There are many reasons why your child is finding talking or communicating difficult.  During our initial assessment, and with the in-depth parent questionnaire, we aim to determine what those reasons might be and/or what the communication difficulties might be linked to (e.g. developmental delay, Verbal Apraxia of speech, Autism, low oral muscle tone,  sensory processing difficulties, play development, feeding difficulties, sleeping difficulties, hearing (processing of speech) etc.  The earlier we can determine the reason for the communication delay, the sooner the caregiver can be provided with appropriate strategies and be empowered with knowledge to understand and improve the reason/s for the delay/difficulty.  We offer a variety of approaches to treat each child and their unique personalities and reasons for communication delays.  Our assessments are fun for your child, sensory-based and play-based to help your child to build trust, engage well and respond well to strategies we would like to implement.

By 18 months, your child should be using around 25 to 50 single words to express their needs/ideas/requests;  some sounds like r,l,f, c might still be difficult to say but most of their words beginning with m, p, b, w and h will be easier to say accurately.

Between 18 months and 2 years, your child should be putting words together (2 to 3 words) and use around 200 words.

By age 3, your child should be using a range of words and short sentences (3 to 5 words) to “talk” to you.  More speech sounds should now be said accurately and be copied well but sounds like th, sh, dg, might still be difficult to say.

Our team is experienced in diagnosing and assisting families to navigate the Diagnostic & NDIS Funding process.  During the initial assessment and sessions thereafter, your concerns around any of the above will be discussed and explained.  This includes the use of Screener Questionnaires, social observations, parent observations, video footage provided, interactions with your child and some formal and informal assessment protocols with the speech pathologist to assist you to understand the reason for the diagnosis, the process and treatment plan.  This is a collaborate team approach with the child, caregiver, speech pathologist and psychologist.

There are many reasons why your child is throwing regular tantrums, not listening to you or your instructions, being defiant or just present with challenging behaviours.  During our initial intake session and with the in-depth parent questionnaire we aim to determine what some of those reasons might be, for example:

• sensory processing difficulties,
• play development,
• feeding difficulties,
• sleeping difficulties,
• hearing (processing of speech),
• communication difficulties,
• connection and engagement etc

and/or which approaches and strategies will suit you and your child best to build relationship, improve communication and to minimise the challenging behaviours. 
The earlier we can determine the underlying reason/s for the behaviour, the sooner the caregiver can be provided with appropriate strategies and be empowered with knowledge to understand, manage and improve the challenging behaviours.  We offer a variety of approaches to treat each child, their family and their unique personalities and reasons for challenging behaviour/s. 

Our assessments are fun for your child, sensory-based and play-based to help your child to build trust, engage well and respond well to strategies we would like to implement.

We unpack the contributing reasons for your child’s fussy eating (e.g. low oral muscle tone;  gut health;  sensory processing difficulties;  behaviour difficulties;  sensory environment;  fears; emotional development etc) during our initial intake session and your in-depth parent and food questionnaire. 
During our fun feeding sessions, that includes you as the caregiver and your child, we aim to provide you with information and strategies to:

• understand and manage the reasons for your child’s limited or restricted diet; 
• provide you with practical tools to take the stress out of mealtimes; 
• provide you with tips on new food introduction; 
• to demonstrate and provide you with oral, tactile, behavioural and visual strategies to improve your child’s fussy eating during play and mealtimes.

RTC Speech is located at:

3 Bounty Close

Tuggerah Business Park

Central Coast NSW