About Emma Stark

Play My Way

I’m an experienced speech pathologist with over 20 years of clinical practice. I graduated from the University of Queensland in 1997 and since then have worked in a number of settings. I spent 15 years in London at St Thomas’ hospital and was the Lead Speech Pathologist in their Cochlear Implant Program. While in London, I completed a Masters Degree in Human Communication.

I returned to Brisbane in 2014 and enjoyed 7 years, as a Lead Speech Pathologist, at the Queensland Children’s Hospital. In both hospitals I worked in multidisciplinary teams, and had the pleasure of supporting many wonderful children, with a range of complex needs. I moved into the private health sector in 2021, where I have continued to enjoy supporting children and their families in the community.

In Play My Way, I follow my passion for working with children. I specialise in supporting children with communication difficulties and those with hearing loss. I create playful learning experiences, that help children develop their listening and communication skills. I support each child to achieve their goals and help them feel confident about learning new skills. I encourage parents to play an active role in their child's speech pathology, so we can work together to achieve their child's goals and dreams.

I am a lifelong learner and committed to ongoing professional development. I am a certified practicing member of Speech Pathology Australia and a member of the Brisbane Private Practitioner Network.

– Emma Stark, Director, Play My Way

I looked into speech therapy when my daughter Blaire was 18 months old. We had some concerns about Blaire's talking because she wasn't saying many words. We started seeing Emma once fortnight. We did telehealth appointments, which was really convenient. I was initially apprehensive about telehealth as Blaire is a very shy child, but I was pleasantly surprised with how well she engaged with Emma and quickly built a great rapport. The sessions were fun and playful. Emma showed us how to encourage Blaire to say more words. As parents, we were able to use these ideas at home and they were very easy to integrate into our day to day lives. Blaire responded pretty quickly. She started using more words instead of pointing and was learnt new words more quickly. It was great having Emma to guide us through this, and it felt like she gave us the skills to keep Blaire’s progress going.