At Apple Tree we always assess a child before planning any therapy sessions. This allows us to get to know your child and understand their difficulties. From the assessment we find out if therapy is required and plan what type of therapy is appropriate for your child.
In order for Apple Tree’s therapists to understand how your child is communicating in different settings, we will ask you to complete a detailed questionnaire about your child’s communication and development before the first appointment. Based on the information you provide, the therapist can plan an appropriate individualised assessment for your child.
Your child’s communication will be assessed through observing their interaction and play with family members in their home, structured play based activities with the therapist and if appropriate with older children, standardised assessments. With our experienced therapists in a familiar setting, children usually relax quickly and enjoy the activities.
Afterwards, we will discuss the outcome of the assessment with you and give you an opportunity to ask questions about your child’s speech and language. You will be given practical suggestions on how to encourage your child’s communication. A comprehensive report detailing the outcome of the assessment and recommendations will be provided if required.
What kind of assessment packages do we offer?
We offer two main assessments and a speech sound assessment:
Our standard assessment takes one hour and allows us to get a good overview of your child’s difficulties and understand your concerns. This assessment allows us to get started with a plan for therapy or further assessment . It is ideal for children, who are late talkers, but are interacting well non-verbally with others.
Our comprehensive assessment takes two hours or may be delivered over two sessions sometimes with one of these visits at nursery or school. This allows for a more in depth assessment at home or to find out how they are interacting in another setting. Parents usually choose this assessment for their child if they have concerns about their child’s social communication or if their child has more complex difficulties over more than one area of development.
Our speech assessment takes one hour and is for children who have no difficulties with words, sentences, or social interaction but have with a lisp or difficulty with speech sound production. We do not carry out an assessment of their language development in this session.
Our selective mutism or stammering assessment starts with a one hour parent interview in order to find out in detail how your child is communicating everyday and to identify where and when you have noticed concerns and fluent interaction before setting up a tailored plan of intervention. We may then arrange further sessions with your child at home or in nursery or school based on our initial discussion with you. Written targets and strategies that are specific to your child will be provided.
Contact us if you would like to arrange an assessment for your child or find out more about speech and language therapy.