My Services

 

 

Assessment and therapy is offered to children aged 18 months – 10 years predominantly from Samantha’s home and if required, a home and/or nursery or school visit can be arranged to observe the child in these environments and to liaise with school staff. This begins with a free telephone consultation to discuss your concerns and the difficulties your child is experiencing. Therapy options suitable for your child will be discussed, including information about fees. A copy of the contract (including fees) is available on request. If you decide you would like schedule an initial assessment, this will be arranged. In some cases, it will be beneficial to observe your child at their nursery / school environment as well.

 

Initial Assessment


Therapy is offered at the therapist’s home. Sessions last 60-90 minutes; depending on your child’s needs this may be 30-45 with the child and the rest of the time is spent with you to discuss strategies.

Regular homework practice will be a compulsory addition to any therapy programme, providing you and your child with practical ideas to share and enjoy together within the routine of home life and in “special time” together.

 

Depending on the needs of your child, therapy may take the form of weekly, fortnightly, or monthly sessions. Therapy may involve working directly with the child, or in some cases may involve working with the parents, school staff and local NHS therapy services to achieve the best possible communication environment for the child.


Therapy


Therapy is offered at the therapist’s home. However, home, nursery / school visits can be arranged. Sessions last up to 60 minutes; depending on your child’s needs this may be 30-45 minutes with the child and up to 15 minutes with you to discuss strategies and carry-over activities for homework. Regular homework practice will be a compulsory addition to any therapy programme, providing you and your child with practical ideas to share and enjoy together within the routine of home life and in “special time” together.

Depending on the needs of your child, therapy may take the form of weekly, fortnightly, or monthly sessions. Therapy may involve working directly with the child, or in some cases may involve working with the parents, school staff and local NHS therapy services to achieve the best possible communication environment for the child.


Nursery and school based support


Effective communication with education colleagues is essential in ensuring your child’s needs are met at nursery / school, in a group environment amongst their peers. It also ensures their skills generalize across settings. Support is therefore offered to the teacher to help promote your child’s skills and facilitate their areas of need. This may take the form of strategies or Individual Education Plan Targets.

 

Liaison with other Professionals


With your permission, I may also need to contact NHS colleagues, education staff and/or other professionals in your child’s life. This is an important relationship that will provide a holistic understanding of your child’s difficulties and needs. It also facilitates working in harmony to ensure your child’s needs are being fully met.

 

TYPES OF INTERVENTIONS OFFERED

 

Samantha specialises in speech sound production difficulties, including Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) & has received extensive pre-certification training in Orofacial Myology. Her areas of expertise include:

  • Delayed / disordered speech production (unclear speech sounds)
  • Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)
  • Oro-motor difficulties (weakness of tongue, lips and palate) – Talk Tools
  • Oral Facial Myology – Oromyofunctional disorders refers to abnormal resting posture of the orofacial musculature (lips, tongue); atypical chewing and swallowing patterns; dental malocclusions; compromised airway. These patterns interfere with normal growth, development, or function of orofacial structures, or call attention to themselves (Hanson & Mason 2003)
  • Delayed / Disordered Language including:
    • Understanding spoken instructions
    • Putting words into sentences
    • Using grammar accurately
    • Memory
    • Difficulties understanding meaning relationships (word finding difficulties) and vocabulary development
    • Sequencing sentences and narrative
    • Conceptual language, Inference and deduction<
Please note Samantha does not treat the following areas:

  • Autism
  • Stammering/Cluttering/Dysfluency
  • Voice
  • Dysphagia (feeding difficulties)
  • Learning Difficulties relating to global delay and specific syndromes
  • Literacy and Reading
  • Dyslexia and Dyscalculia
  • Secondary Age Children – unless speech sound production difficulty

 

SPECIALIST SERVICES

 

  • PROMPT (Level 2 Bridging) Trained as of Dec 2015 - a systematic manipulation of tactual-kinaesthetic-proprioceptive input to Oro-motor structures for changing speech targets in children with severe motor impairment and apraxia of speech. (Https://www.promptinstitute.com)
  • Talk Tools Level 1 trained as of Nov 2006 (https://www.talktools.com)
  • Dynamic Temporal & Tactile Cuing (DTTC) for severe CAS as of April 2022 trained by Edith Strand the creator of the technique. (https://childapraxiatreatment.org/dttc/)
  • Orofacial Myology precertification training as of May 2022 under the International Association of of Orofacial Myology (IAOM) (https://www.iaom.com/)

 

 

'Providing you and your child with practical ideas to share and enjoy together
within the routine of home life and in “special time” together.' Contact me today



Call me today on 0208 3816227
Email: info@speechtherapyhertfordshire.co.uk