Clinic sessions: Unit 1 Ground floor, 94 Reid Promenade JOONDALUP CBD
(free customer parking)
105 Lindsay beach Boulevard, YANCHEP WA 6035
School based sessions available also please enquire | Zoom sessions all areas
BOOKINGS: Call (08) 9301 4128 or 0402 134 257 when unattended.
Email reception@vivaspeech.com.au
We assist babies, toddlers & students who are:
- quiet & not babbling
- late talkers
- missing words out of sentences
- using incorrect words
- stuttering
- speaking unclearly
- having problems understanding instructions
- not answering questions well
- experiencing social difficulties* / delayed play skills
- having difficulties telling news & stories
- delayed in areas of pre-literacy/ literacy development
- suffering from a hoarse/husky or rough sounding voice
Please call us on 9301 4128 for more information
or email reception@vivaspeech.com.au
Assessment & therapy for children
Our speech pathologists are suitably qualified and have undergone a Working With Children's check. They assess & treat children and teenage who have difficulties..
Additional services
Autism assessments
Assessment & therapy in Afrikaans & tips to encourage bilingualism at home
School visits
Screening and intervention at school
Day care visits
Day care talks
Speech Pathology For Children In Perth
These statistics from Speech Pathology Australia show that communication and literacy difficulties are often experienced:
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20% of 4 year old children have difficulty understanding or using language.
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14% of 15 year old only have basic literacy skills.
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Children with language difficulties are 6 times more likely to have a reading problem than children without.
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46% of young Australian offenders have a language impairment.
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There is a strong link between communication difficulties and poor mental health issues.
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7% to 9% of children experience voice problems.
If you are concerned that your loved one has a communication difficulty, early intervention is always more effective in treating a communication issue. This is because there is less time for the speech error or communication issue to become a strong habit and pattern of behaviour. In many cases, the earlier the intervention is received, the smaller the delay will be for the child.
At Viva Speech Pathology, we treat your child to help them to converse clearly and with ease as children have many reasons to communicate every day! To help us along in the assessment process, think about your child’s general conversation skills.
All of the skills below are to do with social aspects of communication and are skills we can help to build in therapy. Consider if your child can do the following yet and let us know in the assessment:
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Maintain eye contact
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Respond with a smile
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Watch a game and copy actions
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Take turns in games
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Start a game
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Sing (words and actions)
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Say hello and goodbye
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Show you something by pointing
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Give you something
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Share their enjoyment
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Start a conversation
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Take turns in a conversation
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Maintain a conversation
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Ask questions
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Make comments
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Agree and disagree (speech, nodding, and shaking)
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Negotiate (E.g. Mummy can I… if we…)
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Explain how a simple story or how to do something (Pre-Kindy onwards)
Communication issues that Need Treatment
If your child has any of the following difficulties, our child speech pathologists can assess and plan speech therapy for children to help them to reach their full potential:
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Babies who are using limited or no babbling between 6-10 months of age.
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Late talkers (acquiring first words after 15 months and using 2-3 word phrases later than 27 months of age).
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Hearing difficulties or regular ear infections.
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Struggling to find the words or using incorrect or frequently using non-specific words (e.g. it, that one, here, there, those).
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Difficulties understanding words, questions, or instructions.
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Bilingual children who are mixing their languages and who are not developing fluency well (using full sentences) in either language.
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Being quiet for most of the day
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Not joining into conversation like their peers or classmates.
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Hesitant to explain familiar events or activities.
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Needing a lot of help to retell stories from 4 years of age.
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Stuttering (repeating words or parts of words, getting stuck on words).
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Experiencing a hoarse, rough, or strained voice.
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Difficulties spelling, reading, and/or writing.
Since these issues can affect the quality of life of your children and reduce their confidence, you should try to resolve it as early as possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
FOR PARENTS & GUARDIANS
What do speech pathologists do?
Read through our association’s fact sheet on this topic.
Do I need a referral?
No. Parents and adult clients can do self-referrals by calling us on (08) 9301 4128 or emailing us on reception@vivaspeech.com.au. An alternative booking number is 0402 134 257.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!’.
Click here to read our regularly updated blog for parents and clients.
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?
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.
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.
We can also provide you with information about how to access government speech pathology services.
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.
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.
More information, as well as assessment and therapy sessions are available on request.
Call Us Today for an Appointment and Consultation
Children with speech and/or language difficulties are at greater risk of having literacy difficulties (spelling, reading, and writing). For this reason, parents are strongly recommended to seek treatment for their child’s communication difficulties as soon as possible, before they start learning about letters and sounds at school. Call us today on (08) 9344 2900 for an appointment and consultation. You can also connect with us online if you have any questions.