How Can Our North Brisbane Speech Pathologists Help?
Early identification and intervention of communication challenges are essential for helping children learn effectively, build positive relationships, and thrive. At Beam Health’s Kedron clinic, our Speech Pathologists take a holistic approach, working closely with children, their families, and relevant health and educational professionals to support the development of speech, language, and communication skills.
We provide a comprehensive range of services at our Kedron clinic, including screening, assessment, and tailored intervention. Our support extends beyond the clinic, offering services in the home and at school to ensure consistent care in all aspects of your child’s life. Additionally, we run workshops and group programs designed to educate and empower parents, children, and professionals.
For added convenience, we also offer online speech pathology services through telehealth and private video sessions. NDIS and Medicare funding may be available to assist with accessing our services.
We can help in the following areas:
Articulation involves the way we form speech sounds using our tongue, lips, teeth, jaw, and vocal cords. As children grow, they naturally learn to produce these sounds, with different sounds developing at expected ages. It’s normal for young children to make speech errors as they develop; however, if these errors persist beyond the typical age, your child may have a speech sound delay.
Speech sound delays can manifest as articulation errors (difficulty in producing a specific sound) or phonological process errors (challenges with sound patterns). These delays may stem from various factors such as hearing issues, a history of ear infections, or even family history. Sometimes, children might have learned incorrect patterns for speech sound production. If your child is hard to understand compared to peers their age, they could be experiencing a speech sound delay.
At Beam Health Kedron, we can assess your child to pinpoint the cause of their speech difficulties and develop an intervention plan tailored to your child and family. This plan may include regular therapy sessions and activities you can practice with your child at home. With appropriate speech therapy, many children with articulation or phonological concerns show significant improvement in their speech.
Language is how we understand and use words to convey ideas, feelings, desires, thoughts, and information. It encompasses several components, including:
- The meaning of words
- Grammar to create meaning
- Combining words into sentences
- Using and selecting language appropriate to the situation
Children may struggle with various aspects of communication, such as receptive or expressive language, speech sounds, and social communication.
Receptive Language refers to a child’s ability to understand and process spoken or written language. As children grow, their receptive language skills develop. Signs of difficulties in this area may include:
- Trouble following directions
- Difficulty answering questions
- Struggles with understanding complex sentences
- Challenges with understanding figurative language, such as similes, metaphors, humour, and sarcasm
- Repeating back what is said to them
- Seeming to ignore or not listen
- Falling behind classmates academically or socially
- Behavioral issues, such as acting out in class due to frustration
- Easily distracted or not fully engaged during conversations or stories
- Appearing forgetful, like only completing part of an instruction
Expressive Language involves a child’s ability to express themselves and convey meaning, usually through speaking or writing, but it can also include non-verbal methods like signing or using communication aids. As children mature, they learn to form sentences, using correct word order, vocabulary, and grammar. Expressive language challenges differ from speech sound difficulties, as they relate to how a child shares meaning, not how they pronounce words.
Signs of expressive language difficulties may include:
- Poor sentence structure or grammar
- Limited vocabulary and content in speech
- Confused meaning and grammatical errors
- Tendency to use short, simple sentences
- Difficulty conveying a message clearly
- Trouble starting or maintaining conversations
- Difficulty recalling or retelling information
- Struggles with oral and written tasks, such as narratives or assignments
- Difficulty finding the right words
- Difficulty being understood by unfamiliar people
If you’re concerned about your child’s language development, our speech pathologists in North Bribane can assess whether they are experiencing challenges with receptive and/or expressive language. Our private online video sessions offer a convenient way to support your child, especially during the COVID-19 period. A formal language assessment will identify your child’s specific development areas and strengths, allowing us to plan targeted interventions.
Some children benefit from one-on-one therapy to enhance specific language skills, which can be provided at our clinic, at home, or in school. School-based language intervention helps your child apply these skills in their learning environment, maximizing participation and engagement.
