We approached Hannah after doing some on line research in an attempt to help my son who is nearly 4. We have been “in the system” with him since he was 18 months after our health visitor noticed he had speech delay and hearing problems. The hearing was sorted quickly with some grommets and we were assured that now he could hear he would start talking. This didn’t happen and we started speech therapy with our local NHS therapist when he was 2 1/2. We went along fortnightly to begin with and then monthly and kept being told that now his hearing was sorted it would just be a matter of time. We were then told we would be followed up in 6 months time. During this 6 months he still wasn’t progressing massively and my frustration was that I didn’t really know what I should / shouldn’t be doing and how to help him. After doing some on line research I found Hannah and got in touch. She contacted me by phone to begin with to gain some back ground information and see if she was able to help. I found this extremely helpful as I was able to discuss my concerns, his history and where we were at now before deciding on what to do next. I found Hannah to be very honest on what she was able to do but not at all pressurised into any sort of programme.
We decided to book my son in for an initial consultation and go from there. I found the session with Hannah to be extremely useful. She assessed my son – which was quite difficult as on the day he wasn’t particularly chatty or engaging as he wasn’t feeling 100%. She gave me information about him – specifically that he has speech and language delay and explained fully what these were and the difference, and also what sort of therapy he needs. I felt much more informed both of what his issues are and how to help him.
He was due to see his own speech therapist a few weeks after so Hannah wrote a letter to her and also to his pre school highlighting his issues and how to help him. She offered to take him on, work in conjunction with his therapist or for him to carry on with his therapist – whichever we felt was best.
I took this information to his therapist and explained what I had been told and what we would like. As a result he now has therapy every 2 weeks with his therapist and he is really progressing. The deciding factor for us to stay with his current therapist is only down to the fact that he is used to her and the environment so participates more in the sessions. She is also linked with the school he will be attending and so it will provide him with continuity. I feel it is down to Hannah’s advice and help that we have got this and I will have no hesitation going back to her if we need to.
It is also worth mentioning that our speech therapist that we see knows of Hannah and also speaks very highly of her.