Hi!

I am speech and language therapist, through and through, communication is my absolute passion. I studied in Norwich in 2007. Having spent my time since qualifying supporting children and young people with complex additional learning needs this is where my area of specialism lies.

I have worked in schools and colleges for Autistic young people with complex additional learning needs and co-occurring diagnosis. I enjoy working with individuals to help them improve their quality of life through developing communication skills. I am an advocate of presuming potential and enabling young people to have a voice.

My approach is personal and passionate. Assessment, goal setting and therapy needs to be functional and meaningful. I can provide therapy within school or the home. I believe a joined up approach between the individual, home, school and therapist is key to success.

Speech, language and communication skills are fundamental for children and young people to access education as they grow and that any worries should be addressed swiftly to enable the right support at the right time.

 

Therapy starts with building a relationship and engaging the individual in enjoyable activities. Communication should be fun and meaningful, and therapy motivating with individuals keen to attend and participate. I believe in a neurodiversity informed approach and I am constantly seeking to better my practice and understanding in order to support the individuals I work with the best of my ability.

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I am trained in the use of Makaton, Intensive Interaction, Talking Mats, Social Thinking Approaches and Elklan Language Builders for Verbal ASD, as well as the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) although I rarely use this approach due to the concerns from the Autistic community and it's links with physical prompting and applied behaviour analysis.

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I have experience in delivering a wide range of different therapy interventions and thinking creatively in order to support children and young people to access their therapy sessions. First and foremost it comes with getting to know the individual in order to build a relationship and trust and enable them to feel safe and secure in my presence.

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I enjoy sharing my knowledge through training and workshops. I have delivered training in a range of settings, in schools as well as at professional conferences. I enjoy creating bespoke training packages to meet the needs of learners and try to impart my passion and enthusiasm into those I work with. This is an area of my work that I feel can truly support change to embed practices that are neurodiversity informed and focus on connection over compliance. I work holistically in my training approaches, and look to enable an increased acceptance of difference and curiosity about those differences.