Initial Consultation

Speech and Language Assessment

Individual Therapy for:

• Speech and Language
• Reading (literacy) Intervention
• Primary school readiness and support
• Mandarin for children with special needs

Group Therapy for:

• Social Language Groups
• Reading (literacy) Intervention
• Primary school readiness and support
• Mandarin for children with special needs

Language Intensive Unit – Enhancing pre-school learning by providing

Initial consultation

All children will need to make an appointment for an initial consultation with our therapists to determine the programmes that will best suit their needs. The aims of an initial consultation are to discuss concerns, gather sufficient information via brief assessment and observation for the therapist to form an impression of the child’s needs and make preliminary recommendations and the next course of action; either for the child to receive more in-depth testing in speech/language, a concurrent referral to other relevant professionals for further investigation, and/or commencement of speech, language, or literacy intervention programme.

Assessment/testing

To fully understand each child’s strengths and difficulties, comprehensive standardized assessments are used. These internationally recognized assessments/tests packages in combination with observations and parental reports are important in thorough investigations for diagnosis, academic placements, special mainstream modifications, exemptions, and requests.

All assessments and testings are frequently followed by feedback sessions for us to share our findings and concerns. Goals and recommendations will be discussed subsequently.

Individual therapy sessions (Speech and Language/ Reading (literacy) Intervention/ Primary school readiness and support programme/ Mandarin for children with special needs are conducted in an individual setting)

To cater to the needs of the child and his family, individual therapy sessions may be offered. Individual sessions programmes are devised to meet the child’s own unique patter of strengths and issues and they range from a frequency of 1-3 times a week, from 50-60 minutes per session. These are followed by parental discussion and training of the session’s goals, progress, and home follow-up practice.

Group therapy sessions (Social Language/ Reading (literacy) intervention/ Primary school readiness and support programmes))

For children with similar levels of abilities and learning styles that would benefit from group sessions, term packages are offered to them. Group therapy sessions offer the opportunity to develop peer relationship skills, a more challenging environment to apply language/literacy skills that they know, and encourages a more “natural” setting that prepares them to cope with academic classroom requirements.

Warning bells

Below is a simple guide to follow if you are worried at any point about a child’s communication skills. If your answer to any of the below is “YES,” we strongly advise you to seek professional attention.

• Does your infant have difficulties feeding, dislikes certain textures of food?
• Does your child avoid talking? Or talks using relatively shorter sentences as compared to his peers?
• Does your child use gestures or pointing to indicate his want rather than words?
• Does your child become frustrated when having difficulties communicating?
• Is your child difficult to understand (for children 2 1/2 and above)
• Does your child have difficulty understanding others or following instructions?
• Does your child frequently have a blank expression when given instructions or when spoken to?
• Does your child answer questions irrelevantly or seem to discuss about topics of his/her own interest only?
• Does your child seem to play on his own and have little interest in interacting with others or lack social skills?
• Does your child have significant trouble with reading or writing?
• Does your child repeat his words or hesitates excessively when he speaks?
• Is your child struggling in school, especially in the area of language an literacy?
• Does your child have a husky, breathy, or nasal voice that is notably different from peers?

In many cases, parents may have strong feelings that there is something wrong with their child’s communication abilities but have not sought help because others have told them “not to worry about it, it’ll go away when he enters primary one, my child didn’t talk till he was three.” However, delaying assessment and diagnosis frequently causes more stress and frustration. We highly advocate early intervention and assessment. We feel knowing the facts as early as possible often helps empower you to make as best a decision as you can.