Request a speech therapy appointment for your child at our Burwood East Clinic
No referral needed. Join the waitlist for Jan/Feb 2025 appointments.
Current clients, please contact us directly for appointments.

Comprehensive assessments
Personalised therapy plans
Feeding therapy option
Joint session option with Occupational Therapist
Parent, caregiver & teacher coaching
Telehealth appointments

How Speech Therapy can help your child

Speech Clarity
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Speech being hard to understand, even to people who know the child well
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Vowels sounding distorted
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Words sounding different each time they are produced
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Only being able to say a small repertoire of sounds
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Deleting some sounds of words

Social Competence
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Trouble understanding facial expression, tone of voice or body language
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Difficulty maintaining friendship
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Difficulty initiating conversations with peers and adults
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Inappropriate social responses e.g. laughing at something sad

Language Skills
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Can only imitate speech or actions and doesn’t produce words or phrases on their own
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Loss of language or words
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Difficulty engaging in back and forth conversation

Reading & Spelling
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Inability to recognise or generate rhyming words
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Difficulty breaking words into sounds and syllables
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Difficulty learning how to read or spell
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Number/letter reversal
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Slow reading
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Difficulty with reading comprehension

Play
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Having trouble playing and talking with other children
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Difficulty following directions
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Challenging taking turns during play

Eating & Swallowing
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Coughing or gagging during meals
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Eating only certain textures or colours, such as soft food, white/beige food or crunchy food
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Having difficulty chewing
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Taking a long time to eat
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Food or drink spilling out the mouth or nose
Why you'll love
Little Stepping Stones

Personalised Therapy Plans

Joint Therapy with OT Available

Multilingual & Diverse Team

Telehealth
Appointments

NDIS, Medicare & Private Clients Welcome
How we work with you for positive outcomes


Detailed Assessment
In our first appointment, we’ll conduct a detailed assessment and evaluate your child’s strengths and needs of support.
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Joint Goal-Setting
We’ll discuss our findings and share an overview of our therapy plan. We’ll then set goals in consultation with you.

Personalised Plan
Depending on your child’s and your personal needs we’ll determine joint therapy needs, how often we should meet & out-of-home support.
Frequently asked questions
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How often will we need to come for speech therapy sessions?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.
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What happens during a speech therapy session?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.
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I feel guilty about not noticing my child's communication issues earlier. Is it too late to make a difference?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.
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What if my child doesn't like the speech therapist? Can we switch?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.
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How do I balance speech therapy with other activities and responsibilities?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.
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What financial assistance options are available to help with the cost of therapy?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).
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Will speech therapy help my child's self esteem and confidence?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.
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How can I communicate effectively with my child's teacher about their communication needs?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.
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What if I don't see progress in my child's speech and language? Should I be concerned?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.
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Are there any specific activities or exercises that I can do with my child at home to support their therapy?Depending on your child's therapy goals, the therapist will recommend specific activities and exercises to complete at home.
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How will you measure the effectiveness of the interventions?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.