Helping Children Communicate, Connect and Grow with Confidence

Every child communicates in their own way. Our experienced Speech Pathologists provide personalised, family-centred and goal-oriented speech therapy for children, helping them develop the communication skills they need for everyday life, learning, play and social connection.

We support children who may experience difficulties with:

• Speech delay or late talking
• Speech sounds and pronunciation
• Understanding and using language
• Expressing needs, ideas and emotions
• Building vocabulary and sentences
• Following instructions and answering questions
• Social communication and interaction
• Conversation and play skills
• Early literacy and school readiness
• Communication associated with developmental delay, Autism or other developmental needs

What Speech Therapy for Children Looks Like

Personalised. Every child starts with an assessment. Your speech pathologist asks about your concerns and your child's development, looks at any reports you have, and sees how your child communicates, often through play. Goals are then set around what matters in your child's daily life, such as asking for help at kindy, being understood by grandparents, or joining in a game with friends.

Family-centred. Parents and carers know their child best, and children spend most of their time with family. We show you strategies you can use during everyday routines like mealtimes, bath time and the drive to school, so practice continues between sessions.

Goal-oriented. We check progress against your child's goals and talk with you about what is working. When goals are reached, we set new ones together or plan the next step.

When to Get in Touch

Every child develops at their own pace, but some signs are worth checking with a speech pathologist:

• talking later than other children their age;
• speech that family or teachers find hard to understand;
• frustration when trying to communicate;
• stuttering;
• difficulty following instructions or answering questions;
• finding early reading and spelling hard.

Speech Pathology Australia's communication milestones show what to expect from 12 months to 5 years, and our article on signs your child may benefit from speech therapy goes through them in more detail. If you're unsure, an assessment can tell you whether therapy would help and what to focus on first.

Working With Kindies, Schools and Your Child's Team

Children use communication everywhere: at home, at kindy, at school and with friends. As well as seeing children at our clinic in Runcorn, our speech pathologists visit homes, kindies and schools across Brisbane's southside, so we can practise skills in the places your child uses them and share strategies with educators.

Our speech pathologists also work alongside our occupational therapy and behaviour support team. If your child needs more than one kind of support, we can set shared goals across therapies.

Getting Started

You don't need a referral to book. We see children from age 2, and support coordinators and health professionals can use our referral form.

We are a registered NDIS provider. For NDIS participants, speech therapy is usually paid for from the Capacity Building budget, under Improved Daily Living. Families without NDIS funding are welcome and pay the same rates.

Find out more about speech therapy for children in Runcorn, or read what a speech pathologist does.