Talk Play Grow

Congratulations to our fabulous Speech Pathologist, Renisa, on her two year work anniversary! Renisa is an invaluable part of our team and does such amazing work helping children and their families.
Happy work anniversary Renisa, we look forward to celebrating many more with you! 🎉2️⃣

Helping your child’s talking takes time! One fantastic way to encourage early talking is to say a simple word and then pause, giving your little one a chance to imitate the word. Avoid using “Say…” as this makes it more difficult and can put unnecessary pressure on them. Instead, try saying "ball" or "up" and wait patiently for them to give it a go! Remember, it's all about practice l, patience and encouragement 🌟

Today we have reopened our doors for 2024! 🎉
We're thrilled to have the chance to collaborate with our communities once again, aiming to empower even more children to communicate, connect, and succeed this year.
To our current Talk Play Grow families, let’s embark on this journey together and make a real difference in the lives of your amazing kids! 🌱 🚀 💬

Christmas is coming! 🎄🎅🎁
Talk Play Grow will be closed for the Christmas holidays from Friday December 22nd and will reopen on Monday January 8th. We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best for the festive season. We are grateful for the trust the families we support have given us throughout the year and we look forward to continuing to provide you with our exceptional care in 2024.
If you have any urgent needs during this time, please email [email protected]. This inbox will be monitored throughout the break.

Do you want your child to gain more confidence in social situations?⠀
Do you want your child to feel more confident interacting with their peers? ⠀
Is your child struggling to make friends?⠀
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We are super excited to announce our school holiday Sociability Groups are back and better than before!

Our Sociability Matters groups can improve your child’s understanding of emotions and social rules so they can make long lasting friendships. Here's how our groups can help your child: ⠀
- 🔍SOCIAL MYSTERIES UNLOCKED 🔍 – This group will teach your child to read and interpret social situations so they build meaningful relationships with others⠀
- 🤝🏼 CONNECTING CONFIDENTLY 🤝🏼 – This group will teach your child to understand and solve problems and disagreements with others⠀
- ❤️ TAKING EMOTIONAL CONTROL ❤️ – This group will teach your child to understand their emotions and better control them⠀
- 👫🏽 SOCIAL BUDDIES 👫🏽 – This group focuses on the conversation skills needed to build long-lasting friendships and work together with others
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Places are limited so be quick to avoid missing out!
To secure your child's place and give them the boost click this link https://buff.ly/3kNbiXh

A big congratulations to one of our Speech Pathologists, Christina, on her recent graduation! Christina is already an amazing clinician who is passionate about helping children and their families and we love supporting her to develop her clinical skills even more through our new graduate program.

Congratulations to our amazing Speech Pathologist, Nel, on her two year work anniversary with us! Nel is an incredibly talented clinician who strives to do her very best for the families she supports every day. She is also our fantastic clinical educator. Thank you for all that you do Nel, your families, our team and your students appreciate it 🙏

Do you want your child's reading to improve? 📚⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Do you want them to spell better? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Is your child in year 1 or 2?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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If you answered 'yes' to any of the above questions, our Strengthening the Reading Rope group is for you! This group will help your child learn:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⭐️ letters and letter combinations and the sounds they make⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⭐️ how to blend sounds together to read words⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⭐️ how to break up words into sounds to spell⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⭐️ ways to improve speed and accuracy when reading⠀⠀⠀⠀
⭐️ ways to improve their understanding of what they read⠀
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There are very limited places left for this group so be quick to avoid missing out! Click the link https://buff.ly/2Nh8qUx to secure your child's place and give them the boost they need👍

On this International Women's Day we celebrate the amazing women in our team. Our management, clinical and reception teams are full of women who inspire and achieve every day. They are constantly learning and looking for ways to innovate and improve all in pursuit of our core purpose to help children communicate, connect and succeed.

Is your child repeating sounds, words or phrases? Are they stretching out words or getting stuck before talking?
Around 12% of children begin to stutter by 4 years of age. Children who begin to stutter in their preschool years may need therapy to prevent its negative impacts and possibility of lifelong stuttering
If left without treatment your child’s stuttering can get worse or be with them for life. The impact of stuttering on a child’s life is varied however it’s absolutely certain that it will interfere with their ability to communicate. Stuttering can lead to your child feeling embarrassed to speak in front of others, they can become frustrated with it and they may develop social anxiety which significantly affects their interact and build relationships with people. This social anxiety can begin to emerge by just seven years of age.
Head over to our latest blog ‘If your child is stuttering you need to read this’ to find out the two programs that you must use to if you want your preschool child to stop stuttering (link in our bio)

Want to engage you child when reading together? Our recommend trying to point out new words in the story that your child may not know, talk about them and then use them again in different contexts when you are with your little one.

