Speech & Language Therapy

Speech and Language Assessments can vary between child and young person.  At SAP, an individualised consultation would determine the best options for your child.  Each assessment is tailored to your child’s age, abilities, and specific areas of concern.   

Assessments can be:

1. Parent/Caregiver Interviews.  This is an opportunity to gather information from parents or caregivers about their child’s communication development, developmental milestones and concerns which provides valuable insights into the child’s communication strengths and needs. 
2. Standardised Language Assessment.  This is a formal assessment designed to measure specific language skills for children aged 6-11 years.  It evaluates various aspects of language abilities in children including auditory comprehension, expressive language including narrative skills, vocabulary, grammar, syntax and also semantic and pragmatic knowledge.  This assessment will identify a child with language differences or used to gather a great deal of information for a child identified with language differences. 
3. Phonological Assessment.  This speech sound assessment tests the child’s speech production by assessing every phoneme, in word initial, word medial and word final positions.  A series of initial speech sound clusters are also tested.  This assessment will identify speech production errors and gather the necessary information to plan therapeutic intervention if required.
4.  Screenings/Non-Standardised Tests.  These assessments are more informal and may include a structured activity assessing language samples, observations, and checklists to assess a wider range of communication skills.  Screenings are often conducted as an initial assessment to identify children who may require more in-depth evaluation for speech and language disorders. 
5. Observational Assessment.  Observing the child or young person in naturalistic settings, e.g. their education setting.  Observing the child or young person allows for play or social interactions to be assessed, which can provide valuable information about their communication skills, including their ability to initiate and maintain conversations, use appropriate gestures and facial expressions, and engage with peers.

If assessment results indicate that speech and language therapy would be beneficial, the next steps and services available are:

1. Setting Therapy goals.  Goals would be set jointly and address the areas of concern identified from the assessment. 
2. Evidence Based Intervention through therapy sessions.  This may include language or communication activities/strategies including visual helpers, parent and child interaction strategies, introduction of AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication including Makaton, Core Vocabulary Boards), Speech production intervention, and/or parent or education coaching/training. The sessions (duration and frequency) would vary dependent on your child’s goals and based on their needs. 
3. Progress Monitoring.  Throughout the intervention process, progress towards goals will be regularly reviewed and monitored.  Therapy plans can be adjusted based on your child’s response to intervention, progress, or changes.  
4. Home Programmes.  If direct intervention is not recommended at present, then we can make an individualised homework plan/strategies for you to work on with your child to improve their readiness for therapy. 
5. Written Report or a Communication profile to support the people close to your child understand their communication strengths and differences.