Our services

We offer paediatric speech pathology services to children aged 0-18 years living in and around Brisbane/Meanjin, and telehealth services to those a little further away.

We focus on neurodiversity-affirming therapy, and use a holistic and family-centred approach to working with children and the important people in their lives.

The way we produce sounds and words involves the coordination of lips, tongue, teeth and voice to create clear speech that is easy for others to understand. There are important milestones that children go through before their speech is easily understood by others and all children make some speech errors during this process. For a lot of children, their speech sound errors will resolve naturally as they age, but others may need some additional support.

If your child is difficult to understand, it is important to see a Speech Pathologist to determine the cause and support them in becoming clear and confident communicators.

Language and speech are often confused, but they are different areas that a Speech Pathologist can assist with. Language can be divided into two areas: Expressive Language and Receptive Language.

Expressive language is how a child uses words, sentences and language to express their wants and needs.
Receptive language refers to a child's ability to understand the meaning of what is said or written

If your child is having difficulty communicating their needs, or following instructions, they may have expressive and/or receptive language difficulties.

Speech

From birth to 3-years-old, children learn a lot of speech and language. Although children learn at different times, most children progress through milestones.

12 months: understands ~10 words, responds to their name, recognises greetings/gestures such as "hi" and "bye", recognises a few familiar people and objects, starts to use sounds, gestures and say a few words, copies different sounds and noises.
2 years: follow simple 2-part instructions (e.g. give me the ball and the doll), respond to 'what' and 'where' questions, point to body parts and pictures when named, say 50+ single words, put two words together (e.g. "no ball").
3 years: follow more complex 2-part instructions (e.g. give me the teddy and throw the ball), sort items into groups (e.g. toys vs food), say 4-5 words in a sentence, ask questions, talk about something in the past.

Early Intervention can help a child increase their skills and reduce the amount of supports they may need later in life.

Early Intervention

Language

AAC refers to all the ways that someone may communicate, besides talking, such as signing, gestures, pictures, dedicated speech-generating devices, or using an iPad/tablet to communicate. Many children (and adults!) benefit from using AAC if they have trouble with speech or language. Augmentative means to add to someone's speech, and alternative means to be used instead of speech.

We can help to determine the right AAC system to use, and support the child, family members and friends on how to use it effectively to communicate.

Augmentative & Alternative Communication

Pragmatic Language

Pragmatic language refers to the way we use language in social settings.

Here at First Stop Speech Pathology, we adopt strengths-based, neurodiversity-affirming practices, and celebrate differences. Neurodiversity describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways, and there is no one "right" way of thinking, learning, and behaving.

We support children with developing their self-advocacy skills, problem-solving skills, and develop a positive self-identity.

Our areas of practice

Our process

It's easy to get started with us. Please complete the online referral form, or simply give us a call or send an email.

Once we have the referral information, we will work with you to organise an initial appointment.

Session one is an information gathering session. The therapist will be asking lots of questions to get to know the child better, explain what therapy may look like, and go through the service agreement.

The next few sessions are all about building a connection with the child, assessment (informal and/or formal) and working with you to develop therapy goals.

If needed, the therapist will create a plan and book in regular appointments that work for you.

1. Get in touch

2. schedule a session

3. first session

4. collaboration & goal setting

5. ongoing support

Our fees and funding options

NDIS:
Our fees are in line with the NDIS 2023 pricing guidelines.
First Stop Speech Pathology is currently servicing self-managed and plan-managed participants.

MEDICARE REBATES:
If you are not eligible for the NDIS, you may be able to get a GP referral to cover a portion of the cost of therapy.

Chronic Disease Management Plan (CDM): For children with a "chronic condition" (including communication delay/disorder). Medicare rebates are available for a maximum of five allied health services per client, per calendar year. Referral must be made by a GP.

PRIVATE PAYING:
Please contact us if you would like more information about our fee structure.

PRE-NDIS PACKAGE
First Stop Speech Pathology can support your child to access the NDIS if eligible with a pre-NDIS assessment and report package. Please contact us if you would like to know more about this service.