Evolution Speech Pathology

21/10/2025

Something to think of this Halloween 🎃
Opening ourselves up to the perspectives and lived experiences of others is how we grow 🌸

Have fun this Halloween, but please think before you dress up. Scars, burns, marks and conditions aren't costumes - they're part of someone's lived experience.

➡️ Halloween costume ideas often come from characters that are villains in films. The majority of evil characters have visible differences. Think Freddy Kruger, Joker, Two-Face and most Bond villains. Avoiding costumes that rely on scars, burns, marks and conditions helps break the link between appearance and evil.

➡️ Scars aren't scary. Think before you apply fake scars, burns and other differences to your face and body to make yourself look "spookier". There are many ways to be creative without turning someone else's reality into a costume.

➡️ Become an ally. People with visible differences often experience staring and negative comments when out in public. Halloween can make this worse. Make sure you smile if you catch yourself staring at someone and if you see any negative attitudes towards someone with a visible difference, check that they are ok.

Learn more about why Halloween can be tricky for the visible difference community: https://social.changingfaces.org.uk/lNC25i

25/09/2025

21/08/2025

Excellent statement from Victorian Autism Organisations.
Thanks you Yellow Ladybugs

20/08/2025

Frankly, this is a total misrepresentation of what is happening.
Autism is a life long disability for a start.
We no longer use terms like “mild” or “moderate” to describe Autism.
My clients and families are receiving evidenced based support.
The data presented is misleading and not interpreted correctly.
Minister Mark Butler shame on you.

20/08/2025

So disappointed and appalled by the language used during the National Press Conference
Yellow Ladybugs have expressed this so well

15/07/2025

People say “In the REAL world, they won’t be able to…” and then end that sentence with something that you actually, totally, can in fact do in the “real world”, a surprising amount of times in my line of work.

Actual things that people have actually, literally said to me:

In the REAL world, he won’t be using a pencil gripper. (What? Literally why not? I could use any pencil gripper I wanted to to write anything I felt like.)

In the REAL world, she can’t rock in her chair, so… (Yet I, a grown adult, sit perched like a bird and rocking wildly back and forth in my office chair while writing evaluations when I need a lot of sensory input.)

In the REAL world, the kids won’t have clipboards available to write on. (Isn’t a clipboard like, two dollars? Why couldn’t someone write with a clipboard?)

In the REAL world, she can’t cry every time something happens that she doesn’t like. (Anyone can cry whenever they want to cry. I’ve cried at all kinds of works in my life. When someone is crying, other human beings who are decent usually try to help them.)

On the flip side, you know what else doesn’t happen in the real world? People typically don’t have to sit silently at desks for 6+ hours a day. People typically are able to talk to their friend or coworker or text somebody in between tasks or when they feel like it. People typically can eat a snack if they’d like to or make arrangements to. People typically aren’t stuck in a room with 30 other people who are exactly their age, and nobody else. People typically don’t have to navigate buildings and structures and objects that are too large and proportionally clearly not made for them. People typically can take a break when they need to. People typically aren’t punished, and especially not physically, by their loved ones and close friends.

Every day, we’re *making* the real world.

I want to put all of our effort into making the real world a good place to be before I focus any of my efforts on chipping pieces off of its future inhabitants to try to make them fit some harmful imaginary mold from the past.

[Image description:
A drawn meme by NeuroWild
Around the borders are different colored pencils: purple, pink, green, red, yellow.
At the top is a cloud shape, blue, with words in it that read, ‘We have to PREPARE these kids for the REAL WORLD’
actually means:
“I am not prepared to accommodate this child now or in the future.”
“I accept that the world is going to treat them poorly and they should start getting used to that.”
“I will work hard on this child but I am not prepared to work on myself or the ableist world that we live in.”
The bottom 3 sentences are written in purple bubbles.
End description.]

15/07/2025

I think this one speaks for itself.

Em 🌈

26/06/2025

The download-and-print Spelfabet moveable alphabet and affixes now has embedded picture mnemonic tiles, and is useful for showing learners how to take words apart into sounds (phonemes), spelling p…

17/06/2025

17/06/2025

👉Trauma-Informed Practice: Safety isn't a bonus. It's the Bare Minimum.
This is a most beautiful article. It's a longer read, so get comfy and settle in.
So many wonderful reflections and golden quotes, but my favourite was "Conventional behaviourist approaches are basically the patriarchy in a polo shirt — all about control, compliance, and making you earn your sticker."
Thanks for writing about it all, Anna, Common Ground Disability

A Guide for Parents Who Are Done With Sticker Charts!

16/06/2025

Please take some time to read this. Evolution Speech Pathology is a small, independent business with 2 employees. This post reflects businesses like mine and our capacity to provide therapy in the NDIS space.

15/06/2025

Media statement: Access to speech pathology under the NDIS is at risk.

Following the release of the NDIA’s Annual Pricing Review, Speech Pathology Australia has issued a statement calling for urgent action.

> Price limits have been frozen for six years
> A proposed 50% cut to travel rates threatens rural and outreach services
> No formal consultation with peak bodies. Despite our best efforts to respond to ad hoc enquiries from the NDIA, once again, our advice has been disregarded.

We’re calling on the NDIA to set the pricing recommendations aside, and engage meaningfully with the speech pathology workforce on these critical issues.

Speech pathologists are committed to delivering quality care but we can’t do it without fair, sustainable pricing.

Read the full media statement 👉 https://bit.ly/3ZqLjut