Christmas is the season of gift-giving and what better time than now to take the opportunity to purchase gifts that can assist your child or loved one with their language development? Erin, one of our resident Speech Pathologists, has put together her list of perfect gift ideas to do just this! Check out the list…
Top 10 Christmas Gifts to Promote Language Development
Communication Disorders in Adults
What is a communication disorder? A communication disorder is a broad term that is used to indicate a range of difficulties that makes it hard for an individual to get his/her wants or needs across. It can be the difficulty in producing sounds and then sequencing them in words appropriately, a difficulty understanding what is asked of…
Reading Difficulties
Reading difficulties can occur for a wide range of reasons and can affect people of all ages. Reading is important for: learning new words developing language understanding learning about the world developing imagination assisting with academic achievement. In the early years of schooling, it is important for children to develop the ability to correctly read…
“Coaching children through their feelings- What can I do when my child experiences big emotions?”
When your child experiences big emotions, it can often feel overwhelming and upsetting. However, whilst difficult, these moments can be an important learning opportunity for children, which form the building blocks for effective emotion regulation throughout their lifetime! What is emotion coaching? “Emotion coaching” is a communication approach which supports children to be aware…
Fussy Eating: When is it a Problem?
Many parents will have difficulty trying to get their children to eat a range of different foods. Children will often have favourite foods and food preferences which can result in parents making a meal that is different from the rest of the family. Up to 50% of children will refuse to try 50% of new foods, so if your child…
Autism – Who can Diagnose and What You Need to Look For
We are receiving a lot of questions regarding the new guidelines for getting a diagnosis for Autism. The rules around who can diagnose or who is qualified have not changed, but what has changed are the best practice guidelines for a diagnosis, and the criteria a lot of funding bodies (e.g. NDIS & Centrelink) will accept…
Why Do Services Charge a Cancellation Fee?
You will find most services, whether they be specialist medical professionals, hairdressers or therapy services, usually charge a cancellation fee. One of the things I was most surprised about when I started working in private practice, was the number of cancellations each week. In general, most therapy services have a 10% to 30% cancellation rate a week. Sometimes even higher! Cancellations…
Important Information Regarding the Medicare and NDIS Systems
Many NDIS participants are coming to us saying their Psychology sessions are no longer being funded or funding has been reduced. Many have been told to pursue the mental health care plan pathway using the Medicare system. However, NDIS has never funded psychological therapy, it has always been under ‘capacity building’. So, what is the difference between these two options and what does this mean…
When All You Want is a Good Night Sleep
The average person spends about one-third of their life asleep! In fact, sleep Is the one activity you spend the most doing in your life Seems like such a waste when there is so much to do. However, if you have ever had a small child, or suffered from insomnia yourself you realise that sleeping…
Speech Disorder Vs. Language Disorder
My child is having trouble with their SPEECH! My child is having trouble with their LANGUAGE! These 2 sentences may appear to mean the same thing, but to a speech pathologist, they are worlds apart. So how do I describe what I am noticing? What is a language disorder? Is when a child is having…