NDIS Speech Therapy: What Can a Speech Pathologist Help With?

If your child has NDIS funding and needs support with communication, you may be wondering what speech therapy can help with and what an NDIS Speech Pathologist actually does.

Speech Pathologists support much more than speech sounds. For children and young people, therapy may focus on understanding and using language, communicating with others, literacy, fluency, social communication and finding effective ways to express wants, needs, thoughts and ideas.

At Grow & Tell, our paediatric Speech Pathologists provide NDIS Speech Therapy in Sydney for children and young people, with therapy tailored to each child’s individual strengths, needs and NDIS goals.

What is NDIS Speech Therapy?

NDIS Speech Therapy is Speech Pathology support provided to an NDIS participant where the therapy is appropriate for their individual needs and funded supports.

For children, Speech Pathology may focus on developing functional communication skills that support participation at home, at school and in the community.

Rather than taking the same approach with every child, a Speech Pathologist considers how the child currently communicates, the areas where they need support and the goals that are important to the child and their family.

Depending on the child, this may involve assessment, individual therapy, parent coaching, collaboration with teachers or other professionals, home-based strategies or a combination of different supports.

What Can an NDIS Speech Pathologist Help With?

Speech Pathology can cover a wide range of communication needs. The specific areas addressed in therapy will depend on the individual child.

Some common areas include:

Speech Sounds

Some children have difficulty producing particular speech sounds or being understood clearly by other people.

A Speech Pathologist can assess a child's speech sound development and determine whether therapy may be appropriate.

Therapy may focus on helping the child develop clearer and more accurate speech while building their confidence communicating with other people.

If there are concerns about a child's speech or language development and further investigation is required, a Speech Pathology assessment can help identify their communication strengths and areas requiring support.

Receptive Language

Receptive language refers to a child's ability to understand spoken language.

This can include understanding instructions, questions, concepts, vocabulary and increasingly complex sentences.

A child experiencing receptive language difficulties may have trouble following classroom instructions, understanding conversations or completing tasks involving several steps.

Speech Pathologists can work on strategies and skills that help children understand and process language more effectively in everyday situations.

Expressive Language

Expressive language is how a child communicates their thoughts, ideas and needs.

Children may need support developing vocabulary, constructing sentences, telling stories, explaining events or organising their ideas.

Speech therapy can help children build these skills so they can communicate more effectively with family members, teachers, peers and other people in their lives.

Literacy and Phonological Awareness

Speech Pathologists can also support some of the underlying communication skills involved in reading and writing.

This may include phonological awareness skills such as recognising sounds in words, blending sounds together and breaking words into individual sounds.

Depending on the child's needs, therapy may also address reading, spelling, vocabulary and understanding written information.

These skills can become particularly important as children progress through school and the language demands of the classroom increase.

Fluency and Stuttering

Some children repeat sounds or words, prolong sounds or experience blocks when speaking.

A Speech Pathologist can assess a child's fluency and work with the child and their family to determine an appropriate approach to support.

Early assessment can be particularly useful when parents have concerns about changes in their child's fluency. Families who are concerned about stuttering can learn more about stuttering treatment for children.

Social Communication

Communication involves more than being able to produce words and sentences.

Children also use communication to interact with other people, participate in activities, share interests, express themselves and develop relationships.

Some children may benefit from support understanding and navigating social communication in ways that respect their individual communication style.

Therapy may focus on skills relevant to the child's own goals, such as participating in conversations, communicating needs, understanding different perspectives or feeling more confident interacting with others.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Not every child relies primarily on spoken language to communicate.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication, commonly known as AAC, includes different communication methods and tools that can supplement or provide an alternative to speech.

AAC may include communication boards, symbols, signs or speech-generating devices.

A Speech Pathologist can help determine appropriate communication supports and work with the child, family and other important people to make communication accessible across everyday environments.

You can learn more about Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and how it may support children with complex communication needs.

Speech Therapy Should Connect With Everyday Life

An important part of paediatric Speech Pathology is helping children use their communication skills beyond the therapy room.

For example, a child might work on requesting help during therapy, but the broader goal may be for them to communicate when they need assistance at school, at home or when participating in community activities.

This is why collaboration can be valuable.

Where appropriate and with family consent, a Speech Pathologist may work alongside parents, teachers, Occupational Therapists and other professionals involved in the child's support.

Strategies can then be incorporated into everyday routines rather than existing only within the therapy session.

Where Can NDIS Speech Therapy Take Place?

The most appropriate setting will depend on the child's needs, family circumstances and therapy goals.

Grow & Tell provides Speech Pathology from our clinics in Rhodes and St Leonards and Crows Nest, as well as mobile Speech Therapy at homes, schools and early learning settings where appropriate.

Different environments can offer different advantages. Clinic-based sessions provide access to dedicated therapy spaces and resources, while mobile therapy may allow the Speech Pathologist to work on communication skills within the environments where the child uses them every day.

What Happens Before NDIS Speech Therapy Starts?

Before beginning regular therapy, it is important for the Speech Pathologist to understand the child and their family's priorities.

At Grow & Tell, families begin with a parent consultation where we can discuss the child's developmental and therapy history, current communication needs, existing reports, NDIS goals and the family's priorities.

If further assessment is required, the Speech Pathologist may recommend this before developing or refining therapy goals.

Therapy can then be planned around the individual child's needs rather than using a standard program for every child.

Does My Child Need a Speech Pathology Assessment?

Not every child beginning therapy will require the same type of assessment.

If a recent assessment or report is available, your Speech Pathologist can review the existing information and discuss whether further assessment is necessary.

In other circumstances, an assessment may help provide a clearer picture of a child's speech, language, literacy, fluency or communication skills.

Grow & Tell offers a range of Speech Pathology assessments for children, with the assessment selected according to the reason for referral and the child's individual needs.

Can NDIS Speech Therapy Goals Change?

Yes. Children's skills, environments and priorities change over time, so therapy goals may need to change as well.

Goals should remain meaningful to the child and family and relate to the functional areas being supported.

Progress can be reviewed throughout therapy, with goals adjusted where appropriate as the child develops new skills or the family's priorities change.

Finding NDIS Speech Therapy in Sydney

When looking for an NDIS Speech Pathologist, it can be helpful to consider whether the service has experience working with children, whether therapy can be tailored to your child's individual communication needs and how the Speech Pathologist will involve your family in the therapy process.

It can also be useful to consider where therapy can be provided and whether the service can collaborate with your child's broader support network where appropriate.

Grow & Tell provides paediatric NDIS Speech Pathology in Sydney for children and young people, with clinic-based and mobile options available.

Our Speech Pathologists work with families to understand each child's communication needs and develop therapy around their individual strengths, everyday activities and goals.

If you'd like to discuss Speech Pathology support for your child, you can contact Grow & Tell to speak with our team about available appointments.