Helping children and young people find their voice, whatever that looks like for them.
Every child communicates differently, and there is real joy in discovering how a child wants to connect and helping them do so more easily.
When a child struggles to be understood, or to understand what is happening around them, it can feel worrying, frustrating, or isolating, both for them and for you.
That’s where we come in.
Communication is best understood within the context of a child or young person’s wider development, environment, and relationships. That’s why we work collaboratively with parents, carers, educational staff, and our Allied Health Professional colleagues and Associates at Dr Cassie & Associates, considering the whole child so we can provide the right support at the right time.
Some of the areas we can help with
Some children and young people we work with find it difficult to:
- Attend to what is happening around them, engage in joint attention, and recognise that other people can provide positive social experiences.
- Understand what is being said to them, for example, following instructions or responding to questions.
- Tell others what they want, need, or think.
- Be understood when they speak.
- Join in and keep up with conversations.
- Manage a stammer and how they feel about it.
- Make friends or understand social situations.
- Communicate through speech alone and may benefit from alternative ways o expressing themselves.
- Wherever a child or young person is starting from, our Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapists draw on a wealth of experience to work alongside them and their families, building on existing strengths and developing their communication skills and confidence.
- Please visit our MEET THE TEAM page to learn more about each therapist’s areas of expertise.
What we offer
We offer a range of support options to meet your child’s needs, from individual sessions to structured therapy blocks.
- Our areas of expertise include:
- Early language strategies.
- Understanding and using language, including Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).
- Speech sound delay, difficulties, and disorders, including Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS).
- Supporting children experiencing intermittent hearing loss (glue ear).
- Selective Mutism.
- Stammering. We advocate a child, young person, and family-centred approach, focusing on communication, participation, and quality of life rather than fluency alone.
- Multidisciplinary support for autistic children and young people, and those with other neurodevelopmental profiles, helping them communicate, express themselves, and feel understood in ways that work for them.
- Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), including Makaton, symbols, communication boards, and other communication systems.
- Guidance and coaching for parents, carers, and schools (available as part of booked sessions).
- Onward referrals where another specialist service would be more appropriate.
We also hope to offer Speech and Language Therapy input as part of our ARFID assessments in the near future. Please keep an eye on our website for updates.
Please note: We do not currently provide dysphagia (eating and drinking) services. If this support is required, please contact your local NHS Speech and Language Therapy team.
How we work
Please make an initial enquiry via the Dr Cassie & Associates website by selecting the Children’s Clinic tab.
We will send you a Registration Form together with Parent and Child, or Young Person Questionnaires to complete. Once these have been returned, our Allied Health Professionals Coordinator will contact you to discuss the next steps.
Whether you are new to the clinic or already undergoing an assessment with Dr Cassie & Associates, we recommend beginning with a 45-minute telephone or video consultation. This allows one of our Speech and Language Therapists to discuss your questionnaires in more detail and ensures we make collaborative, well-informed decisions about the most appropriate support for your child or young person.
- By the end of the consultation, we aim to:
- Gain a clearer understanding of your child’s or young person’s needs.
- Provide early advice and reassurance, including practical strategies and recommendations that you can begin using immediately. A summary of this advice will be sent to you by email.
- Offer clear, evidence-informed recommendations regarding the most appropriate next steps, including further assessment or therapy where appropriate.
Session options and fees
- Initial telephone or video consultation (45 minutes) – £190
- Block of 3 therapy sessions – £325
- Selective Mutism block of 4 sessions – £600
- Block of 6 therapy sessions – £750
- Individual therapy session – £175
All therapy sessions are delivered face to face and last 45 minutes, unless otherwise stated.
School and home visits may be arranged on request as part of pre-arranged therapy sessions.
Please contact the clinic to discuss availability and associated costs.
Useful websites
https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people
https://www.selectivemutism.org.uk/
https://michaelpalincentreforstammering.org/
https://stamma.org/
https://www.cerebralpalsy.org.uk/
https://www.autism.org.uk/
https://www.ambitiousaboutautism.org.uk/