My name is Pauline. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Speech and Language Sciences and a Master’s of Speech Pathology from Curtin University. I specialise in paediatric speech therapy which is early childhood and early school age. What I love about being a speech therapist is that you can put a smile on the parent’s faces. I love to give them hope by seeing the progress that can be made. I have worked with various clients with disabilities from autism to cerebral palsy, individuals with stroke, developmental disabilities, global developmental delay and intellectual disability.
Initial Assessment for Children
We will gather all the necessary information with the family at the initial assessment. After that, we will set parent and speech pathology goals. Most of the time, parents are eager to get information on how they can support their children at home, so their goals become a priority. We would also let them know the other speech goals we must work on. We usually tailor it to functional goals they can use at home. We will then schedule intervention treatment sessions.
A Typical Treatment Session
A typical treatment session lasts 45 to 50 minutes, depending on the child. These may occur weekly or fortnightly. In early childhood, these take place in the home. Early school age, we may see them at school. We will visit them and take them out of class for that 45-minute session.
Family Communication
Most of our communication with clients and their families will be face-to-face. We usually work with children in their homes, so parents are usually involved. So therefore, during the session, we may discuss any issues that came up from the previous session, and we would address that issue. We send follow-up notes to parents when working with school-age children. We’ll let them know how the session went and provide any follow-up home practice a child may need.
Adults
Adult Speech Therapy Service
My name is Millie, I was born and raised in Malaysia, so I speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Malay, and English. I have a Bachelor of Psychology degree from Curtin University and a Master’s in Speech Pathology from a university in North America. After I finished my clinical fellowship, I worked in a hospital in Portland, Oregon, for six years, working with adults and geriatric patients, addressing cognitive, communication and swallowing difficulties.
Adult Assessments
We start with an assessment to gather background information. This session is a chance to get to know the participants. What is their background? Their education? What languages do they speak at home, or are they most comfortable speaking? If they’re working, what is their occupation and day-to-day routine? We gather this information to get to know what the client’s prior function is. We then focus on the tasks that are currently difficult.
Once we understand the challenges, we talk with people close to them. We might have a round table. “Okay, these are the difficulties I’m noticing. Is that accurate for you?” We discuss their goals because for therapy to be meaningful, it has to be about something important for a particular participant. So we’ll talk about their short-term and long-term goals, and then we work backwards from there. “Okay, given your difficulties and goals, let’s try these different approaches.”
Adult Speech Therapy Sessions
An assessment session is usually 60 to 90 minutes because we need to gather information. For an actual therapy session, it’s usually between 45 to 50 minutes. At the beginning of therapy, it might look like we’re trying different approaches to see which fits the participant best. So it might be a little exploration of, “Let’s try this approach. It worked out great. Let’s keep going with it.” Or, “It didn’t work out great this time. Let’s try a different one and see how that goes.” My goal is always to find one that fits into how the participants operate in general, how it fits into the day-to-day routine, and how it fits into their goals. And then we’ll just kind of work from there.
Communication Regarding Adult Treatments
I like to do face-to-face interactions. Usually, there will be 45 minutes of actual therapy. Then I’ll leave the last five to 10 minutes to ask the participants, or if their caregivers or families are around, ask them, “Hey, what questions do you have for me? Do you have any concerns I want me to remember for our next session?” So I like to do a lot of that face-to-face interaction at the end of the session. I always ensure that clients have access to my email and phone number so they can call or email me anytime they have questions or concerns.
