Kids in the Hills Speech Pathology

30/01/2026

Sticker stock-up!!
I love using stickers in my therapy sessions. Here are some ideas:
- create a scene with stickers as reinforcers eg a farm scene, a building site, a racing track
- building vocabulary eg. animals on the farm, describing how they look, what actions do they do, how are they the same/different?
- targeting specific sounds associated with those stickers eg. sm - smiley face stickers, k final - truck, f initial - on the farm, s medial - dinosaur
- using different grammar structures or different verbs eg. aux is - mouse is....

Just some ideas to name a few.....

27/01/2026

Wondering if you're child's speech is progressing as it should?
Here's a simple overview as to when most children are able to accurately pronounce different sounds. If you still have difficulties understanding your child's speech and they are 4yrs and/or in their final year before starting school, now is a good time to seek help to help get ready for prep in 2027!

I still have a few appointment slots available for term 1 if you are interested at my clinic in Ferny Grove 4055. Contact is 0402 070 299 or kidsinthehills.sp@gmail.com

23/01/2026

I've bene doing a tidy up in the clinic already for the start of term next week! I like to rotate the toys I use just to keep it fresh for both the clients and myself. Here's my final outcome.

20/01/2026

For the Speechies..... check out my latest workshop I will be running.

Bookings are now open with more details on my website!
https://www.kidsinthehillsspeech.com/upcomingworkshops

19/01/2026

Welcome back to the new year!! I'm slowly getting back into the clinic as the school holidays come to an end. I've also been working on some different projects and cleaning out the clinic.
Stay tuned!!

18/12/2025

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Thanks for your support this year.
The clinic will be closed from Thursday 18th Dec and re-open Tues 13th Jan 2026 for a well-earned break.

02/12/2025

With all the recent sales, you may be thinking about toys for Christmas presents. Did you know, that some toys are better at encouraging conversation and building vocabulary then others. Here's what the research says:

It's shopping season—what does the research say about toys and language development? We've got the details, plus a parent-friendly handout to share with families.

28/11/2025

Looking for some activities to practice 'r'? Christmas has some great words to help with 'r'. Try some of these:
Christmas, red, green
tree, presents, ribbon, stripey
reindeer, Rudolph, racing, delivery
gingerbread
bricks (on the house)

**Handy hint - if you're child is just starting to learn 'r', avoid words that have other 'lip' sounds (eg present, bread), as these will encourage 'w' instead of 'r'.

25/11/2025

Getting stuck with the 'r' sound" There's a reason why it's one of the last sounds for children to learn as it can be quite challenging! Most children learn 'r' by 5-6yrs. If your child or client is stuck, here's a great summary of how to help with 'r'. Or if you need further ideas, you can book your child in for a appointment over the school holidays.

SPs - I also often clinical supervision on teaching 'r' if you'd like further ideas!

Long-term problems with the /r/ sound can be hard to fix. Most children learn to say /r/ correctly by 5 years and stop “gliding” /r/ to /w/ by 6 years of age.

20/11/2025

I've had quite a few clients lately who have difficulties with the 'l' sound. This Orchard game "Where Do I Live?" has been great to help us practice 'l' words embedded in a structured game

Some words we've used include:
- flip over (for each card to match on the board)
- find animals that are "little" or "long"
- talk abut what actions the animals do - flip, flap, fly, climb, play, sleep , slip, slide
- talk about colours - blue, black, yellow

18/11/2025

Here's my newsletter sent to the local kindy and childcare centres. This month, there's some ideas about toys that help to encourage communication skills . Maybe give you some inspiration for Christmas ideas?!

14/11/2025

A quick reminder for those kindy clients looking to start prep next year. Here are the ages when most children are able to say each sound currently. If you have concerns about your child, give us a call to see how we can help to get your child ready (mob: 0402 070 299).
If a child has difficulty saying certain sounds, it will often then impact on learning to read and spell these sounds as well.