1800GCKIDS
Speech Pathologists
Early Literacy Feeding Skills Speech & Language Communication Following Instructions
How can a Speech Pathologist help?
A Speech Pathologist is a therapist who supports people of all ages to express themselves and understand others, as well as supporting them to participate in mealtimes (through supporting the development of feeding skills and/or managing their swallowing ability).
Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) is the registration body for Speech Pathologists. Our Speech Pathologists at Gold Coast Kids Therapy are all registered with SPA and take ongoing professional development to maintain this registration.
Our Paediatric Speech Pathologists can support your child in a range of areas including:
SpeechHow your child says their sounds. They may make errors such as saying “tat” for cat, or have trouble clearly pronouncing a particular sound.
LanguageYour child’s ability to use and understand words and sentences. Your child might not be using words to communicate, are using words but missing the ‘little words’ in a sentence (such as ‘the’ ‘a’ or ‘is’), or have trouble understanding instructions.
Alternative communicationIf your child is not yet talking or is unable to clearly communicate, your Speech Pathologist may introduce different forms of communication, such as sign language or pictures / symbols, to support them to express their wants and needs.
LiteracyReading and writing. Your child may be having trouble learning the sounds and letters, or are unable to decode words making reading challenging.
FluencyThis refers to ‘stuttering’. They may be repeating sounds, syllables, or whole words, and seem to be getting really ‘stuck’ on a word when trying to speak.
FeedingIf you child is having difficulty transitioning to solids, chewing hard foods, or eating certain textures, our Speech Pathologists can support your child to develop their chewing skills and increase the variety of foods they are able to eat.
What does a Speech Pathology session look like?
Therapy sessions are individualised based on your child’s developmental skills and what the therapy goals are. Your child may be engaged in play-based activities designed to increase their vocabulary, table top activities with a high level of repetition to target a speech sound or language goal, or ‘picnics’ when we are supporting feeding. Games may be used alongside, or as part of activities to keep your child engaged. Parents and carers will participate in the sessions and be coached by their Speech Pathologist, so that they become confident in supporting their child’s development and completing the home activities.
When is it recommended your child see a Speech Pathologist?
If you have any concerns with your child’s ability to talk clearly, understand others, or participate in mealtimes, your child may benefit from an initial assessment. In addition to the examples above, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is your child able to easily express their wants and needs?
- Are you and other family members able to understand them?
- Are less familiar people able to understand them?
- Does your child follow instructions?
- Do they look confused or only complete 1 step and not the rest?
SPA have a number of resources freely available on their website, including key communication milestones and ‘red flags’ which may indicate that your child would benefit from an assessment by a Speech Pathologist. You can access these via the resources page.
Ellen
Speech Pathologist
Meet Ellen
Masters in Speech Pathology
Who are our team of Speech Pathologists?
Our team consists of Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologist, Physiotherapists, and Administration Officer.