Get a Speech Therapy Appointment for Your Child at our Northcote Clinic

The session frequency depends on your child’s diagnosis and your goals for speech therapy. Some children require weekly or bi-weekly treatment to make the best progress, whereas others only need to see a speech therapist once a month. Your speech therapist will work with you to determine what frequency best suits your child's needs, and adjust this over time.

We love to take a play-based approach where possible as we find this keeps kids engaged by making therapy fun! Depending on your child’s goals, therapy may involve a combination of activities seated at the table and free-play on the floor. Some parents are asked to come in for the duration of the session whereas others only need to remain for part of the session. Some parents stay in the waiting area for their child’s session. We find that remaining actively involved in the therapy progress can help parents in feeling confident about implementing recommendations at home.

The window never closes on the opportunity to make meaningful differences in children’s communication skills, no matter when this process starts. Your speech therapist will work with you for the best outcome.

Occasionally the dynamic between the child and the therapist isn’t a good fit. In these situations we endeavour to fit your child in with another one of our clinicians, or provide a referral and handover to an external speech therapist where appropriate.

We understand that coordinating work, school and extracurricular activities can be a balancing act. We work with families to find a therapy frequency and time slot that fits in with your other commitments.

There are three funding options available which many of our clients are able to access: Medicare, private health insurance and NDIS. The Medicare Chronic Disease Management Plan enables 5 rebated allied health sessions per calendar year for those with chronic or complex health conditions. Your private health insurance may also be able to subsidise appointments depending on your policy and level of cover. Finally, we often support families of children with developmental delays or disabilities to apply for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Many children are aware of the difficulties they have with spoken and written communication. This can have a negative impact on their mental health. As children make progress towards their goals, we often see them feeling more confident in themselves.

Our therapists are happy to organise regular care team meetings with parents, educators and other allied health professionals. These meetings allow us to advocate for your child’s communication needs. We do our best to ensure appropriate support are in place to help your child flourish in the kindergarten and school environment. An important part of our mission at Little Stepping Stones is to equip parents with the skills and knowledge to better understand their child’s diagnosis and communicate this to others as needed.

Depending on your child’s diagnosis, it can take months to see progress. Your therapist is regularly reviewing your child’s goals and making modifications to the therapy plan where required. We encourage parents to raise any concerns with progress with their therapist so that we can work collaboratively to determine the best course of action.

Depending on your child's therapy goals, the therapist will recommend specific activities and exercises to complete at home.

Specific assessments will be completed prior to therapy to obtain your child's baseline performance. These assessments will be re-administered upon reviews to measure the effectiveness of the interventions.