We currently have appointments available for Speech Therapy in these locations:

• Albury
• Sydney (Hillsdale)

Speech Therapy services

Improved outcomes for communicating, eating and drinking.

Achieve your communication or mealtime goals

It’s important to be able to express yourself and feel like you’re being understood, whether that’s verbally or in other ways that work for you. And when you feel safe and comfortable eating food you love, mealtimes become enjoyable and stress-free. If you have communication or mealtime goals you’d like to achieve, our experienced speech pathologists can give you the support you need. It’s frustrating when you can’t express yourself and feel like you’re being misunderstood. Or if you have difficulty swallowing and eating, it makes daily life more challenging than it should be. By getting the right support, you can achieve your communication or mealtime goals, and improve your experience of everyday life.

Our team works with children and adults who have difficulty with communication, eating and drinking. If mealtimes are challenging, we can make changes to the textures of the food or drink that you have issues consuming, and make sure you’re swallowing safely. Or perhaps you’re a fussy eater and want to make mealtimes something you look forward to.

For communication, you can develop your speech and language abilities. You’ll be able to make your needs and wants known, ask and understand questions, and confidently respond. We’ll focus on verbal skills if appropriate, but of course communication is more than just speech. We can support you with Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), which will give you the tools you need to be understood.

Developing social skills will also assist you in your communication goals. For children, you can practice your play skills, sharing, and taking turns. Teens and adults can build confidence in making friends, using online platforms to communicate with others, and becoming an active part of your workplace and everyday life.

How our speech therapy services can support you

We’ll look at your individual situation, establish the desired outcomes, and apply the right strategies to achieve those outcomes.

Communicate with others
Communicating with others and being understood is important. With a speech pathologist you can build your communication skills including:

• Learning to speak clearly and be understood by others
• Working on stuttering so you can speak smoothly
• Understanding what your voice sounds like and its volume. Our clinicians are qualified in Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT)
• Building language skills to better understand others and putting ideas and thoughts together. Our clinicians are qualified in the Hanen approach
• Using different forms of communication with Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), for example communication boards, technology, and Key Word Sign
• Improving your literacy with reading, spelling and written expression

Manage swallowing difficulties
A swallowing problem can happen at any stage of life. We’ll work with you to understand the signs and symptoms of swallowing difficulties. These can include:

• A feeling that food or drink gets stuck in your throat or is going down the wrong way
• Long meal times or eating slowly
• Coughing, choking or frequent throat clearing during or after eating and drinking
• Becoming short of breath or your breathing changes when eating and drinking
• Avoiding certain foods because they’re difficult to swallow
• Unplanned weight loss or failing to put on weight because you avoid foods or find it hard to eat

Build your independence
Build your skills to create a more independent life. These skills might include:

• Practising ordering food, either verbally, using pictures, or Augmentative and Alternative Communication
• Confidently asking and answering questions
• Working on your play or social skills so you can interact with others, make friends and maintain friendships
• Assistance at mealtimes to make sure you can eat safely and comfortably

Strategies tailored for you
We can provide one-on-one sessions to develop your skills, with a parent or caregiver present. The therapies learned can then be applied in the relevant environment, for example by a parent at home, or a teacher at school.

In consultative sessions we’ll work with your support people, like your supervisor in the workplace, or a teacher in an educational setting. Our speech pathologist will provide strategies to your team, which they can then use to support you. These strategies could be delivered face-to-face, over the phone, in emails or handouts. Better results come with consistent, daily practice in the right environment. Your caregiver, teacher or accommodation staff member can continue to work with you outside of sessions with a speech therapist to reach your desired outcomes sooner.

Get more time and support to achieve your goals
You can achieve your goals faster by working with an Allied Health Assistant (AHA). An AHA works under the guidance of your speech therapist, supporting the program your therapist has created for you. The affordability of an AHA gives you more time to work on your goals. Our AHA’s are either qualified with a Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistant, studying their undergraduate degree to become Allied Health Professionals, or both.

Like to find out more about how our speech therapy services can support you to reach your goals? Get in touch with our friendly team today.