Play My Way
Our Services
Play My Way is a Speech Pathology practice on Brisbane's Northside that nurtures the development of listening and communication skills, in children from 18 months to 10 years of age. Our Communication Services include assessment and intervention for children who have speech, language and literacy difficulties. Our Hearing Services support children who have a hearing loss, including children with hearing aids and cochlear implants. Play My Way offers a range of Service Delivery Options to meet the diverse needs of children and their families.
Late Talkers
Children Aged 18mths to 3yrs
This service is offered to parents who have concerns their child is not talking or talking less than expected. An initial assessment is recommended. This usually involves observing children and their communication during play and gathering information from parents about typical language and particular concerns. If difficulties or delays are identified, therapy can be provided to meet each child’s specific needs. A parent-coaching approach is used, teaching strategies that encourage children to take more talking turns, increase their speech sound repertoire, and improve their confidence in communicating.
Speech & Language Services
Children Aged 2yrs to 10yrs
These services are for children who have difficulty understanding language and expressing themselves. They are also suitable for children who have speech difficulties, including unclear speech, a limited range of speech sounds, and errors in saying specific sounds (e.g. "tat" for 'cat'). Children may have these difficulties associated with other conditions, such as Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A formal assessment is recommended first. An individualised therapy plan may then be recommended. The therapy approach depends on each child’s specific needs and personality factors, such as confidence and resilience. We can work collaboratively with other people involved in your child's care (e.g. kindy, school, other allied health professionals).
Help with Early Literacy
Children Aged 4yrs to 10yrs
Play My Way offers support for children who have difficulty with early literacy. Initial assessment is recommended to explore children's underlying phonological awareness skills. Phonological awareness skills create an early foundation for later literacy development, and include rhyming, segmenting words into parts (e.g. ba-by), and blending sounds together to create words (e.g. c-a-t = cat.). Literacy intervention focuses first on establishing strong phonological awareness skills and then teaching other strategies and rules to support good early reading & writing.
Healthy Hearing Services
Children Aged Birth to 6yrs
This service includes surveillance monitoring for children with hearing loss. Assessments are offered at six-monthly or yearly intervals to ensure children are making good and expected progress. Children with hearing loss are at greater risk of communication delays, so regular monitoring helps identify if they are falling behind. Surveillance monitoring is recommended for all children with hearing loss by the Healthy Hearing Program, Minimum Standards of Practice (Children's Health Queensland, 2020). If children are not progressing as expected, focused intervention for listening, speech and language skills is offered. Steps are taken to ensure all children have optimal access to spoken language with or without hearing devices.
Specialist Cochlear Implant Services
Children Aged Birth to 10yrs
Emma Stark has over 20 years experience working in Cochlear Implant Programs and offers specialist services to children and their families before and after cochlear implant surgery. Pre-implant services help children develop early listening and communication skills with hearing aids. Post-implant services help establish and maintain good cochlear implant use, and provide specialist therapy to build strong listening and communication skills. All types of communication are celebrated at Play My Way, including spoken language, Auslan, and combinations of spoken language with sign. Post-implant monitoring is recommended and six-monthly or yearly assessments are offered.
Service Delivery Options
A range of options are available to support children and families.
In Person Appointments
Families can attend appointments at the North Brisbane clinic. We can also visit your child at home, daycare, kindy or school. A combination of clinic and visit appointments may be useful and will provide opportunities for your child to learn and practice in a range of settings. This variation has been shown to help consolidate new skills. Home, daycare, kindy and school visits also offer opportunities for outside play and increase the involvement of others who support and play with your child. NDIS funding can be used to cover travel costs.
Telehealth Appointments
Telehealth offers convenient access to services in any location with good internet access. Telehealth is suitable for children of all ages. There is a strong evidence base showing the effectiveness of speech pathology via telehealth. Emma has specialist skills and experience in providing telehealth services for children. Play My Way can help families secure NDIS funding for telehealth equipment and achieve successful telehealth sessions. Please enquire if you are interested in telehealth but have questions about how telehealth might work for you and your child.