Solent Speech and Language

The Practice

We are Rosemary Bazley and Anita Bennett, two enthusiastic and dedicated speech and language therapists working at Solent Speech and Language. We manage our caseloads so that we have sufficient time to provide quality therapy to each child. We plan therapy to meet the child’s specific needs and deliver therapy in ways designed to engage the child and maximise their progress.

We use a variety of therapy approaches, usually combining them together to help the child make the best possible progress. For example we might combine non-directive therapy with Makaton signing for a child with early language and communication difficulties, or combine oral-motor therapy, articulation therapy and Cued Articulation signs for a child with speech sound difficulties.

Assessment

Although your child may have been assessed before, we do our own assessment to determine the exact nature of your child’s difficulties, make recommendations and plan therapy. Prior to the assessment appointment, we do a case history over the phone – so that you don’t have to talk in front of your child, they don’t get bored in the session while we talk, and to help us plan the assessment.

The assessment session varies depending on the child’s age and difficulties. A typical assessment will include a number of assessment activities, along with observation. For some younger children the assessment may be largely play based and include the use of checklists completed by the therapist and / or parent.

Therapy

The frequency of therapy varies depending on the child’s needs, but very often we recommend an initial course of weekly sessions to get the therapy underway. For some children the frequency of sessions may reduce after this initial course. For other children we will offer a course of therapy of agreed length, then a break from therapy followed by a further course of sessions.

Therapy sessions are structured to be fun and motivating for the child, in order to maintain their attention and maximise progress. The sessions are planned beforehand, but adapted within the session depending on the child’s responses to the activities and targets.