In common with all Speech and Language Therapists, I recommend an assessment appointment before any client commences therapy.

Most appointments are conducted in the client's home.

The following examples are clients I have worked with:

Robert*

Robert was a 4 year old boy due to start school in August 2006. He was a clever little boy with excellent language skills. His speech was very difficult to understand due to a number of speech sound substitutions. Robert's school had expressed concerns about him starting school with such unclear speech but the waiting list for speech therapy was extensive. Robert's parents decided to arrange private speech therapy. I assessed Robert within a week of his parents phoning me and therapy commenced the following week. After 6 therapy sessions and a lot of support at home from Robert's parents, his speech was age appropriate and easily understood.

Colin*

Colin was a 4 year old boy due to start school in August 2006. He lacked confidence speaking and his parents were concerned that his language skills were not well enough developed for his age. I assessed Colin within a week of his parents emailing me. The assessment showed that his language development was immature, as were his speech sounds. Therapy commenced later that week. After 8 therapy sessions, Colin's linguistic immaturities had resolved, his speech was clearer and his confidence had increased dramatically. 2 follow-up sessions 3 months later took care of some lingering immaturities.

Joseph*

Joseph was a 45 year old man who had a history of hoarseness. ENT investigation revealed polyps on his vocal cords which were treated by laser surgery. Post-surgery, Joseph's voice disappeared entirely and it became clear that speech therapy was required. Joseph was placed on a waiting list but decided to arrange private sessions in the interim. I assessed Joseph within 2 days of him emailing me and commenced therapy immediately. By the time he was given an NHS appointment, Joseph's voice had returned to a functional level and he had a large file of reports and test results to bring to his first NHS appointment.

* all names changed to protect client confidentiality.