Robust Theme

The longer version

My passion for working with children developed from a very early age. I independently ran a children’s service at my local religious centre from the age of 12. Although I did not know it at the time, it was then where I made the decision to become a paediatric speech pathologist. During these weekly services, I enjoyed playing with all the children, but there was one particular boy who caught my attention (and my heart!) Despite this boy’s friendliness and kindness, and obvious desire to play with the other children, he always seemed to end up on the sidelines playing by himself. I often noticed the other children looking confused and then walking away from him, as he had trouble answering their simple questions and participating in their pretend play. I also found him quite difficult to understand, and I assumed the other children also had this problem. The clear social and emotional impact this child’s communication skills were having, resonated with me for years to come, until I stumbled across the speech pathology profession in my final years of high school. 

In the first years of my Speech Pathology career, I completed my PhD while working part-time in a clinical role. During this time, I also undertook casual academic research, lecturing and clinical supervision. In 2020, I became a Lecturer in Speech Pathology at University of Queensland (UQ). Despite my enjoyment of academia, it was (and continues to be) my clients and their families who motivated me to get out of bed each morning – either to educate students at university, or to work directly with these children and their families.

I started Exceed Speech with the aim of merging my research and clinical expertise, to provide effective early intervention to children with communication and learning difficulties.

Timing can be crucial in early development. My goal is to strengthen children’s communication and learning skills during their critical development years so that they can succeed emotionally, socially, and academically - now and into the future.

My PhD is in the area of childhood stuttering disorders. Through my PhD specialisations, Exceed Speech offers a stuttering treatment program that has the highest success rate of any other preschool stuttering treatment worldwide. Our treatment is holistic, and combines a range of treatment approaches to flexibly suit each family, to maximise a child’s chance of recovering from stuttering.

| Exceed Speech offers a stuttering treatment program that has the highest success rate of any other preschool stuttering treatment worldwide.

We are very proud to offer a world first Stuttering Toolkit, which is an online course designed to enable parents to independently manage their child’s stutter! The practical treatment techniques shared in this course, are the same treatment principles trialled in my PhD – which were found to be 90% effective.

Beyond stuttering, we pride ourselves in working with children who do not necessarily meet criteria for a particular “diagnosis”, but whose communication or learning difficulties have an impact on their quality  of life. Often these children “fly under the radar”, but experience difficulties that stop them from reaching their potential.  Our goal is to identify the underlying skills contributing to communication or learning challenges, to tailor treatment programs that ensure long lasting and durable gains.

| We pride ourselves in working with children who do not necessarily meet criteria for a particular “diagnosis”.

At Exceed Speech, we are really proud to offer the majority of our services via Telehealth. I first started using Telehealth after moving from Perth to Brisbane for my lecturing role at University of Queensland (UQ) – pre COVID! So many families I worked with at the time were really dedicated to continue working with me, so I agreed to move over our in-person sessions to online and see how we went. I have never looked back. Not only is the effectiveness of telehealth at least equivalent to face to face sessions (a claim which is backed up by high quality research), but parents have loved the convenience and accessibility of Telehealth sessions. I have also found generalisation of therapy goals to be so much quicker, because we use the child’s own toys and items in their environment – instead of the foreign ones in a clinic room.

| Parents have loved the convenience and accessibility of Telehealth sessions.

The effectiveness of Telehealth sessions gave me the confidence to expand my reach to help families worldwide!

Free eBook

Take a sneak peak of what the Stuttering Toolkit has to offer, and learn about the treatment principles that have proven successful for more than 90% of children who stutter.