Hunter Speech Pathology

Double denim for my little cuties with genetic disorders today

So it turns out the phone system is working…..my brains internal number system is not.

The phone number I provided via email is incorrect. The number is pictured below. I am too scared to write it again in case I get it wrong and confuse everyone!!

The river is up again and the brown snakes are out to play. The river is the natural breeding ground for browns and now is there breeding season. It is not uncommon to see them on the grass, or on the foot path at times.
Please be mindful of this when coming in and out of the clinic in the coming days- weeks.

October is AAC awareness month. Many people rely on other forms of communication than talking to be able to connect, engage and communicate.

I am sharing this post by the therapy team at Small TALK speech pathology as these girls do AAC so well!

I regularly refer clients on if AAC is required or believed to be of benefit it is not an area I have clinical competence in.

We are lucky enough to have Shae and her team just down the road to be able to offer specialist services.

Happy AAC awareness month!

Hunter Speech Pathology will be closed on Thursday 22nd September for the Public Holiday

Our new clinic number:
(02) 40 867 211

Happy Father’s Day to all of the Dad’s today, especially these two special men in my life x

Dads may not be in the clinic room a lot but boy do they drive hard to do the best for their child, ensuring they can access services and being the playful playmate that our kids love.

People will sometimes say ‘when are you going to get to the therapy?’ When I start with a new client but therapy starts the moment the child walks in the door. The best learning for a child occurs in play and that’s why I live my life on the floor being a fool 😃

I couldn’t agree more. It doesn’t mean that it isn’t hard as a parent to offer this love and connection at times. We all have unique profiles and individual differences that impact our own regulation.
We cannot be the calm ship in the storm if we are not feeling calm ourselves. So what do you do to fill up your cup and be calm.
I need some time alone, exercise and in the midst of chaos some good tunes and a dance off. This usually breaks the mood for everybody, even if it is because they are embarrassed of me 😂

Following on from an earlier post….habits are caught not taught

Mondays appointments will be cancelled as Nikki is unwell. For those with appointments tomorrow, you will be contacted by admin to discuss alternatives.

What a way to end Speech Pathology week, listening to Em Rusciano addressing the National Press Conference about her diagnosis of ADHD.

As many of you know, I myself have a diagnosis of ADHD and support many children who have this disorder.

I am good at my job because of my diagnosis. I hyperfixate on my areas of interest and I have a curious brain which is constantly seeking knowledge and information. I thrive on connection and understand what it means to celebrate each small victory.

On the flip side, I am bad at organisation, time management and editing reports 😂 but hey there are flip sides to living with this neurodivergent brain on mine.

Anyway, I digress….funny that.

When I received my diagnosis at the beginning of this year, I immediately knew that I wanted to become an voice and an advocate for those living with ADHD.

NDIS does not currently see this diagnosis as a lifelong disability despite it being registered as such in 1992 as referenced in this address.

Their stance is that it is a medical condition for which there is medication. Just because I take medication in the morning, doesn’t mean that my ADHD goes away. It doesn’t mean that all of my sensory processing, executive functioning and emotional regulation issues just magically disappear.

But I am one of the lucky ones. I can afford access to private psychiatrist and the money needed for the medication that keeps me stable each month. There are many families that cannot.

So let’s hope that the NDIS can review their stance on including ADHD in their list of disabilities so that the children that I see and support can get the access to help that they require and deserve.

In the meantime, I will continue to be in the fighting for corner for all of my families that live with neurodivergency.

Nikki

IN FULL: Comedian Em Rusciano shines a light on ADHD at the National Press Club | ABC News Em Rusciano, Australian comedian, writer, singer and media presenter, addressed the National Press Club of Australia in partnership with Women in Media. She ...

The changing face of a speech pathologist.

As part of Speech Pathology week I thought I would take you inside my work to understand that we support people across the lifespan.

