Services for ages 18 months to 16
What I help with
Most parents arrive with a worry, not a diagnosis. Start with what you are noticing, and I will point you to the part of children's speech therapy that fits.
What does a paediatric speech therapist help with?
Quite a lot, and the headings overlap. A child who is hard to understand may also find feeding tricky. An autistic child may learn language in chunks and use an app some of the time. So think of the pages below as signposts. Your child doesn't need to fit into any of them.
Everything starts the same way: I look at how your child communicates now, what they enjoy, and what gets in the way. Then we decide together what is worth working on. Sessions happen at my clinic in Wanstead, or at your child's nursery or school.
What are you noticing?
Language and communication
Children who are slow to talk, put few words together or find instructions hard.
Read more about Language and communication
Autism and social communication
Neurodiversity-affirming support for autistic children and social communication needs.
Read more about Autism and social communication
Selective mutism
For children who talk at home and freeze at school or elsewhere.
Read more about Selective mutism
Speech sounds and apraxia
For children who are hard to understand, including childhood apraxia of speech.
Read more about Speech sounds and apraxia
Feeding
Gagging, texture worries and a very small range of foods.
Read more about Feeding
Oral motor skills
Dribbling, chewing and mouth control that affect speech and eating.
Read more about Oral motor skills
Gestalt language processing
For children who learn language in whole chunks: film lines, songs, scripts.
Read more about Gestalt language processing
AAC
Signing, symbols, books or apps for children who don't rely on speech, or not yet.
Read more about AAC
EHCP and tribunal reports
Independent advice for EHC needs assessments, reviews and SEND Tribunal appeals.
Read more about EHCP and tribunal reports
Not sure which one fits?
That is normal, and it is what the free call is for. Fifteen minutes on the phone, you tell me what you are seeing, and I tell you honestly whether I can help and what the first step would be. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
If you would like to think it over first, the "wondering about your child's talking?" checker takes a few minutes. It is not a test, and a child cannot fail it. You do not need a GP referral either way, and seeing me does not take your child off an NHS waiting list. Prices are on the fees page.
Tell me what you are noticing
Book the free call, or send an email if you would rather write it down.