London Speech and Feeding Blog

Did you know that you don’t have to see a therapist with your child present to have improved communication? For younger children, evidence suggests that regular tailored interaction with parents/carers is as good as seeing a Speech and Language Therapist, with their advice followed. Often your child will respond better because they are in familiar surroundings with their favourite toys…

When you have a picky eater it’s easy to feel on edge and that others are judging your parenting skills. It is astonishing how suddenly the world and its brother/sister are all experts on how to feed your child, even the lady in the corner shop is not shy to offer unsolicited tips and advice on your child’s nutrition intake….

May your child be autistic? As professionals, when diagnosing young children with an Autistic Spectrum Condition, it is vital we work as a multi-disciplinary team, so you will likely see many professionals. This may include Educational Psychologist, Dietician, General Practitioner, Occupational Therapist, Paediatrician, Special Educational Needs Coordinator, Speech and Language Therapist and Social worker. Once the evidence is collated, then…

If your child is using echolalia and/or has a diagnosis of autism, then your child’s way of processing language is most likely different to the classic way children typically learn language. We call this process Natural Language Acquisition or Gestalt Language Processing. Step by Step guide to Gestalt Learning Let’s explore the following stages of Gestalt Processing: Stage 1: communicative…

Tools to implement activities at home when your child is a Gestalt Language Processor.

Let’s break it down into steps to make these complicated words easier to understand. Once you have a deeper understanding, you will then be able to support your child or young person develop their communication skills in the best way as a Gestalt Language Processor. Remember not every child will be a Gestalt Language Processor; if your child uses echolalia…

Read some of my top tips and make your communication as effective as possible. Make the most out of everyday opportunities to support your child’s speech, language and communication development.

You have heard strategies from so many different people, you are confused by which you should use with your child. You’ve ended up not using any strategies to support speech and language development because you don’t know where to start. Let me ease your overwhelm and take you through the Observe, Wait and Listen (OWL) strategy, which you can use…

Watching your child’s confidence grow as their language develops is something you dream of. You feel helpless, you watch your child repeat language over and over and this concerns you. You know you should be supporting their communication development, but you feel stuck. You’ve reached the point where you don’t know where to turn to for support. Accessing the knowledge…