Today I started the day making a “YouTube” channel 😂 with my school aged friend who has Childhood Apraxia of speech, termed Hot Sounds. I was impressed by his name and feel like he could be into something 😂

Then I moved to helping a little man who is yet to speak. Quick shift of gears to the other end of the spectrum where I helped a gentleman who has aphasia, a language impairment that occurs after brain injury.

A quick break and cancellation of a social skills session followed by a voice assessment. We were able to get a clear voice with some simple exercises and she left with a grin.

Lunch was then followed with three more sessions working on speech, language and swallowing.

Communication difficulties can occur at any stage of life and across multiple domains as demonstrated by my caseload today and I am so lucky to be in the position to help!

This week is Speech Pathology week. This week is used to raise awareness in the community for the 1.2 million people living in Australia with a communication impairment. I don’t need to preach to you who engage this in page as you are engaging in the service for a reason. This week I will share the broad range of clients we see and how we help! Feel free to share with others

Today, Sunday 21 August, is the start of Speech Pathology Week (21-27 August). The week aims to promote the speech pathology profession and how speech pathologists work with the 1.2 million Australians who have communication disability.

Speech pathologists know that good communication for all, results in better communities.

https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/week

These were found this morning in the middle office. Not sure who they belong to but likely a Friday client.
I will pop them in a safe spot but if you need them before you are in next let me know and we will try and get them back to you 😀

Book reading is such a powerful tool for growing language and story telling. Did you know that story telling isn’t only important for connection but also for our mental health. It is how we process our world around us and make sense of it. Having a love of books ensures that children are exposed to many stories and complex vocabulary. It is one thing to share books with your children when they are little but if you want them to value reading into their school years they need to recognise it as important. We show them this through modelling behaviour. When I need quiet time, I grab my book and sit in the sun or curl up in a cosy corner. My boys have caught this habit and I get so much joy from walking past their room and seeing them on their beds reading because they want to, for enjoyment. Habits are caught not taught. Model reading and the value of story telling, slowly down and connecting and your kids will follow x

📷: Becoming UnBusy ❤ -K

Breathing difficulties are often associated with structural differences in a child’s oral cavity and jaw which often means that children with breathing difficulties also experience speech and eating troubles.

Some signs of disordered breathing are mouth open at rest, excessive drooling, stinky breath, restless sleeping, sleeping on their back and drooling at night. Now we can add this to it!

This week I received my final feedback for the DIRFloortime certification course that I have been working on for the last 14 weeks.

I passed!

Now for some people you probably think, well so you should, you’re a trained therapist. But I like many of the kids I see, have a learning difficulty. I myself have ADHD, so reading long and complex text isn’t my idea of fun. It is hard and in the middle of the course I was ready to give up.

I had moved offices, our town had been flooded and we had personal struggles at home like most families.

But my doggedness that comes from my neurodivergence made me dig deep. I put in the extra effort and this was only possible because I am enthusiastic about what I do. I love my job and I love watching little people develop and grow.

DIRFloortime is a neuroaffirming, strengths based program that focuses on developmental of a persons functional emotional capacities. It looks at how each persons indidviual differences impact on their development and how we can modify our relationship to help the person achieve their best.

This program isn’t solely for people with Autsim Spectrum Disorder but does have a lot of research in this space. An area in which I was not strong in my theory or practice.

In the past, I have been known to use behavioural approaches to teach children a skill rather than focusing on development.

Teaching of a skill can be considered ableist and can lead to masking which is known to cause mental health issues in the future, as the child thinks that the way they behave or engage is wrong.

At the time, I did not know better, but now I do. And boy am I glad that I’ve made it.

I wanted to share this journey as:
1. I am proud of myself for my achievement and am happy to shamelessly share
2. Because I want people to know that we all have our differences and struggles but we can all achieve great things in our lives
3. It is never to late to admit that your practice is outdated and needs improvement
4. Every indidvual who is seen by myself and my allied health assistants is supported in the best way we know how at the time of being seen.
5. Every Individual should be celebrated for thier uniqueness and encouraged to engage the world in the way that they see is meaningful

Ok I think that is enough of my regurgitating all of my thoughts into a post.

