Assessment, therapy and support
Speech pathology services
Individual assessment, therapy and practical guidance for children, adolescents, families and schools.
Assessments
Clear and comprehensive assessment of your child's communication and learning needs may include:
Speech sound development
Receptive and expressive language
Literacy, reading and spelling
Stuttering
Social communication
Autism-related communication assessment
Every assessment includes practical recommendations for home, kinder or school.
Reports can also be provided for:
Parents
Schools and kindergartens
Paediatricians and other health professionals
Autism diagnostic teams
NDIS and other funding applications, where appropriate
Who it’s for
Speech assessment
For children who are difficult to understand, make persistent speech sound errors or may have childhood apraxia of speech.
Possible assessment types
Speech assessment
For children who are difficult to understand, make persistent speech sound errors or may have childhood apraxia of speech.
Language assessment
For children who have difficulty understanding instructions, using sentences, explaining ideas, telling stories or managing the language demands of school.
Literacy assessment
For children experiencing difficulty with reading, phonological awareness, spelling, written language or possible dyslexia.
Stuttering assessment
For children who repeat sounds or words, stretch sounds, become blocked, or appear tense or worried when speaking.
Social communication and autism-related assessment
For children whose difficulties involve conversation, friendships, flexibility, emotional regulation, understanding other people or managing social expectations.
Therapy
Individual therapy may support children and adolescents experiencing difficulty with:
Speech clarity
Childhood apraxia of speech
Understanding and using language
Reading, spelling and written language
Stuttering
Conversation and social communication
Therapy is tailored to the child's age, personality, strengths and everyday needs.
Older children and adolescents
Mary has extensive experience working with older children and adolescents whose difficulties may be less obvious but still have a significant effect on daily life.
For older students, therapy may include discussing situations that have occurred at school, identifying what was difficult, considering different responses and practising strategies that may help in future situations.
Where appropriate, Mary can also provide recommendations for parents and schools to reduce communication demands, support emotional wellbeing and make transitions more manageable.
Therapy may focus on:
Understanding social situations and other people’s perspectives
Developing conversation and friendship skills
Managing misunderstandings and conflict with peers
Expressing thoughts, feelings and needs more clearly
Recognising how anxiety can affect communication
Building confidence and self-advocacy
Understanding hidden expectations at school
Organising ideas for classroom discussions and written work
Preparing for transitions to secondary school, senior school or further study
Developing greater independence in communication and learning
Autism and social communication
Mary has extensive experience assessing children with social communication differences and characteristics associated with autism. Assessments may be completed with children from approximately two years of age through to adolescence.
Mary has particular experience recognising autism in girls and children who may have learned to appear socially capable while still experiencing significant underlying difficulty.
Mary’s assessment may contribute to a broader autism assessment completed with a paediatrician, psychologist or multidisciplinary diagnostic team.
She has a particular interest in children whose difficulties may be less obvious, including children who:
Use strong or advanced language
Want friendships but struggle to maintain them
Cope well at school but become dysregulated at home
Imitate or mask their difficulties in structured settings
Experience anxiety, inflexible thinking or emotional overload
Have subtle or less stereotypical autistic presentations
Reports and school support
Written reports and practical recommendations that parents, teachers and other professionals can act on.
Assessment reports
A clear written summary of assessment results, what they mean in everyday terms, and recommendations for home, kinder or school.
School support
Recommendations for classroom adjustments, communication demands and transitions, and where helpful, discussion with teachers and support staff.
Working with others
Reports for paediatricians, psychologists, autism diagnostic teams, and for NDIS or other funding applications where appropriate.
Not sure which service your child needs?
Get in touch and Mary will talk through your concerns and suggest a sensible place to start.