Services

At Align Allied Health, we provide speech therapy services for children (5+ years), adolescents (13-17 years), and adults (18+ years). Whether you are seeking support for literacy, social communication, language, fluency, or speech clarity, we offer a personalised, affirming, and strengths-based approach to help you achieve your communication goals.

Our process for delivering speech therapy includes the following steps:

1. Complete Intake Forms: Includes case history and terms of trade.

2. Initial Consultation: Discussion of strengths, areas for support, rapport building, and screening. Additional sessions may be required to complete screeners and set goals.

3. Informal/Formal Assessment: Standardised assessments (when needed) for goal-setting, baseline establishment, and progress monitoring.

4. Intervention: 45-minute sessions focusing on your strengths and areas for support, with session notes typically emailed within 48 hours, home practice when applicable, and the use of technology for data tracking.

• Letters and Reports

• Meetings

• Home Practice Packs

At Align Allied Health, we provide evidence-based literacy and written language therapy for children, adolescents, and adults. Our services target a wide range of literacy skills, including pre-literacy, reading, writing, and spelling, all designed to support individuals in developing and strengthening their skills.

Areas of Focus:

• Pre-literacy Skills: We address foundational skills such as syllable awareness, rhyme identification, sound awareness, and more to prepare learners for reading and writing.

• Alphabet Knowledge: Helping clients develop a strong understanding of letters in the alphabet.

• Letter-Sound Knowledge: Teaching the connection between letters and their sounds to support early reading skills.

• Phonological Awareness: We focus on segmenting, blending, and phoneme manipulation to enhance reading and spelling skills.

• Reading: Improving decoding, fluency, and reading comprehension for individuals of all ages.

• Spelling: Targeting spelling accuracy through phonological knowledge, spelling rules and strategies.

• Punctuation: Teaching the use of punctuation marks for clarity in written communication.

• Capitalisation: Helping clients understand and apply proper capitalisation rules in writing.

• Grammar and Morphology: Focused on developing sentence structure and understanding morphological structures (e.g., -ed, -ing, -s) to enhance writing skills.

• Written Expression: Supporting clients with sentence structure, sentence development, planning, drafting, writing, and editing their work.

• Reading Comprehension: Developing skills to identify key details, the main idea, inferencing, predicting, and answering comprehension questions.

Training:

Lizzie is trained in the Sounds-Write phonics programme, a structured literacy approach that helps individuals improve their phonemic awareness and reading skills, particularly for those with dyslexia and other reading challenges.

At Align Allied Health, we believe in a neuroaffirming approach to social communication. Our therapy goals focus on understanding and embracing a person’s unique communication style, empowering individuals to express themselves authentically while navigating social situations in a way that aligns with their strengths and preferences. Unlike traditional social skills interventions that often emphasise "fitting in," our neuroaffirming approach supports genuine self-expression and respects each individual.

Key Focus Areas:

• Understanding Identity: We support clients in recognising their strengths, talents, interests, and neurotype, helping them embrace their authentic selves.

• Preferred Communication Style: Our therapy helps individuals understand their listening style, talking style, and preferred ways to communicate, empowering them to engage with others in ways that feel natural.

• Preferred Friendships: We guide individuals in identifying their values in friendships, understanding their preferred quantity and settings for social interactions, and understanding comfortable ways to build meaningful relationships.

• Self-Advocacy: We support individuals in developing strategies for self-advocacy, including obtaining help, understanding burnout, exploring masking and the spoon theory, and advocating for their needs.

• Identifying Own Goals: We work collaboratively with clients to help them identify their personal goals in social communication, ensuring they feel empowered to make choices that reflect their values.

• Navigating Feelings: We explore ways to describe and communicate feelings and emotions, helping clients understand their emotional experiences and express them in ways that resonate with their social context.

Why Choose a Neuroaffirming Approach?

Our neuroaffirming social communication therapy focuses on building skills that feel natural and empowering for the individual. We aim to support individuals in feeling comfortable and confident in social settings without the pressure of conforming to societal norms. This approach fosters self-esteem and supports individuals in authentic self-expression, providing a strong foundation for developing healthy, meaningful relationships.

At Align Allied Health, we focus on supporting both receptive (understanding) and expressive (producing) language skills, helping individuals enhance their ability to understand and use language effectively. Whether it is improving vocabulary, grammar, or sentence structure, our tailored therapy sessions aim to build strong communication foundations for children, adolescents, and adults.

Key Focus Areas:

• Vocabulary Development: We help individuals expand their vocabulary, ensuring they have the words they need to express themselves clearly and confidently.

• Describing: We support clients in developing their ability to describe objects, people, and experiences, focusing on attributes like colour, shape, size, parts, and materials.

• Categorising: We teach categorisation skills, helping individuals group things based on shared characteristics (e.g., animals, technology, transport), which supports language comprehension and organisation.

• Concepts: We work on understanding and using concepts like in front, behind, between, and many or few, enhancing both receptive and expressive language skills.

• Following Instructions: We provide targeted interventions to improve the ability to follow instructions, whether they are simple or complex, improving functional communication.

• Sentence Structure: We focus on developing correct sentence structure, ensuring clear communication and the ability to express thoughts and ideas coherently.

• Grammar: We address key grammar concepts, such as irregular plurals and past tense, promoting accurate language use.

• Recounting Events: We support the development of recounting events, helping clients retell stories, experiences, or information in a logical and clear manner.

