Paediatric Speech Pathology Adelaide- How we can help you

At Thrive Health Therapies, we provide inclusive neuro-affirming speech pathology services, where we celebrate the uniqueness of every child. We recognise that each child’s journey is individual, and we honour and celebrate an individual’s distinctive strengths and attributes. Whether your child is neurotypical, autistic, has ADHD, or other neurodevelopmental differences, we embrace their strengths and work collaboratively to support their communication needs.

Our approach is rooted in respect, understanding, and acceptance. We create a safe and nurturing environment where children can express themselves authentically and without judgment. Through individualised assessment and therapy, we support and advocate for children to develop the skills they need to have a valued place in their world.

We collaborate closely with families, caregivers, and other professionals to ensure that each child receives comprehensive and holistic support. Together, we celebrate progress, foster resilience, and promote self-expression in all its forms.

At our practice, we believe that every child deserves to be heard and understood. We are committed to advocating for their voices and empowering them to thrive.

NDIS Paediatric Speech Therapy Services We Offer

Our Paediatric Speech Therapy is child-centred and supports achieving individualised goals in a range of areas including:

Early intervention
Play and prelinguistic skills
Speech

Receptive and expressive language

Literacy
Multimodal communication (including AAC)
Stuttering / fluency
Social interactions
Feeding & swallowing

Key Aspects of Paediatric Speech Therapy

Speech refers to a child’s ability to pronounce speech sounds accurately (articulation) and the ability to organise speech sound patterns (phonological processes) to make words.
Speech therapists support a child’s speech sound system through evidence-based interventions, with the aim to improve a child’s intelligibility (clear and understandable speech).
Receptive Language refers to a child’s ability to understand and comprehend language.
Speech therapy targets areas such as:
- following instructions/directions understanding questions (e.g., ‘where’, ‘what’, ‘who’
-understanding concepts (e.g., direction, position, sequence, quality, size)
-understanding word meanings and their relationships
-understanding grammatical elements (e.g., past tense, plurals)
-understanding object functions (e.g., scissors are for cutting)
Expressive Language refers to a child’s ability to express their thoughts, desires, ideas, and feelings to their communication partners.
Speech therapy targets areas such as: -
-using grammatical elements to form phrases and sentences that make sense
-using lengthier sentences in order to retell and recount narratives (e.g., recounting a child’s day/experiences)
-using a variety of meaningful words (vocabulary)
Stuttering/Fluency refers to a child’s ability to join together speech sounds and words with fluent, smooth, and clear movements. Speech therapists support children who experience an interruption in the flow of their fluent speech.
Play is a crucial component in the early years of development. Through play, children learn important skills such as problem-solving, creativity, and social interaction. Whether it’s building with blocks, pretending to be superheroes, or playing board games, every playful activity contributes to a child’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional growth. Speech therapy is provided through a child- centred and play-based approach.
Social Connections refers to a child’s unique social profile in how they communicate in social scenarios such as initiating conversation, engaging in social play, perspective taking, or reading social cues. Speech therapy focuses on empowering neurodiverse individuals to advocate for themselves and understand their unique social skills which do not need to be fixed. Encouraging the neurodiverse and neurotypical communities to better understand each other’s unique communication styles is at the forefront of therapy.
Multimodal Communication refers to a child’s ability to communicate using a variety of methods. It encompasses various forms of communicating such as mouth words, vocalisations, pictures and choice boards, gestures, sign language, typing, facial expressions, low-mid tech devices, and robust Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) tools. Speech therapists provide specialised insight in identifying the most suitable multimodal communication tool to meet a child’s individual needs.
Literacy refers to child’s reading and writing skills which plays a crucial role in individual development, education, employment, social participation, and overall well-being. Speech therapy targets areas such as phonological awareness (e.g., rhyming, segmenting, blending, manipulating sounds) and decoding strategies (e.g., letter-sound correspondence, word recognition).