Speech Therapy

To the Moon and Back is committed to providing speech therapy services that embody our values. We understand the importance of effective communication skills for your child's development and success.

Does my child need speech therapy?

Children all grow differently. It can be difficult for parents and caregivers to know whether their child needs speech therapy.

Communication milestones tell us when children are expected to be able to do certain things. If a child misses one or more of these milestones, it means they might need some additional support through speech therapy.

Contact us to schedule a Connect & Support Chat, where we can discuss your child’s unique needs and how our services might help.

Here are some signs that your child might benefit from Speech Therapy:

Frequent frustration when trying to communicate.
Not responding to their name.
Difficulty being understood, even by familiar adults.
No speech or attempts at speech by 12 months.
Not putting 2 words together by 2 years old.
Unusual speech sounds like hissing or glottal stopping, or deleting initial consonants (“ee et a at”).
Noticeable sound, syllable or word repetitions when speaking.

Communication Milestones 0 - 5 Years

Speech Sound Development

Of course, children are not born with all of their speech sounds. These develop over time, starting with sounds like p and b. Children’s speech sounds develop in a fairly predictable sequence. Have a listen to your child’s speech. If you notice that your child isn’t using one or more of these sounds and they should be – contact us to see if your child would benefit from speech therapy.

By age 3

p, b, n, m,d, t, k, g, w, ng, y, f, h

By age 4

v, sh, l, j, s, ch, z

By age 5

zh (as in beige), th, r

Reference: McLeod, S. & Crowe, K. (2018) Children’s consonant acquisition in 37 languages: A cross-linguistic review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology

Did you know?

A "speech therapist" and a "speech pathologist" are the same thing. Some may also call themselves a "speech and language pathologist", but it's entirely based on personal preference! In Australia, we also call ourselves "speechies".

All "speechies" are trained in the assessment and treatment of speech, language, voice, fluency and swallowing disorders.

Speech therapy can also help with:

Hearing Loss

Temporary or permanent hearing loss can impact on a person's communication development

Hearing loss results from damage to parts of the inner ear and/or blockage in the outer or middle ear. Poor access to auditory input can cause speech and language difficulties. Speech therapy can help.

Lisps

When the "s" sound is produced interdentally, i.e. with the tongue between the teeth

Interdental lisps are relatively common speech errors that may resolve on their own before age 5. Lateral lisps (when air escapes the side of the tongue) often don't resolve on their own and require therapy.

Late Talkers

Children with a limited vocabulary at 18-24 months.

Late talkers will often catch up on their own, but we don't have a good way of predicting which ones need support and which don't. Speech therapists can assess and monitor your child's progress to make sure they stay on track

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

Devices, systems or strategies that replace or enhance vocal speech.

Non-speakers or people whose speech is very unclear benefit from systems and supports that can allow them to communicate their message clearly. These can be speech generating devices, iPads, sign language, gesture or picture exchange.

Feeding and Mealtimes

Children with difficulties with eating including limited diet, sensory preferences and swallowing difficulties

The muscles involved in speech are the same muscles involves in chewing and swallowing food. Speech therapists have knowledge and expertise in how these muscles work and can provide therapy and supports to address some feeding issues.

Reading and Literacy

Difficulties with decoding written letters into words or with spelling words.

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that results in an inability to read accurately and fluently, to write words and to comprehend written text. It impacts 5-10% of people. People with dyslexia benefit from systematic instruction in how written letters correspond to sounds, vocabulary and comprehension.

Find out more

Autism Spectrum

Communication support for autistic children and adults

Some autistic people are non-speakers and benefit from AAC supports, others may require support to develop more complex spoken language and comprehension and others may require few supports at all.

Downloadable Speech Therapy Tip Sheets

Speech Pathology Australia has produced a series of helpful downloadable tip sheets. These are available from our resources page.

Speech Therapy

Speech Therapy

To the Moon and Back is committed to providing speech therapy services that embody our values. We understand the importance of effective communication skills for your child's development and success.

Does my child need speech therapy?

Here are some signs that your child might benefit from Speech Therapy:

Communication Milestones 0 - 5 Years

By 12 Months

By 18 months

By 2 years

By 3 years

By 4 years

By 5 years

Speech Sound Development

By age 3

By age 4

By age 5

Did you know?

Speech therapy can also help with:

Hearing Loss

Lisps

Late Talkers

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

Feeding and Mealtimes

Reading and Literacy

Autism Spectrum

Downloadable Speech Therapy Tip Sheets

Learn More About our Other Services

Keep in touch

Get regular updates and parenting essentials with our email newsletter.