Your child’s communication journey
Understanding our neurodiversity-affirming, child-led approach
Welcome to a different kind of therapy!
The start of a new year often brings fresh hope, and sometimes fresh worries, for parents supporting their child’s communication. I am always genuinely excited to begin a new journey with children and their families, and I know that, for many parents, this kind of therapy may look very different from what they were expecting.
Parents (and children!) are often surprised to discover that our sessions are playful, joyful, and intentionally low-pressure. You won’t see demands for eye contact, sitting still, or being told to ‘do it this way’ or ‘put the red square there’. Instead, you’ll see your child being met exactly where they are.
For families who have previously experienced more adult-led or behaviour-based approaches including Applied Behaviour Therapy, this difference can feel unfamiliar at first. Because of that, I want to take a moment to prepare you for what child-led, neurodiversity-affirming therapy looks like, so you can feel confident, comfortable, and reassured from day one.
Why doesn’t child-led therapy look like ‘traditional’ therapy?
Many people picture speech and language therapy as sitting at a table, using flashcards, or practising words through repetition. While those approaches can work well for some children, they are often not effective or appropriate for many neurodivergent children—including children with autistic profiles, ADHD, or demand-sensitive nervous systems.
Our approach is grounded in a simple and powerful truth:
Children learn best when they feel safe, motivated, and emotionally connected.
When a child’s nervous system feels calm and secure, learning becomes possible. When a child feels pressured or controlled, communication often shuts down, even if they can speak.
🎯 Our purpose: Communication through connection
Our goal is not simply to help your child say more words. Our goals go deeper and are built on strong foundations:
- Trust and regulation: We focus on building a trusting relationship where your child feels safe, understood, and emotionally regulated. A calm nervous system is the starting point for all communication.
- Motivation: We follow your child’s intrinsic motivation, the things they naturally enjoy to make communication meaningful, joyful, and purposeful.
- Spontaneous communication: We create opportunities for your child to communicate because they want to, not because they are asked or instructed to.
🧸 What to expect in a session
Our sessions are intentionally child-led and often look very much like play.
| Feature | What it looks like | Why we do this |
| Minimal toys | We usually offer just 3–4 carefully chosen activities (such as bubbles, blocks, or sensory play). | Less is more. Fewer choices reduce overwhelm and help children focus on what genuinely interests them. |
| Child chooses | Your child decides what to play with and how to engage. | This immediately establishes us as a safe, non-demanding partner and increases motivation. |
| The therapist’s role | We join your child’s play, observing closely and responding naturally. | We model language, share attention, and reflect your child’s experiences in a way that feels natural and supportive. |
| No pressure or demands | There are no ‘must-do’ tasks. If your child wants to spin, crash, line up toys, or repeat an activity, we follow. | Reducing demands lowers anxiety and supports communication, particularly for children with demand-sensitive profiles. |
Is this really effective?
It’s completely natural to wonder, ‘Are they just playing?’ The answer is yes, and very intentionally so.
Our sessions are guided by nearly 30 years of speech and language therapy experience, alongside clear, achievable goals tailored to each individual child. Play is a child’s natural language and their most powerful learning tool.
Within play, we are constantly creating opportunities to:
- Build joint attention (sharing focus and interest)
- Model language at the right level
- Encourage back-and-forth communication
- Develop a deep, authentic connection
If your child has struggled to engage or communicate in more structured or demand-heavy settings, this child-led approach is often the key to unlocking their potential.
💛 What this might look like at home
You may notice that when pressure is reduced:
- Your child begins communicating more during everyday routines
- Language emerges through play, movement, or shared enjoyment
- Communication feels more natural and less forced
Small moments could be a shared smile, a look, a sound, a gesture. All matter. These are the building blocks of meaningful communication.
📚 Resources for parents
If you’d like to explore these ideas further, you may find the following helpful:
- Book: Uniquely Human by Dr Barry Prizant
- Approaches: The Hanen Program and DIR/Floortime Model
- Further reading: Searching ‘Neurodiversity-affirming speech therapy’ or ‘Child-led therapy’
I look forward to meeting you and your child. Please bring any questions, uncertainties, or curiosities to our first session, there is no such thing as a silly question. This is a journey we take together. Contact me via my contact form.
Sonja McGeachie
Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
Owner of The London Speech and Feeding Practice.
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
