Viva Speech Pathology – Speech & Language Therapy in Perth

Do I need a referral for an assessment?

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A referral is not required. If parents would like to organise the speech pathology component of an Autism assessment at Viva speech pathologist, then they will be able to get a Medicare Rebate with a referral from a paediatrician. For more information our blog post about this topic; Medicare assistance to treat and assess Autism

 

What if my child is shy during assessment?

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Speech Pathologists are trained to encouraged children to speak while playing with them at their physical level (e.g. mat/ small table) and also at their developmental level. They make sure they use the child’s favourite toys and activities in the clinic or parents can bring in favourite toys . If the child is still reluctant to speak, our therapists can use supplementary home videos to analyse the child’s language sample. Alternatively, we may organise the session at home or day care or when a sibling is present, to ensure our assessment findings are representative of the child’s typical communication.

 

What is therapy?

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Therapy is the process of making the task simpler and more enjoyable with added supports to help the person to achieve the goal from a supported level to an independent level. Examples of supports include moving from a simple to a more complex task (sound on itself to a sound in a sentence in conversation), indirect or direct prompts, extra feedback or instructions, modelling, extra repetition, scaffolding (e.g. choices, leading the student to the answer) and other supports (e.g. gesture, visual). Over time the supports are gradually taken away until the person can achieve a certain level of communication on their own.

 

How does therapy work?

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​At Viva speech pathology, we give special attention and care to deliver the best results in our treatment of communication difficulties across the lifespan. Our two clinics in Perth are located in the Joondalup Family Centre and Tuart Hill health centre. We offer customised treatment plans to treat your communication difficulties. Do you require an intensive speech pathology program to make steady progress? Our experienced speech therapists use up-to-date and effective treatment methods.

 

Therapy sessions range in timeslots available, in length and frequency, depending on the client or family’s circumstances. We provide therapy sessions based on the extent of the student or client’s communication issue, and what best suits the client or family. Sessions can also be organised in an intensive schedule to produce faster results. We are also able to produce a home program for families who need to space therapy out due to their budget.

 

While we encourage individual sessions, we can also offer group therapy for babies, toddlers, and school aged clients, when there is sufficient interest. 

 

We have a flexible approach because we want to ensure the best possible therapy attendance by clients and families to achieve your communication goals. For this reason, we offer a wide range of timeslots and service delivery models such as:

• Individual or group session

• Clinic-based,

• Home based

• Home programs followed by reviews

• Family friendly options:

1. Saturdays

2. Sessions at day care with progress notes & homework

3. Sessions at school with progress notes & homework

4. siblings / twins require intervention, we can organise slots close together

5. before and after school sessions

6. Intensive blocks in the school holidays with a home program during the term

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We give you and your children a guided approach to ensure that each session is completed with the desired results, moving closer to achieving the therapy goals. For this reason, we strongly recommend that parents to sit in during therapy sessions. By doing so they learn strategies to assist their child on a day-to-day basis. Parents are experts about many aspects of their children, and therefore we value a lot of input from parents  during assessment and therapy within the family centred model that we use.

 

We give a clear explanation of homework that we require you to do before your next session. We take the time to check how the homework is progressing to ensure that treatment is carried out at home without any obstacles. If parents would like a school visit, we can arrange with teachers to do a classroom observation and to meet with the teacher at a convenient time to set up Individual Education Goals in partnership with the teacher.

 

When we work with adults, we ensure that their homework aligns very closely with the communication goal they have identified (e.g. speaking with more confidence on the phone or without stuttering when ordering, participating in small talk with more confidence, improved skills to facilitate a meeting)

 

Are Medicare care plan sessions or CDM Medicare sessions possible?

 

Parents / Clients can organise a Medicare care plan of 5 sessions per year by obtaining a referral to Viva speech pathology from their doctor. This referral is issued to the family by the doctor’s discretion. If parents are interested in this option, they can take their Viva speech pathology initial assessment letter or report to their doctor and ask about this option. It is compulsory for our therapists to write a letter to the doctor at the start of this therapy block outlining the therapy goals and then we also write a letter to the doctor at the end of this block outlining the progress the child or adult made.

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Can I get a health fund rebate on assessments or therapy sessions?

 

This depends on your level of cover. We do have a Hicaps terminal at both clinics which allows us to process such a rebate if clients or children are eligible.

