assists children in communicating effectively and more independently, supporting safe eating and drinking at home, school, or the community. Whether through verbal language, gestures, or communication devices, we aim to enhance each child’s ability to express themselves confidently. Our Speech Pathology team offers comprehensive evaluations, targeted treatments and supplementary services for communication, speech sound and feeding difficulties. Our team focuses on improving a child’s communication skills and positively influencing their social interactions, academic achievements, and self-esteem. We ensure strategies are in place for your child to learn optimal eating and drinking skills, supporting overall health, safety and development, and increased independence during mealtimes.
How Our Paediatric Speech Pathologists Can Help
South West Kids Clinic provides a comprehensive range of Speech Pathology services for children. Our goal is to address various communication, speech sound, and feeding challenges through innovative and effective therapies that work actively alongside the family and the child’s therapy and medical team to ensure that strategies are achievable and allow families to take control of their child’s progress.
Here is how we can help:
Accelerate Understanding and Use of Language
We implement strategies and techniques that boost language acquisition, helping children understand and use age-appropriate language effectively in their daily lives. Our team thoroughly assesses children’s underlying language skills and foundational areas of learning to determine strengths and difficulties tailored to each child. This allows our team to set goals that reflect the family and child’s needs.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
Our Speech Pathologists use the latest evidence to assess, trial, and implement Assistive Technology to enhance a child’s independent communication. We explore various AAC options and collaborate with equipment providers to find the best support, ensuring effective home, school, and community communication. Additionally, we work with families, educators, and others to support and train them in using AAC, ensuring these tools are seamlessly integrated into the child’s life.
Speech Sound Development
Our therapists are well-versed in typical speech sound development and identifying and treating complex speech disorders by following the latest evidence and using the most effective treatment methods. Our therapies are aimed at helping children learn and correctly articulate age-appropriate speech sounds and providing tailored programs to establish optimal clarity of speech so children can be more independently understood in all aspects of their lives.
Individualised Goals
At South West Kids Clinic, each child’s therapy plan is customised in collaboration with the family to create personalised therapy goals that cater to their unique needs and potential for growth. Our team also works alongside a child’s family, therapy team, educators, and medical professionals as part of their intervention to ensure that a child’s needs are understood holistically and to support the best therapeutic outcomes for each child.
Stuttering and Fluency Intervention
Our team understands that fluency disorders can impact a child’s whole life. We work with the most suitable techniques for each child to confidently use their voice. We provide individualised treatment approaches to manage and treat stuttering, focusing on improving fluency and boosting the child’s confidence in speaking.
Dysphagia Intervention
Our Feeding Speech Pathologists work with children with Paediatric Dysphagia to learn vital eating and drinking skills so that they can participate with the most independence possible to eat with their friends and family while maintaining safety. Speech Pathologists at South West Kids Clinic work on this in the following ways:
- Our Speech Pathologists work closely with a child’s medical team to ensure that crucial referrals are made or that further investigations, such as Videofluoroscopic Swallow Studies or nasendoscopy, are conducted to explore airway safety.
- Oral Motor Examination: At a child’s first appointment or assessment, our Speech Pathologists examine oral motor skills and difficulties to identify causes of difficulty eating, drinking, and swallowing. Once our team understands oral motor skills, it tailors therapy to build strength, reduce risks, and support independent skills during meals and snacks.
- Optimising Mealtimes: We tailor food textures and types to suit each child’s developmental stage and swallowing capabilities, ensuring that mealtimes support their overall health and therapy goals. Our team also works with families to ensure foods work within their typical diet and schedule and to promote family participation during meals.
- Prescribing Equipment and Foods: We prescribe adaptive equipment and special foods where necessary to facilitate safer and more effective eating practices. This can include thickened liquids, special cutlery to support self-feeding, or cups that allow safe water drinking. Our team works alongside other therapy disciplines (Occupational Therapy or Dietetics) to ensure that strategies work with the child’s underlying skills or nutritional needs.
- Create Positive Mealtime Experiences: Our Speech Pathologists work to create enjoyable and stress-free mealtime routines, assisting families in managing and improving the dining experience and focusing on fun and connection during mealtimes. Our therapists support families in following Responsive Feeding Practices to enable children’s curiosity and interest in foods and mealtimes and take the stress out of the family’s routine.
Our Children’s Speech Pathology Treatment Techniques
At South West Kids Clinic, our approach to children’s Speech Pathology centres on creating a supportive and engaging environment where children can thrive. Here’s how we ensure effective and personalised treatment:
HANEN
The HANEN program focuses on coaching parents to be their child’s most crucial language teachers and facilitating parents’ ability to identify and respond to different forms of communication. The strategies and resources within this program teach parents how to boost their child’s language skills in their family’s existing daily activities, focusing on fun and child-led interaction.
Learn To Play/Play-based Therapy
This approach harnesses the power of play to support language development, social skills, and play development. Play-based therapy provides a natural, fun environment for children to learn communication skills while engaging in meaningful play activities. Our team understands the importance of play and the neuroscience behind making therapy play-based and joyful – plus, children love it!
Augmentative and Alternative Communication AAC
We assess, trial and implement augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems personalised to the child and their skills to allow them to communicate to the best of their ability. We also educate and support families, educators, and others on the child’s team to implement their AAC system in all the child’s environments and daily activities. Our Speech Pathologists work closely with equipment providers and technical specialists to trial and implement AAC systems to suit various physical and neurological needs – such as eye gaze devices or alternative access systems.
Switch Access Methods
This particular type of AAC allows children with significant physical difficulties to communicate by activating buttons with a body part they can comfortably control. The switches may be connected to other communication devices, toys, or household appliances, allowing the child to communicate, play, and be more independent in their environment. Our team works closely with a child’s therapy team to ensure that systems are customised to each child’s skills and personal communication goals.
