"My child getting support from a speech pathologist"

I took my young toddler to our local drop-in speech pathology clinic when I noticed they weren't talking, or even attempting to talk, like I was expecting for their age. 

We had a brief session at the clinic where the speech pathologist heard my concerns and observed my child playing. I was told I’d receive notification of an appointment soon. 

I was impressed to get some correspondence quite quickly confirming that we had been referred and to expect an appointment time soon, however it was close to a holiday season and we were going to be away for 5 weeks. 

I was pleased to receive a phone call while we were away so I could make an appointment for quite soon after we returned to Broome. 

I attended the speech pathology area at Broome Hospital with my child and we met with Joan and one of her associates. Joan spoke at length to me about my concerns, my observations of my child, and my goals for them.

Generously, Joan lent me a book on the Hanen method of speech intervention with some activities to try based on my child's current levels of communication. 

I found the book and the method extremely helpful and was able to implement many of the suggestions and have since seen my child's speech really flourish. 

Joan invited me to join a workshop group on speech development but I wasn’t able to commit to it, however, she was still happy to meet with me to support my child. When the COVID19 pandemic took hold we had an online meeting which was really successful. 

Overall my child's speech has improved dramatically in the time that I have been communicating with Joan and I’m sure that a lot of it is thanks to her support and guidance. I was continually impressed and grateful for her efforts and keeping in contact with me and her encouragement of how my child was, and is, progressing with their speech. 

I’m now happy and confident that their speech is on track but Joan has welcomed me to contact her if I have any concerns in the future. 

Overall I was extremely happy with the support my child and I received from Joan and the team at the speech pathology department at Broome Hospital. Joan was easy to talk to, knowledgeable, always punctual, and kept in close contact to address any concerns I might have had. 

Thank you so much Joan and team!