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What is your Code of conduct & how can I give you feedback about your services?

 

At our two Viva Speech Pathology clinics, we offer personalised care and therapy to all of our patients. This is done with professionalism, courtesy, and respect for families and clients of all cultures and situations to help our clients towards confident communication for life. Our speech pathologists have a friendly, encouraging, and compassionate approach to produce optimal results. We deliver therapy with positivity, to empower our families and clients with education about how to improve their unique communication profile, and to equip families with useful ideas, activities, and treatment strategies.

Click here to see our Code of Conduct. We also wish to hear your feedback. Click here for our Customer Satisfaction Policy and Feedback survey.

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FOR PARENTS & GUARDIANS

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What do speech pathologists do?

Read through our association’s fact sheet on this topic.

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Do I need a referral?

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No. Parents and adult clients can do self-referrals by calling us on (08) 9344 2900 or emailing us on reception@vivaspeech.com.au.

An alternative booking number is 0402 134 257.

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My child speaks unclearly. Is he/she just being a lazy speaker?

Not at all. Articulating sounds is a skill. In most cases, if certain sounds are difficult to say for the speaker, the speaker can be trained and supported to use this skill until they speak clearly. Using appropriate vocabulary, using language correctly in a sentence, speaking to others in social situations and comprehending language are all language skills that can be trained and improved.

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What happens in the assessment?

Our expert speech language pathologists take note of the parent’s concerns and assess a range of communication areas to form an overall picture of the child to profile their strengths and areas to improve. We give you a questionnaire to complete beforehand and we also use our interview with the parent as a form of assessment. Our assessments include free play with the parent and or siblings, as well as more structured formal assessment.

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During the speech therapy session, our clinical team works with each child individually to produce the best results. As a team of highly experienced speech therapists, we provide articulation, language, literacy, and stuttering therapy, and more to help your children to reach their full potential.

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My child is shy. What if they are difficult to assess/to help in therapy?

We give personal care to your little ones and ensure that they are getting an enjoyable experience throughout the treatment. We take time to get to know them so that we can embed some therapy tasks into activities that they enjoy. It is also important for us to find out which activities the parents enjoy doing with their children. If we can embed some ‘teaching moments’ in such activities or other routines, we can ensure that your child gets a lot of practice in activities that are likely to be repeated. In this way, we connect with your child and your family and encourage you to persist with our expertise, enthusiasm, and energy.

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What does therapy involve?

We are flexible in our delivery of your child’s speech pathology program. We work in this way to suit your child and family’s needs. We supply you with fun and creative activities and ideas to use at home and ways to incorporate speech pathology practice into every day activities or routines at home. Our job is to educate and to empower you about the development of communication skills so that you guided and equipped to help your child on an everyday basis.

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How long will my child need therapy for?

This depends on their specific communication profile. To keep parents informed, we offer reviews and therapy summaries for your child’s school teacher and continually monitor your child’s progress to update their therapy program accordingly. This is all done to help your child progress towards our motto, ‘Confident communication for life!’.

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Click here to read our regularly updated blog for parents and clients.

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I am a case worker of a foster child, a foster parent, or a parent who will have difficulties paying for private speech pathology sessions. What are my options?

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Please note that we have experience working with the Department of Community Development in Western Australia. They have organised therapy for foster children with their funding.

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In cases where we are able to treat certain difficulties in Medicare bulk-billed sessions, we can provide 5 per calendar year if we obtain a Chronic Disease Management or Medicare care plan referral form the child’s GP.

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We can also provide you with information about how to access government speech pathology services.

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Is my child too young to receive speech and language therapy?

Speech pathologists can already assess early aspects of communication when a baby is 3-6 months old. Parents can obtain ideas about how to help babies and toddlers to develop speech and language skills, particularly if they are concerned about reduced eye contact, babbling or first communication milestone acquisition (e.g. first words and first phrases). Children are never too young to see a speech pathologist if their parent, G.P., or health nurse has concerns about their communication development.

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My child is bilingual. Should I start to only speak to them in English to prepare them for school?

Please read the link below to this article, ‘Myths about bilingualism’ written by Practice Owner and Principal speech pathologist, Inge Gaudin.

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More information, as well as assessment and therapy sessions are available on request.