I want to help! Supporting families who have a child with speech difficulties is hugely rewarding. A child’s smile after they say a new word for the first time is unbeatable. As a therapist I know the massive difference home practise makes to therapy working, and as a Mum I understand how hard it is to fit everything into your busy life! I also know that as a Mum I would do anything to help my children. I wanted to tackle this issue by making home practise as easy and quick as possible. Little and often rather than marathon sessions are my aim. I started making highly focused quick activity sheets and got great feedback from families!

Waiting lists are a huge challenge for parents and therapists! I started developing my Home Programmes in 2019 when it was estimated there were over 40,000 children waiting for Speech and Language Therapy in Ireland. Professionally and personally I feel this is simply is not good enough. Our children deserve better. The experts and research agree that getting help as soon as possible can make the difference between therapy being successful or not. There is a window of opportunity when it is best to help your child and waiting lists may mean this window gets missed! The knock-on effect of waiting on the list is difficult to measure, but it is linked with difficulties developing friendships, relationships, school engagement and even academic success can be affected.

I believe I can help. I want to do something about this. I have created a way of combining my clinical skills with my parenting knowledge to make Speech and Language Therapy accessible for all our children; a way to offer therapy at in the clinic and at home in quick, fun activities that suit busy lifestyles and beat the waiting list. So, my business Optima Speech Therapy was born. Optima meaning ‘my best’, as that is what I want to provide. The best therapy I can provide keeping it quick and fun!

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Listen to one of my radio interviews here