Literacy encompasses the ability to read, write, and spell. From a young age, children begin to develop language skills by learning to say sounds, combine them into words, and use these words to express thoughts and emotions. These foundational speech and language abilities are crucial for later success in reading, writing, and spelling. Reading involves understanding the meaning behind written words, while spelling is the ability to arrange letters to form words that convey specific meanings.
When children struggle with reading, writing, and spelling, it can significantly affect their school experience, academic performance, participation, self-esteem, and confidence. Some signs that your child might be facing literacy challenges include:
- Mispronouncing letters or words
- Confusing or struggling to differentiate similar sounds
- Difficulty understanding or remembering what they have read
- Guessing words based on shape or the first letter
- Skipping words while reading
- Forgetting how to spell familiar words
- Finding writing to be slow and tiring
- Disliking reading and writing, often trying to avoid these tasks
At Beam Health Kedron, we offer support for children experiencing difficulties with literacy. Through assessment and tailored intervention, we help develop essential reading, writing, and spelling skills. We also collaborate with your child’s teacher to create a more supportive learning environment. Since reading difficulties typically persist without intervention, it’s crucial to teach children the necessary skills and strategies to decode and understand what they read. For families who cannot visit in person, we offer telehealth psychology and online services, ensuring access to help regardless of your location.
Reading, writing, and spelling can be challenging, but our team is here to assist.
Functional communication is how individuals express their needs, wants, feelings, and preferences in a way that others can understand. This could include messages like “I want that,” “I’m hurt,” “I need to use the bathroom,” or “No, I don’t want to.”
For most children, functional communication begins in their first year of life with gestures, followed by spoken words, and later, simple sentences. However, children with speech and language delays or additional needs may develop functional communication later. In some cases, they may need alternative methods to communicate effectively, such as gestures, verbalizations, signs, pictures, or communication devices, collectively known as Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) aids. Developing strong functional communication skills is essential for children to express their basic needs, make choices, and increase their independence.
At Beam Health Kedron, we recognize that each child is unique, and a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for successful functional communication. Our Speech Pathologists collaborate closely with families to understand your child’s communication needs, strengths, and preferences. This allows us to create an individualized, multi-modal communication system. We also work with your child’s network to ensure consistent support for functional communication across different settings. Our Brisbane Psychologists provide a confidential telehealth service, enabling access to care wherever you are in Australia.
Social communication involves using language in social contexts, including how we interact with others, understand social cues, process language, and follow conversational rules (known as pragmatics). We learn when and how to talk to different people, adjusting our language based on the situation. For instance, we use different tones and words when speaking to friends compared to teachers, and we use facial expressions or gestures to convey emotions. Understanding and following these rules make social interactions smoother.
Key social communication skills include:
- Using language for various purposes (e.g., making requests like “Can I have a cookie, please?”)
- Adjusting language based on the listener or situation (e.g., speaking differently in a classroom versus on a playground)
- Following conversational and storytelling rules (e.g., taking turns in a conversation)
As children develop, they naturally learn these social communication rules. However, some children may struggle with these aspects, making it challenging to interact with others and form friendships. Social communication difficulties may also co-occur with other challenges, such as speech, language, or learning difficulties.
At Beam Health Kedron, we support children with social communication challenges. We can assess your child’s speech and language skills and help them learn to use language effectively in various social situations. Our interventions can take place at the clinic, at home, or at school, allowing your child to practice their skills in real-life settings. We also offer social skills groups where children can develop their social communication abilities alongside peers of the same age.
Fluency refers to the smooth flow of sounds, syllables, words, and phrases during speech. A fluency disorder, commonly known as stuttering, disrupts this smooth flow. Common characteristics of stuttering include:
- Repeating sounds or syllables, like “I-I-I-I can do it.”
- Prolonging sounds, such as “Where is my ssssister?”
- Blocking sounds, where a child tries to speak but no sound comes out
- Breaking up words, like “mon…key.”
Some children may also develop non-verbal behaviors, such as head movements or blinking, associated with their stuttering. Fluency disorders may disrupt the normal rhythm of speech.
If you’re concerned about your child’s fluency, our Speech Pathologists in Brisbane are here to help. We can assess your child’s speech and recommend any necessary therapy to support their communication.
