We are abroad a lot so it was very convenient to be able to make a 
private appointment with Hannah for a speech assessment.  Our daughter  
was a little later than average speaking, having been born early.   
Hannah spent over an hour with us and gave some very helpful  
suggestions about ways to encourage speaking and to expand our  
daughter’s vocabulary.  She has a good rapport with children and our  
daughter took to her quite well.  The follow-up report was also a  
quite comprehensive summary of what we covered.

We turned to Speaking Sense for help with our 2 year old son. Hannah was so friendly and really took time to get to know our sons personality in order to tailor our sessions to his needs. Hannah made us feel comfortable and positive about the changes we could make to help our sons language skills develop. We have all made fantastic progress under the watchful eye of Hannah and would highly recommend her to anyone needing support with their child’s speech and language development. 

We found that Hannah offered a very professional service. After making contact we did not have to wait long for a thorough assessment that detailed some moderate delay in our 4 year old. This meant that we could get going with treatment before she started school – we were lucky enough to be able to afford private sessions after preschool suggested that the NHS waiting list would be over 6 months. In addition, it was great to have the option of home visits as well as the sessions at the clinic. My 4 year old enjoyed her sessions with Hannah who was kind and patient with her throughout.

Hannah was brilliant right from the start. I had a lateral ’s’, meaning my ’s’ was unclear and I used my back teeth to say it instead of the front. Hannah explained exactly what we were going to do and gave me a book in which she wrote the stages of the lessons and gave me many effective exercises and activities. Soon I could already pronounce the ‘real s’. Hannah was great at explaining everything and knows exactly what she’s doing. She varied fun activities and proper work very well and I enjoyed going to see her. I do a lot of acting and performing and am very glad Hannah has helped me to get much clearer pronunciation.’

We would have no hesitation in recommending Hannah as a speech and language therapist for children. Our 8 year old son was becoming frustrated at school and we wanted direction to know how best to help him. Hannah dealt with our enquiries swiftly and professionally. On the day she offered us the opportunity to be present at the assessment or wait outside. The session itself was run as a fun, interactive question time. Our son found Hannah easy to spend time with. The feedback we got from Hannah on the day was explained well, using the same tools she had used to assess Leo. A more detailed feedback followed the session in the form of a document which Hannah offered to share with the school and the GP if we felt that was right for us. We are very glad to have the insight Hannah has given us and feel as though we have done the right thing for us and our son.

We are really pleased with his speech and how after his sessions with you in the Summer, which really built his confidence and helped him to learn how to make the sounds he found tricky & then for us to practice with him at home using your guidance and the activities you set for him. He loves to read and is making great progress, which I think has also helped develop his speech, and also loves writing, sounding out words etc. He is such a chatterbox & it is great to see his love of sounds & letters, orally, reading & writing.

Hannah was a pleasure to meet. She undertook an engaging, fun and relaxed assessment which our daughter thoroughly enjoyed. We received a detailed report with constructive, easy-to-follow advice and exercises. The whole experience has left us reassured and with Hannah’s help, we feel positive about moving forward to gently improve our daughter’s speech.

Hannah has provided valuable supervision on a regular basis to help me fulfil the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) competency framework requirements. Her experience in a variety of settings and with a range of communication impairments meant she had wealth of knowledge to share which supported me in ensuring best practice in my day to day work. Hannah encouraged reflective thinking and provided practical advice and solutions where needed. Her supervision has not only helped me meet the RCSLT requirements for a full membership but has also improved my skills as a speech and language therapist.

The children all enjoyed their session and those with low self-esteem were treated very sensitively and came out of the session with a big smile. The suggested activities were all appropriate and this has given the class teachers and TAs a focus for intervention work. Consequently the children are making good progress. I would be keen to enlist Speaking Sense’s help again.