Big love from me to all of my families

Nikki x

The public car park next to our office is closed tomorrow due to the aroma festival over the weekend. Please allow extra time to get to your appointment.

NSW health are encouraging people to wear masks indoors to help limit the spread of COVID as well as influenza and other airborne illness like RSV.
While it is not mandatory, it is strongly encouraged that family members wear a mask in clinic. This protects our therapists who work best with our faces visible.
Please do not attend clinic if you have any symptoms of illness such as runny nose, cough or fever.
Please use the sanitiser available and socially distance where possible.
Hopefully we can all stay healthy and get a full term of therapy in

It’s important to make sure we’re doing everything we can to help protect the NSW community this winter. Practise COVID safe behaviours like wearing a mask, washing and sanitising your hands and maintaining physical distancing.

➡️ Learn more: https://fal.cn/3q73u

A big day for HSP, we collected the keys of our new lease and started the unpacking process. We can’t wait to be finished and to start seeing our clients big and small again!

Hunter Speech Pathology will be closed next Mon/Tues while we move into our new office

NDIS has moved to a 7 day cancellation period, Hunter Speech Pathology will not be adopting this change and will stay at 48 hours cancellation period.

We are on holidays for the next two weeks! what is everyone’s plans with this weather? I am thinking books, board games, movies and some indoor sports - swimming (heated pool for me please) and trampoline parks

All appointments with Nikki are cancelled this week as she will be isolating due to COVID

From June 1 2022, Hunter Speech Pathology will have a new fee structure. This has come about from feedback, confusion and complaints in regards to service inclusions and exclusions.
The webpage has updated prices and for detailed information, please speak to reception at The Children’s Health clinic, The Lorn Surgery at 67 Bulwer st Maitland
Nikki

Fee change from June 1 2022

Joint attention is the foundation of communication. It is where two people share thier interest in an object or an event.

In typical development of joint attention, children will follow a persons eye gaze, or point to what they would like to share.

Children with a diagnosis of Austin Spectrum Disorder have difficulties with responding to and imitating joint attention which limits their interactions.

Many of my therapies for children with ASD focus around building this core skill.

The Hanen centre have some good strategies on how to build joint attention with your child in this article below. Click on the link for further details.

Joint attention is a key skill that helps children develop interaction and language skills. For children on the autism spectrum, research shows that better joint attention skills early on lead to better communication skills later in life. Learn more about joint attention and how you can encourage it during everyday interactions with your child.

https://bit.ly/3KxaVMp

This is also true in the clinic. Sometimes we don’t click with every kid and that’s ok. I don’t get on with every person I meet either.

We know that kids give more and perform better when they feel safe and supported.

Don’t get me wrong, I do feel a little sad when I can’t get the connection quiet right with everyone but then I remember that we are all human. I may not be everyone’s cup of tea and that’s okay. It is better for everyone involved to recognise this and find an alternative therapist than pursue and disadvantage the child.

I can tell you there is not better feeling than connecting with a child taking them on the journey of learning

Nikki

Ok so yesterday I didn’t make a post about International Women’s Day (IWD) and the reason is that I was a little annoyed.

Annoyed to see that the day had lost its way of speaking for equality for all women and turned into a day of marketing and PR.

It took me a while to think about what IWD meant to me and how I, as a woman uphold the values of equal rights. My primary role as a speech pathologist is the ensure everyone has a voice. That all can be heard and understood and the way we do that is through education!

So to show my support of the worlds women and to contribute to raising strong women of the future, I have gathered a collection of stories that promote reading in girls, inspire them and help them identify and find a voice.

Happy International Women’s day to all my little trail blazers!