Chatty Chipmunks - Huntingdon Speech and Language Therapy

11/11/2025

I am recently back from maternity leave and will be catching up with emails and booking families in over the next few weeks.

Looking forward to seeing you and your little ones again soon! 🤩

26/10/2024

...And that's a wrap! All finished and packed away for maternity leave! 👶

It has been a pleasure to meet and support so many wonderful families over the last two and a half years and I look forward to seeing so many of you again when I return to work around Autumn next year!

26/10/2024

Great feedback to end on just before my maternity leave:-

"Excellent service, tailored to our child. Underpinned by clear goals to work through. Our child made significant progress".

Comments like this definitely make it all worth while!

18/10/2024

👶 I will be going on maternity leave in just over 1 week's time! 👶

All the home programmes for those families staying on my caseload have now been sent. Please have a read through and make sure you ask any questions you have now as I will be unable to answer clinical queries over my leave.

I plan to return to work in Autumn Term 2025.

17/06/2024

Brilliant opportunity for parents or practitioners to get some Attention Autism training!

08/06/2024

This looks fun - for people with Down's Syndrome and their families. ❤️

11/05/2024

ILLNESS REMINDER

We have recently had a few children attend sessions who have had recent fevers, rashes and bacterial infections. Could I please remind you to be vigilant when deciding if your child is well enough to attend therapy as I have a lot of children with very complex needs on my caseload. Simple childhood illnesses can be very dangerous to these children.

As a reminder, I have the following policies in place:-

--Please ensure your child has been fever free for at least 24 hours (without the help of paracetamol/calpol) before bringing them to sessions (even if the fever is unexplained)
--Please ensure any rashes are inspected by a doctor before coming to therapy to make sure they are not contagious
--For children requiring antibiotics, please ensure you check with your doctor about when your child is no longer contagious
--Please observe the NHS advice for specific infections, e.g. for chicken pox children need to be kept at home until all the spots have crusted over.

As a general rule, if your child would not be able to attend nursery or school they should not attend therapy.

I understand that you want to make the most from your block of therapy but if your child is poorly they will not be able to make the most out of the session and it can often end up being wasted. If you let me know in advance if your child is unable to attend due to illness, I will try my best to rearrange. If I am unable to rearrange I can offer a video or telephone appointment with parents instead to check in on progress and offer advice.

If you are unsure if your child should attend therapy please email or text me and I will let you know.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

13/04/2024

I recently completed the Curiosity Training Programme for professionals and it was fantastic. The trainers were brilliant and the content was very interesting and helpful. I'd really recommend this for any parents with an autistic child at a development stage of under 2.5 years.

https://www.facebook.com/share/MXZrCxHhmYNkkr4G/

We are thrilled to announce the Curiosity online training course for parents. Learn how to better connect with your child, better understand how to help with developing early communication skills and have fun together whilst doing so. The training is in a group format but coaching on a 1:1 basis is also available upon request. For details of what the training involves and too book a place please click on the link below. 🤩

https://bookwhen.com/lyndsaybarlow =ev-s61i-20240417190000

We are very much looking forward to working with you!

22/03/2024

Lovely feedback from a relatively new client this morning. 😍

"Samantha is knowledgeable, professional and has the ability to keep my son engaged when other therapists can find him challenging."

It's comments like this that really make it all worthwhile. 🥰 Even more so for those more 'challenging' children! 🐒

26/02/2024

Just love getting feedback like this. It really makes it all worthwhile. 🤩

"Samantha gave my son a voice.... despite being a non verbal autistic...."

I believe that every child has a voice; but sometimes they just need help to find it. 😍

24/01/2024

❗️Apologies❗️
Unfortunately I do not currently have capacity to take on any new clients.
I will let you know when the situation changes.

06/01/2024

❓What is a speech and language assessment like for young children❓

Many parents of young children are understandably anxious about their child having a speech and language assessment. I am often told "my child won't be able to sit at the table and do activities" or asked "will my child know they are being assessed?"

Don't worry!

I believe young children, and let's face it any of us(!), perform better when they are calm and relaxed. I aim to provide a warm and friendly setting for young children to feel at ease in and explore lots of developmentally appropriate toys. I am also happy for parents to sit on the floor and play with them to help them settle. As a speech therapist, we don't always need to sit children at a table and 'test' them to get a good idea of their strengths and needs; lots of assessments are play-based. 🧸🧒☺️

This is the set up for one little one to walk into soon. 🥰