DTTC - Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing
This method is used for children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech and helps them plan the mouth movements required for speech. In conjunction with individualised cueing, specific words are selected for practice to target the speech movement patterns that the child has difficulty producing.
ReST - Rapid Syllable Transition Treatment
ReST is a treatment for children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech and some children with dysarthria or significant phonological disorders. It teaches children to coordinate new speech movements in words and involves practising them rapidly to achieve more accurate speech. Our Speech Pathologists tailor each ReST program to each child to ensure success and progress.
Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness describes a child’s ability to identify and understand speech sounds as part of typical development. Our Speech Pathologists can assess and determine the presence of atypical or delayed phonological development and treat difficulties using a wide range of techniques in therapy before problems begin to impact social interaction or literacy at schools. Our techniques range from sound awareness to discrimination to blending and manipulating sounds to strengthen a child’s phonological system and later literacy skills.
PROMPT
PROMPT (PROMPTS for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets) therapy involves physical manipulation of the child’s jaw, lips, and tongue to teach the correct movements for speech sounds. This treatment is typically used to assist children with motor speech disorders in learning to express words of importance clearly to the child and their family.
Lidcombe Program
The Lidcombe Program is a behavioural treatment for young children who stutter. It involves parents providing feedback on speech fluency in a supportive, positive way to reduce stuttering. Our therapists train families to implement the program at home while engaged in a structured therapy plan until stutter-free speech is achieved.
Fluency Intervention
In addition to the Lidcombe program, our therapists use various techniques to facilitate stutter-free speech or ideal fluency for each child. Our techniques also involve working closely with psychologists, as we know the impact that stuttering can have on children and their families. Our team assesses the child’s stutter, their attitudes towards stuttering, and its overall effect on a child’s life to tailor programs to achieve the smoothest speech possible and get children to use their voices with confidence.
Responsive Feeding Practices (RFP)
Mealtimes with a child with dysphagia or restricted eating can be significantly stressful for the child and family. Our therapists follow RFP to support families in building positive mealtime habits, fostering children’s interest in foods, and reducing family stress around mealtimes.
Developmental Food Continuum
Our Speech Pathologists understand that food refusal or restrictive eating can be due to more than just behaviour. We assess a child’s oral motor skills and overall development to determine the safest foods to support biting, chewing, and swallowing. We also identify foods to develop strength and coordination when eating. This approach supports children in progressing through various textures and types of solid foods, adapting as their feeding skills and preferences evolve.
STEPS+ Program
STEPS+ (Supportive Treatment of Eating in PreschoolerS) is a structured approach to feeding intervention that includes trauma-informed practices when working with children who have dysphagia alongside food-refusal or avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). The STEPS+ approach supports parents in decreasing stress, creating routine, building enjoyment during meals and developing oral motor skills in children.
Pacing Methods
We coach families on how to use paced feeding for infants who bottle feed. This helps manage the milk flow and the infant’s intake, ensuring they can feed safely and comfortably. This can be done through positioning, teat flow trialling, or formula thickening to ensure that infants can safely and comfortably feed and meet their nutritional needs. Our Speech Pathologists work closely with a child’s medical and therapeutic team to ensure that all underlying medical or postural needs are understood and supported.
Division of Responsibility Method
In our feeding intervention, we strive to make mealtimes less stressful so families can enjoy this crucial part of the day together while developing age-expected skills. This method acknowledges the roles of children and caregivers during mealtimes, with caregivers deciding what and when to offer food and children being encouraged to listen to their hunger and fullness cues.
Join us at South West Kids Clinic!
Enquire today and let the adventure begin!
Frequently asked questions
What qualifications and experience do your Speech Pathologists have?
Our Speech Pathologists all hold Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees in Speech Pathology and are members of Speech Pathology Australia. They have extensive experience working with children of all ages and a wide range of speech and language disorders, including Paediatric Dysphagia. Our team stays current with the latest research and techniques through ongoing professional development and continuing education.
What can I expect during a typical therapy session?
During a typical therapy session, your child will engage in various activities to target their specific speech and language goals. These sessions often include interactive games, structured exercises, and play-based activities to make learning enjoyable and effective. The therapist will use evidence-based techniques to work on skills your child needs to develop and generalise. Sessions are tailored to your child’s interests, ensuring they stay motivated and engaged. Our therapists value your expertise on your child and will work closely with parents to ensure the home practice is achievable and fun to implement at home.
How do the Speech Pathologist and Dietitian work together to help feed my child?
Our Speech Pathologists and Dietitians collaborate to address the oral-motor and nutritional aspects of feeding. This integrated approach ensures that your child receives holistic support, enhancing their ability to meet feeding milestones and growth targets. Working together guarantees your child gets the most effective and coordinated care possible.
What ages do you work with?
We provide Speech Pathology for children from infancy through adolescence, tailoring our approach to each age group’s specific developmental needs.
How often will my child need paediatric Speech Pathology?
The frequency of therapy sessions is determined based on your child’s needs and the goals established during the assessment phase. Some of our kids are seen very infrequently based on the required intervention type. Some are seen only for equipment, and others are seen for intensive intervention several times weekly.
What can I do to support my child’s progress in paediatric Speech Pathology?
Practice of therapy tasks at home is crucial, and we include parents in therapy as soon as the therapy journey begins. We provide families with strategies, activities, and training in specific techniques at home so that children can reinforce the skills learned during therapy sessions and fully meet their goals. We value parents’ role in a child’s everyday life and work closely alongside parents at each step of the therapy process.
Where are you located?
Our clinic, including our paediatric Speech Pathologists, is in South West Sydney.