Does your child have a delay in their talking or pronunciation? Your child’s ability to hear well is absolutely essential for them to develop age appropriate speech and language skills.Without adequate hearing levels your child will fall behind in their talking, their speech will be unclear and they may experience social isolation and behavioural challenges.

Every day we see children with delays in their communication and social skills and behavioural challenges. One of the most important thing parents must do when their child is having these difficulties is to get their hearing checked. So, if your child is having trouble learning to use words to communicate or their speech is hard to understand it is important to seek help from the right health professionals.

You need to find a qualified, passionate Speech Pathologist who will be able to assess your child’s strength and areas for improvement. And if your child does have a delay in their talking or pronunciation they should be recommending a hearing test. If they don’t, find another Speech Pathologist.

Is your child not talking yet? Then this tip is for you! ⠀
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When you’re playing and talking to your child, repeat the same words and phrases over and over again. You may⠀
feel like a broken record and that’s a good thing. It means you’re saying it enough. ⠀
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Keep the steps in the activity the same too. It may be boring for you but your child will love it. It’s why children love to read the same book time and time again and will be the first to let you know if you skip a page!⠀
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Repetition is key, it’s how children learn!

We love 'look and find' books in the clinic. Our wonderful clinicians regularly use these with the children to achieve improved articulation for target sounds and encourage their attention to details. And they are super fun! 📚
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A big congratulations to Susan, our Receptionist & Marketing Assistant, on her 2nd work anniversary! 🎉

Susan is one of the super caring and helpful people you’ll speak with when you call us and is full of warmth and energy for all of our Talk Play Grow families and team in the clinic.

She is the juggler of many balls to keep Talk Play Grow running smoothly and does an amazing job. We love having you in our team Susan!!

#2

What book do you love to read with your child??👶🏽📖⠀

📚Want to know how to improve your child’s reading? Here are our top 3 tips to help them. 📚

1. Model good reading. Get your child to choose a book they enjoy and read it to them. Be sure to read naturally and use different emotions and tone to relate to the words you are reading.

2. Read the same book together over and over again. It may seem boring to you, but children love repetition, and they learn lots from it! When you’re reading together and they get stuck on a word, encourage them to sound it out.

3. Get them to follow the words with their finger as they read. When some children look at the words in a book, they may skip some or jump between the lines of text. Using their finger helps them track and not miss any words.

If you’re worried about your child’s reading, a speech pathologist can help. Please send us a DM and we will be in touch with you.

Want your child to have fun while learning to read? Helping your child to read doesn’t have to be tedious and only involve sitting down with a book. One super fun way to help early readers is by getting them hands on with play dough! Here are a few ways to use it to develop different reading skills:⠀ ⠀ ⠀
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⭐️Learning the sound a letter makes: Roll out lots of long play dough sausages. Curl them and bend them to form different letters and talk about the sound that letter makes. You can also get your child to trace the play dough letter with their finger.⠀ ⠀
⭐️ Sounding out short words: Combine some of the letters you made together to form a word. For early readers keep these words short. Start with a vowel and a consonant e.g. i-t, u-p, a-m and move on to consonant-vowel-consonant words such as b-a-t and s-u-n⠀ ⠀
⭐️ Reading longer words: Get your child to roll a piece of play dough out flat then get a small stick or pencil and write words on the play dough. Your child can give themselves ticks on the playdough, use their finger to rub out the word or tear off the section of playdough with the word on it.⠀ ⠀⠀
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The key is to make it fun! Celebrate when your child reads the word correctly, praise them for trying hard and let them take the lead if they have another fun idea that keeps them practising reading.⠀⠀

🎉Today we are thrilled to celebrate Erica’s 8th work anniversary!

Erica is one of our senior Speech Pathologists who is dedicated and passionate in supporting so many of our families to communicate, connect and succeed.

We’re so lucky to have Erica on our team and we celebrate her dedication and commitment, not only to the team but to the families at Talk Play Grow. 🎉

Did you know research shows us play allows children to use their creativity as they develop their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, social and emotional skills? Phew! That’s a lot of areas play can influence. Play is also so important for healthy brain development. Most of all play is fun and a simple joy that children love and by playing with your child, you are giving them time when they feel special.

One of our favs is Pop Up Pirate - a classic, fun game that welcomes barrels of laughter – and there are even some new variants with Pop-up BB8 and Pop-Up T-Rex! The aim of the game is to press the pirate into the barrel and stick different swords in while you wait patiently for the pirate to pop up! This game will keep you and your child on the edge of your seat as nobody knows which sword will be the one to make the pirate pop!

Our recommend practicing speech sounds with your child using the swords. Every time they practice a sound/target word they are given a sword to place into the barrel. This helps increase the number of repetitions and makes speech practice fun and enjoyable. For more helpful hints on how to play well together head over to our blog: https://buff.ly/3GHRUGQ

🎉Congratulations Renisa on your 1st work anniversary! 🎉⠀
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Renisa is one of our fabulous Speech Pathologists here at Talk Play Grow, who works closely with families and sees amazing results with her clients.