• Narrative Language: We help individuals develop narrative language skills, focusing on the structure and elements of stories, such as characters, settings, and plots.

• Sequencing: We assist in developing sequencing skills, enabling individuals to understand and express events.

Why Choose Align Allied Health?

Our tailored therapy sessions aim to enhance both receptive language (understanding) and expressive language (producing). By targeting key areas such as vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure, we empower individuals to communicate more effectively in a variety of settings. Whether it is supporting everyday conversations or building complex language skills, our strengths-based approach supports individuals in expressing themselves confidently and clearly.

At Align Allied Health, we provide speech therapy services for individuals who experience differences with speech sound production. Our therapy aims to help individuals improve the clarity of their speech, ensuring they can communicate effectively and confidently.

Key Focus Areas:

• Distorted Speech Sounds: We help individuals correct the distorted production of sounds (e.g., saying "sthun" instead of "sun"), focusing on clear articulation and sound accuracy.

• Substituted Sounds: We work with clients to address substituted sounds (e.g., saying "wion" instead of "lion") and help them produce the correct sounds in words.

• Omitted Sounds: We support individuals who omit sounds in words (e.g., saying "ca" instead of "cat") by teaching them how to include all necessary sounds for clear communication.

• Added Sounds: We assist clients in eliminating added sounds (e.g., saying "sapoon" instead of "spoon") to achieve correct word pronunciation.

• Unclear Speech: We focus on improving overall speech clarity, helping individuals express themselves clearly in both formal and informal settings.

Why Choose Align Allied Health?

Our individualised speech therapy services target key areas of speech sound production, including distortion, substitution, omission, and addition of sounds. By improving speech clarity, we empower individuals to communicate more effectively in everyday interactions, enhancing their confidence and social participation.

At Align Allied Health, we offer expert support for paediatric fluency issues, focusing on stuttering. 

Paediatric Fluency Therapy:

We utilise the Lidcombe Program, a research-based stuttering treatment that has been proven effective in helping children develop more fluent speech. This program focuses on providing positive reinforcement and structured speech practice to improve fluency in everyday conversations.

Key Features of the Lidcombe Program:

• Parent-Child Involvement: The Lidcombe Program encourages active participation from parents or caregivers, with training and support to help implement fluency strategies at home.

• Personalised Approach: Each child’s fluency therapy plan is customised to their unique needs and progress, ensuring a supportive and individualised approach.

• Evidence-Based: The Lidcombe Program is recognised for its strong evidence base, with numerous studies confirming its effectiveness in treating paediatric stuttering.

Why Choose Align Allied Health for Fluency?

• Lizzie is Lidcombe Program trained through the Lidcombe Program Trainers Consortium, ensuring expert delivery of this well-established stuttering therapy program.

• Ongoing Support: Our therapy extends beyond the clinic, offering tools and strategies for parents to help maintain progress at home.

At Align Allied Health, we understand that communication is a shared activity between the individual and their communication partners. This includes family members at home, educators at school, coaches in sports, and others within their environment. Our approach integrates communication partner strategies and environmental modifications to create sustainable, meaningful changes that benefit the individual and everyone they interact with.

Why Communication Partner and Environment Strategies Are Essential in Speech Therapy

1. Communication is a Two-Way Process

Effective communication involves both the individual expressing themselves and their communication partners understanding and responding appropriately. Teaching communication strategies and providing accommodations for communication partners empowers them to better engage with the individual, resulting in positive and supportive interactions. This approach enhances the communication process and creates an environment conducive to successful communication.

2. Reducing Barriers in the Environment

Environmental factors, such as noise levels, lighting, the availability of total modes of communication, or the availability of visual supports, can significantly impact communication success. By modifying these factors, we reduce barriers and create inclusive environments that make communication more effective. These changes help create spaces where the individual feels confident and empowered to express themselves.

3. Promoting Generalisation of Communication Skills

Therapy often occurs in controlled settings, but real-world environments present dynamic challenges. By equipping communication partners with strategies for speech therapy and environmental modifications, we ensure that the skills learned in therapy generalise across different environments, from home to school to community spaces.

4. Building Stronger Relationships Through Effective Communication

When communication partners understand how to support the individual’s needs, it strengthens their relationships. Partners who are equipped to interpret the individual’s communication attempts reduce frustration and promote stronger connections, ultimately fostering more supportive and effective interactions.

5. Fostering Independence and Advocacy in Communication

Teaching communication partners how to adapt and accommodate supports the individual in becoming a confident communicator. This approach encourages independent communication and models inclusive behaviours, promoting societal understanding and acceptance.

6. Aligning with Neuroaffirming and Strengths-Based Practices

At Align Allied Health, our philosophy prioritises neuroaffirming approaches. We focus on affirming the individual’s unique communication style while empowering communication partners to meet their needs in ways that feel authentic and respectful. This strengths-based approach ensures that therapy feels empowering, inclusive, and effective.

A Holistic Approach to Speech Therapy: Supporting Communication Partners and Modifying Environments

At Align Allied Health, we believe in a holistic approach to speech therapy that addresses not just the individual’s needs but also the needs of their communication partners and environment. By providing communication partners with the tools and strategies they need, and modifying environments to reduce barriers, we create lasting, meaningful change that empowers the individual to communicate confidently and authentically.

Get in touch today to book your telehealth consultation and learn how we can support you or your loved one’s communication goals.

0435 983 700

lizzie@alignalliedhealth.com.au