SERVICES
What will support with MJSP look like?
MOBILE SERVICE
We provide a mobile Speech Pathology service to all our clients. This may take place at:
-
home
-
school or childcare
-
other community setting
At MJSP, we believe that learning is most effective, with progress more efficiently generalised, when intervention takes place in the child's natural environment.
Telehealth sessions are also available. These are a great option for older children or parent education sessions. Please let us know if you would like to access an online session via Zoom.
INDIVIDUALISED SUPPORT
A holistic approach to assessment and intervention will be delivered that considers your child's strengths, interests and learning style. A dynamic assessment will take place, which may involve case history taking, informal and play-based tasks, and observations of your child. Standardised/formal assessments are possible on request.
Following the assessment process, we will then work together to decide on intervention goals and strategies that will be delivered in therapy sessions, and also through home practice in an achievable and manageable manner considering your family's specific needs and routines.
PARENT EDUCATION
We know that when parents play a role in their child’s intervention, children make considerably more progress towards their speech and language therapy goals. Therefore support and education will be provided to parents in order that therapy can take place outside the time spent during the week with the Speech Pathologist.
Parent education support can take place during the child's therapy session, but seperate sessions with just parents and the Speech Pathologist can also be organised. Funding can also be used for indirect therapy resource creation in order that parents can implement goals into their weekly routines.
SPEECH & ARTICULATION
The ability to say the sounds in words and to be understood by others when talking. The speech errors children make are classified as:
-
Phonological processes: patterns of sound errors that typically developing children use to simplify speech as they are learning to talk, however at certain ages may not be age appropriate.
-
Articulation errors: When the child has problems making sounds and forming particular speech sounds properly due to difficulties coordinating the movements of the lips, tongue, teeth, palate (top of the mouth) and respiratory system (lungs).
RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE
The ability to receive and understand a spoken message. This includes being able to understand language concepts and vocabulary, as well as remembering and interpreting spoken instructions, sentences, and questions.
What can Speech Pathology help your child with?
EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE
The ability to formulate and produce a spoken message. This includes aspects such as the size and range of the child's vocabulary, the types of sentence structures they use (the way in which words and ideas are combined and expressed in sentences), as well as the use of grammar and rules of language.
AAC
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). This term refers to supporting a child’s ability to understand and use any necessary communication or language form to interact, learn and participate in activities and routines. AAC can incorporate visuals, systems, devices or strategies that help a person communicate; when they are still learning language or cannot rely on speech. AAC encompasses the communication methods needed to either supplement or replace speech and/or writing.
SOCIAL SKILLS
A broad term that a Speech Pathologist uses which means:
-
Helping a child use language for different reasons
-
Changing their language use for different situations or listeners
-
Following the rules for conversations/interactions and storytelling
PLAY SKILLS
This refers to activities that children carry out for self-amusement, are child-directed and often spontaneous. Through play, children learn about language, thinking, social and psychomotor skills (e.g. hand- eye coordination). The typical stages of play are:
-
Solitary play (0 - 2 years) - playing alone
-
Onlooker play (2 years) - watching/observing others in play
-
Parallel play (2+ years) - playing side by side with peers
-
Associate play (3 - 4 years) - child starts to interact with peers in play
-
Cooperative play (4+ years) - when a child plays with others and is interested in both the activity and other children (sharing, turn taking)
FLUENCY
Stuttering is a fluency disorder when people know what they want to say, but their speech flow is disrupted by behaviours such as repetitions of sounds, words, or phrases; prolongation of sounds; blocking and non-verbal movements such as facial grimacing.
LITERACY
Literacy skills refer to the development of reading and writing. Phonological Awareness is a skill that is also relevant for younger children to develop adequate literacy skills. This includes skills such as rhyming, sound identification, blending, segmenting, etc. Through interactions with print in everyday situations, children combine what they know about speaking and listening with what they know about print and become ready to learn to read and write.