Happy work anniversary Renisa it is a delight to having you in our team!

Did you know research shows us play allows children to use their creativity as they develop their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, social and emotional skills? Phew! That’s a lot of areas play can influence. Play is also so important for healthy brain development. Most of all play is fun and a simple joy that children love and by playing with your child, you are giving them time when they feel special.

One of our favs is Pop Up Pirate - a classic, fun game that welcomes barrels of laughter – and there are even some new variants with Pop-up BB8 and Pop-Up T-Rex! The aim of the game is to press the pirate into the barrel and stick different swords in while you wait patiently for the pirate to pop up!

Our recommend practicing speech sounds with your child using the swords. Every time they practice a sound/target word they are given a sword to place into the barrel. This helps increase the number of repetitions and makes speech practice fun and enjoyable. For more helpful hints on how to play well together head over to our blog: https://buff.ly/3GHRUGQ

We all know reading with toddlers is super important for developing their talking. But did you know you don’t have to read the story word for word? ⠀⠀

Get creative by having fun reading together out loud and using the pictures to create the story instead. You can even create funny, alternative endings to the stories together too!

🐨We hope everyone has a wonderful day today!⠀ ⠀

The clinic is closed today due to the public holiday however, we'll be back tomorrow refreshed and ready to go! 😎 ⠀

We know from research children who are read to have a greater understanding of language and increase their chances of becoming strong readers themselves!

We love Aliens Love Dinopants! by Claire Freedman. It's a funny story involving all kinds of crazy things such as underpants, aliens and dinosaurs.

The colourful illustrations are fun keeping children engaged, and uses clever descriptions and sounds to help tell the story!

Our agree this book is great for:
🐱‍🐉Learning about the different types of print and talking about when and why the author uses capital letters and/or small print.

🐱‍🐉Developing descriptive language as there are many examples in the story which describe different actions, sounds and things.

🐱‍🐉Talking about what might happen next and getting the children to predict what they think. Allowing the children to comment on the illustrations and link the pictures to words.

For more tips on how to engage your child when reading together click here to read more on our blog: https://buff.ly/3ZqYvhi

Worried about your child's lisp? If they're 5 years or older one way you can help them try to correct it is to let your child see what they’re doing when they’re practicing saying the sound. So, either grab a small makeup mirror or sit in front of a mirror when you're practicing the sound. This way they can get visual feedback on where their tongue is when they’re saying the sound.

Visual feedback is super important for your child to be able to change where they’re putting their tongue in their mouth and get it into the right position for a clear and correct ‘s’ sound. And remember to keep practice short and fun!

If you're concerned about your child's lisp call our clinic on 9653 9955 to make a booking with one of our Speech Pathologists.

Hiding magnetic balls in kinetic sand is one our favourite reinforcers at Talk Play Grow. Kids love getting their hands dirty and they enjoy finding the balls at the end!

We know from research children who are read to have a greater understanding of language and increases their chances of becoming strong readers themselves! We love Aliens Love Dinopants! by Claire Freedman. It's a funny story involving all kinds of crazy things such as underpants, aliens and dinosaurs. The illustrations are colourful and fun which keeps children engaged and uses clever descriptions and sounds to help tell the story!

Our recommend you're reading with your little one try embracing your funny side and try repeating silly words or phrases. Children love and respond to repetition, and this book repeats many silly words and phrases over and over allowing your child to remember them, and giving them opportunities to join in the story as it progresses. For more tips on how to engage your child when reading together click here to read more on our blog: https://buff.ly/3ZqYvhi

Our fabulous Speech Pathologist, Renisa ran our very popular Get Set For School group today!

Our Kindy-kids-to-be learned some essential skills to have a successful start to school next year. We explored how to introduce ourselves, listen and follow instructions, and take turns, along with some school readiness activities - all of which are designed to engage our new friends through our play-based activities.

This group will run again in October holidays and is perfect for school starters in 2024! You can find out more about when our next group is running or register your child by clicking here: https://buff.ly/2KywX3j

Have you read Aliens Love Dinopants! by Claire Freedman. It's a funny story involving all kinds of crazy things such as underpants, aliens and dinosaurs. The illustrations are colourful and fun which keeps children engaged and uses clever descriptions and sounds to help tell the story!

We know from research children who are read to have a greater understanding of language and increases their chances of becoming strong readers themselves!

So next time you're reading with your little one try embracing your funny side. Children love funny stories. Laughter is contagious and if you can actively enjoy the books you are reading with your child, chances are they’re going to love them and want to do them with you over and over. For more tips on how to engage your child when reading together click here to read more on our blog: https://buff.ly/3ZqYvhi