Services

Solutions to Improve Speech, Language & Communication Skills

Communicate Consultancy is a well-established practice that provides school-aged children and adults with therapy and support for a wide range of communication issues.

Speech Therapy

Treatment for speech and language difficulties.

Social Thinking

Providing therapy for social thinking and communication difficulties.

Parental/Carer Support

Helping parents, carers and teachers understand what their child or young person is communicating through their behaviour.

Mental Health Support

Working with people who have mental health issues or behaviour that challenges others.

Self-Regulation

Developing visual tools and supports for emotional and behavioural regulation.

Non-Verbal Communication

Working with people who are non-verbal or have very limited speech.

Speech Pathology Services

Assessment and Feedback

Communication is a complex process. Each person’s communication profile, their hopes and dreams and their communication needs are unique. This requires sensitive and thorough exploration.

Assessment may involve interviews with the person themselves or with family/carers. It can also involve observation, questionnaires or formal tests.

The assessment process is always followed by a formal feedback session. This can be with the person themselves, their parents or carers, or other relevant members of their communication network. This helps the person and the people important to them better understand their communication strengths and challenges. It helps everyone involved to put effective strategies in place.

Individual Therapy or Intervention

Nicola uses a wide range of evidence-based intervention approaches including: Talking Mats™, Comic Strip Conversations™, Social Thinking ™, Visual Supports and Intensive Interaction, which she tailors to meet the client’s individual needs.

Sessions can be provided at the clinic in Albert Park, or in the client’s home, community, educational facility or work-place according to individual need. Individual intervention may also involve social and work-place communication skills coaching.

Parenting Support

As a Tuning into Teens™ facilitator and through the lived experience of being a parent herself, Nicola can provide parenting support, education and advice to parents of children and teenagers who are facing communication, academic and/or social-emotional challenges.

Carer and Support Worker Training and Sessions.

Nicola is passionate about supporting the work-force who care daily for people with complex presentations and communication needs.

She regularly provides collaborative problem-solving and reflective practice sessions for workers in residential facilities for young people in Out-of-Home care and adults with complex disabilities, as well as for outreach worker teams. Nicola can also provide secondary consultation, training and workshops to whole agencies.

Individual and Group Supervision

Nicola has over 25 years’ experience in providing clinical supervision.

Nicola has over 25 years’ experience in providing clinical individual and group supervision. She has supervised speech pathologists, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and case managers working with complex clients in the health, community, mental health and education sectors. She is trained in the Super Vision™ model developed by the Groupwork Institute and has recently completed the Bouverie Centre 6-day Clinical Supervision course.

Group Facilitation

Nicola is an experienced facilitator, having facilitated team-building, conflict management and strategic planning workshops for a variety of non-for-profit agencies as well as in the corporate sector.

Types of Assessments

At ‘Communicate’ we offer a number of additional specialised assessments including the following:

Option 1: Communication and Assistive Technology* Needs Scoping Session

This is a joint visit to meet the client in their home. It is carried out by Nicola Dann, Speech Pathologist and Jeff Neal, Assistive Technologies Consultant.

The visit takes up to 2 hours and usually involves the following:
Confirmation of the person’s current needs and future goals
Interview with the person and key support person in the house
Observation of the person’s communication strengths and vulnerabilities
Gaining an understanding of the person’s cognitive abilities as they relate to adopting/embracing new methods of communication/technology such as motivation for change, mental flexibility and ability to learn new skills
Determination of next steps forward
Brief Scoping Session report with general recommendations

*Assistive Technology solutions can be provided for people with communication issues, people with physical disability who need environment control devices and for people who are wanting a technology platform to increase their independence in daily life.

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Option 2: Comprehensive Complex Communication Assessment & Brief Intervention

This more detailed assessment involves Speech Pathologist Nicola Dann and involves a number of components including:

Case review including review of all relevant reports and documentation – up to 1 hour
Interview the person and their key family member or support person – up to 1.5 hours
Observation/assessment of the person in their regular environment (may involve visiting the person at their home and then seeing them in another setting such as at Day Program) – up to 1.5 hours
Comprehensive report completed including recommendations and practical strategies that can be implemented immediately – 3 hours
At least 1 feedback and problem-solving session for the entire house-staff group/care-team – 1.5 hours

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Work with a Youth Justice or Corrections client?

Our individualised solutions can help your clients understand and communicate more effectively.

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About Us

Communicate Consultancy is a well-established practice that provides school-aged children and adults with therapy and support for a wide range of communication issues.

We work with clients at our clinic in Albert Park but can also provide services to clients in their homes, school or local communities depending on need.

Our practice values the importance of understanding the unique needs and experience of each person we work with. Our practice is creative and inclusive; working with the person with the communication issue and the people important to them to achieve their goals.