Autism

Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication, and by restricted, repetitive or stereotyped behaviour.

What is the NDIS and how can it help adults with speech difficulties

March 5, 2018 By Ashleigh Fattah

What is the NDIS? The NDIS is a national scheme, which is being implemented across Australia to provide targeted support and better coordination and access to services for people with a disability. The scheme is a single national system catering people with any kind of disability anywhere in Australia with the aim of providing equal access to existing health care services across the country. For children on the current Better Start and HCWA … [Read more...]

The impact of language delay at school

December 4, 2017 By Ashleigh Fattah

One of the most popular misconceptions about children with speech and language delay is that taking a ‘wait and see’ approach cannot hurt. While this approach may not lead to anything life threatening, it can have serious repercussions for a child’s entire future following poor performance at school leading to decreased opportunities in further education, career and employment. Here are a few examples of a child’s delayed language skills … [Read more...]

Children With Language Disorders: Missed Or Mis-Identified?

November 27, 2017 By @entwellbeing

A recent study led by Professor Courtenay Norbury assessed children in primary schools across Surrey, has found that roughly two children in each Year 1 class has a clinically significant language disorder that his or her learning. This roughly equates to 7.58% of all children. This was found to be vastly different to the statistical data provided through the Department of Education, which indicates that only 3.04% of children in Year 1 of the … [Read more...]

How to Make Speech Therapy Effective

October 11, 2017 By Ashleigh Fattah

From time to time, I come across parents of children that have shopped around to different speech pathologists after finding that their child does not seem to be making progress with their communication or feeding concerns. There are many reasons why this may be the case and even times where progress has been made however not perceived. There are a few things to keep in mind when gauging progress in speech therapy and finding the right treatment … [Read more...]

No Spanking, No Time-Out, No Problems

September 18, 2017 By @entwellbeing

Many parents struggle to find the right way to discipline children that have challenging or negative behaviours. These behaviours can range from simply refusing to complete a task to hour-long screaming tantrums with the child screaming, kicking and hitting. Some parents turn to punishment in order to provide discipline; however, most parents still report that the challenging behaviours continue to happen. Alan Kazdin, director of the Yale … [Read more...]

Common misconceptions about speech pathology

July 7, 2017 By Ashleigh Fattah

Speech therapy is an instant fix Many people assume that one or two visits to a speech pathologist will instantly solve a child’s speech or language disorder. Whilst this may be true for people that have swallowing difficulties that require modifications to their diet or utensils, this is not the case for speech and language. Speech overall often requires shorted periods of therapy, from roughly a few weeks to a couple of years for very severe … [Read more...]

Diagnostic tests for women with autism fall short

June 16, 2017 By @entwellbeing

Studies have revealed that Women with autism often go undiagnosed or receive either a partial diagnosis or a diagnosis that is years overdue. This may be because females with Autism present with fewer repetitive behaviours than males with Autism on standard diagnostic tests. For every one girl diagnosed with autism there are 10 boys diagnosed. With so many more males diagnosed, most of the diagnostic assessments are based on research in boys … [Read more...]

Reduce technology use to boost your child’s language skills – 5 tips to increase face-to-face communication

January 19, 2017 By Ashleigh Fattah

The introduction of smart phones has definitely helped us to connect with others a lot easier than we did in the past. However, they do come with drawbacks. Their overuse can interfere with face-to-face, child-parent communication interactions that are essential for language development. It can be hard to keep phones out of sight and often this makes it difficult to set boundaries for children in terms of technology use. Boost your child’s … [Read more...]

Autism and Apraxia

November 18, 2016 By @entwellbeing

Recent studies have highlighted the need for children with autism to be screened for apraxia, which is a neurological speech disorder that often goes hand in hand with Autism. A three year long study conducted at Penn State College of Medicine showed that 64% of children initially diagnosed with autism were also found to have apraxia. Research also further validated the use of the Checklist for Autism Spectrum Disorder (CASD) as an accurate tool … [Read more...]

Do children grow out of Speech or Language Delay

September 22, 2016 By Ashleigh Fattah

There are a few common misconceptions regarding speech and language delays in children. Many parents get given advice that is not correct by other parents or even other health professionals that do not specialise in communication development, and in turn may make the wrong decisions when it comes to the management of communication delays. One of the most common and detrimental pieces of advice given to parents has to be the notion that children … [Read more...]