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What? Core boards are a form of AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) and are used to assist individuals in various areas of language (requesting, commenting, declaring). These boards provide a set of essential words and phrases that are frequently used in communication, enabling individuals to express themselves effectively, make choices, and engage in conversations. Core…

Today is International Stammering Awareness Day 2023 and our team here at London Speech Therapy believe that there is no better way to spread awareness than to talk to and ask people who stammer what they would like to share. With one of our very own speech and language therapists having a stammer and 2…

Rett Syndrome is a severe, lifelong disorder, and those with it will rely totally on others for support throughout their lives. Rett Syndrome is a rare condition that affects the development of the brain, causing physical and mental disability which begins in early childhood. After a short period of normal development, symptoms begin during the…

Intensive Interaction – the importance of non-verbal communication. We all know the importance of body language. It helps us express what we feel, even when we’re saying something different. We use it all the time, whether we realise it or not, in fact, according to non-verbal communication expert Albert Mehrabian, when we’re talking face-to-face about…

Almost everything we do involves some form of communication – it is one of the most important skills we can have. From everyday necessities such as asking for food and drink, to more complex interactions such as learning in school, all of these things rely on our ability to communicate with each other. When we…

We’ve found that even after the success of The King’s Speech (which did a great job of bringing stammering into the public eye), there’s still a real lack of understanding. Stammering, which is also known as stuttering or dysfluency, often begins at a young age (usually between 2 and 5) and while some children grow…

Children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) require extra or specific help in school or nursery in order to ensure that they are not at a disadvantage when compared with their peers. This extra help can take many different forms, but includes things such as special learning programmes, extra help from a teacher…

Bullying is a problem that affects lots of young people, but did you know that children with a speech and language disorder are significantly more likely to be bullied than their peers?  A recent study, carried out in 2012, found that children who stutter are 61% more likely to be targeted by a bully, while…

What is PECS? PECS, or the Picture Exchange Communication System, is a low-tech aided method of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) that involves the use of cards with pictures. Children who are unable to talk or write can learn to communicate with adults using pictures instead of words. So, if a child wants a drink,…

Developmental Language Disorder is the name used to describe the difficulties that some children have with learning and using language. Language disorder is described as specific when these difficulties aren’t associated with other factors or conditions, such as general learning difficulties, cerebral palsy or autistic spectrum disorders. Children with other associated conditions are said to…

We’ve decided to GoCardless to make paying for our Speech & Language Therapy services easier! If you are one of our families you’ll soon receive an email from us with instructions on how to set yourself up (it literally takes seconds).  If you don’t want to wait for the email simply pop over to: https://dashboard.gocardless.com/api/paylinks/0YCC5EQHMH

At London Speech Therapy, we think it’s best to avoid confusing terminology. That’s why we use plain English and offer simple explanations of some of the more confusing jargon that gets thrown around when you start to interact with healthcare professionals. With that in mind, for the first in our new series of blogs, we’re…

At London Speech Therapy, we often work with children who have Fragile X Syndrome, and sometimes we meet children who have only recently been diagnosed. The parents of these children are understandably full of questions about the syndrome, so we thought it would be useful to write a brief overview answering a few of these…

Joint Attention and Autism Explained When two people are both focussed on the same thing, it is known as joint attention. It doesn’t matter what they’re focussed on (it could be a person, an object, an event, even a concept) just that they’re sharing a common focus. It’s an important part of the way people…

Selective Mutism is a type of severe anxiety disorder that causes sufferers to be unable to speak in certain situations, despite their often being fully capable of speaking in others. It can affect both children and adults, but the condition generally starts in early childhood, between 2.7 and 4.1 years of age. Selective Mutism is…

When you see “private speech therapy” and “Harley Street” it’s very easy to equate this to “too expensive for us” however we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by our School Fee Structure.   We currently provide therapy to more than 32 schools across London, Redbridge and Gravesend.  These schools ‘buy in’ from two days per term…

What does PROMPT mean? PROMPT stands for Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets and is a therapy technique that targets a patient’s communication difficulties from a physical sensory perspective. It combines not only the physical sensory domains (i.e., muscle motor planning) but also the social emotional (i.e., attention and listening, reciprocal turn taking) as well as the cognitive domain (i.e.,…

Whilst Emily Kirchin and Mairead Donnelly are the Director of London Speech Therapy, Psychology and Allied Services, in December 2017 80% of the company was bought by the United Arab Emirates based KBBO Group.  KBBO Group is a diversified holding company with operations across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States who’s Healthcare Portfolio includes New…

–  Create opportunities for your child to communicate with you.  Try not to anticipate all of your child’s needs so that they have a reason to communicate with you.  For example, put favourite toys in sight but out of reach for example in a clear container they can’t open themselves or up on a high shelf…

–  Model back words that are unclear.  There should be no expectation for your child to repeat this back to you. Just providing the correct model is beneficial. –  Play with your child face to face.  This encourages your child to see your face and mouth, which will aid speech sound development. –  Reduce background noise.  Where possible switch…