A lovely article written by a parent of a preschool child, working together to understand how to help the family develop their pre-school child's communication.
I just wanted to say that Lorna is a fantastic speech therapist. G. connected with her straight away and we could see results even after her first visit. I am so happy to say that G. has progressed so much with his speech and language thanks to Lorna's help. She's great :)
Parent of child with language delay working with Lorna.
Last spring, I was completely worried about F's speech. Lots of people told me he'd outgrow it and it would be fine but I could tell it wasn't going to be as easy as that. I can't thank you enough! I'm just so grateful for everthing you have done to help him. I am amazed at his progress and that's all down to you. I think I cried when he was finally able to say his own name! He's much more confident and it's nice that he just wants to chat now (and ask lots of questions!). All the games you've created have been so fun and he's loved the praise and encouragement you have given him too.
Everyone we've seen recently has said how much F has improved and it's only been a few months! We've been to the park today with a friend who he hasn't seen for a long time. He'd usually hit out and get cross with anyone that didn't understand him but today he was confident to speak to him and was able to engage in conversation, which just made it so much more enjoyable for him. I could tell from his little face he was pleased with himself. You really have been brilliant!
Parent of a preschool child with speech difficulties working with Lorna.
We first contacted Debbie when we had concerns regarding our child's lack of speech. We felt there was too little support available from local services. Since Debbie has been involved we now have a happy and content child who can communicate. The support she offered us not only helped our child immensely but she taught us so much which has empowered us to confidently support our child both at home and at school. Debbie gave us the skills to unlock our child's communication. Her passion for SLT is infectious and she takes such joy in every milestone our child reaches. She is a joy to work with and we can't recommend her enough.
Parent of preschool child with autism working with Debbie.
My daughter has selective mutism and I knew I had to find a therapist she could feel really comfortable and relaxed with if therapy were to be effective. I knew when I met Debbie she was the right person, and she quickly built trust and a great rapport with my daughter with her warmth, empathy and humour. It was amazing to see my daughter, who sometimes can't speak to people she doesn't know at all, giggling with Debbie after just a few sessions!
Debbie has a wealth of knowledge in speech and language, and is able to use this knowledge to pull together the right games and exercises to help the child while keeping the sessions fun and interesting. She is also very organised and efficient - sending me a plan before each session as well as a summary of next steps afterwards, so the therapy always felt purposeful and focused. Highly recommended - my daughter has made really good progress during the course of therapy with Debbie.
Parent of school aged child with selective mutism working with Debbie.
Thank you very much for your work with T. He has indeed come along a lot with his speech, confidence and attitude to work towards it. He adores you and is always looking forward to his next session with you. You have a great balance of play and work and you built a great relationship with T. And it's great that I can do some homework with him every day.
Parent of reception child with speech difficulties working with Debbie.
When I became a parent, I thought I knew the route life would take, but an autism diagnosis for my son changed that. I still had the most beautiful boy who if anything I loved more because of his diagnosis, but it was like waking up in France instead of at home. Everything was slightly different. The language around his development wasn't the same. His needs were different. He hit milestones at different times to expected. The interventions he had at pre-school were new to me. It was painful to witness assessments that on purpose took him to the edge to see how he'd react. And following these, a prognosis of no more than functional speech was hard to accept. But I was lucky enough to have Debbie on hand. She guided me through so many processes and gave such clear and kind advice on how we could make things easier not just for our son, but for the whole family. She helped me understand him and his needs which enabled me to communicate with him on a deeper level than we ever had before. Debbie was not just there for my son, she was there for me as Mum to Mum and she continues to be. Debbie's care enables families to understand their children's needs, which in turn makes happier children because they have more confident parents. I am pleased to say that my son has come on leaps and bounds and is doing well at school, and so much of this I am sure is that he knows we can understand him and his needs, most of the time. Debbie has a huge roll to play in this.
Parent of child with autism now in school working with Debbie.