Speech Therapist

A Speech and Language Therapist will become one of a group of therapists involved with the regular, on going, care of your affected child.

A Speech and Language Therapist will evaluate and assess your child’s skills for:

• speech
• language
• communication

They will work on speech development helping an affected child to overcome their communication difficulties with:

• problem specific therapy
• augmentative communication
• assessments for assistive technology - devices such as text-to-speech screen readers, alternative keyboards and mice, head pointing devices, voice recognition software, and screen magnification software etc…

A Speech and Language Therapist will also assess and manage difficulties with eating and swallowing by:

• improving posture and seating
• recommend specialist feeding equipment
• recommend assessment by a Feeding Specialist - if necessary.

Please click on ‘Feeding’ for more information on this subject.

It is very important that therapists are experienced with chronically ill children and are readily contactable.  They need to be prepared to listen, trust your instincts and willing to collaborate with other professionals involved with your child.

A therapist should provide a written report of their findings after each assessment (not each session). These can be copied to all those involved with the handling and care of an affected child and provide information and techniques needed for carers to adopt on a day-to-day basis. 

These reports also help to monitor long-term improvements (or worsening) of an affected child’s state and therefore should also be copied to the Medical Professionals also involved with your child.