Unlike Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria, the ACT doesn’t have government-mandated speech pathology services in schools for children and teenagers. This means that there are especially more limited opportunities for adolescents to access speech pathology services in our territory. Parents are therefore faced with the difficult task of finding the right speech pathology practice for their teenager, particularly as 67% of speech pathologists in the ACT are in private practice.

How do you find just the right fit?

Here at In Positive Health in Canberra we work with school-aged children and adolescents (as well as adults) who present with communication difficulties. We enjoy working with older children to help them see that accessing therapy is not just for little children. Indeed, across the lifespan, many people require speech pathology support at a range of different ages. We cater to them as the aspiring young adult they seek to be.

“Communication disability can affect literacy and other educational outcomes, mental health, and future employment,” as The Conversation clearly articulates, so we try to fill that void where public schools cannot offer speech pathology services and children fall through the gap.

While we don’t visit schools to provide therapy, we enjoy working with teenagers and adolescents in our clinic to build skills for their future.

Connect with us today to see if we are able to support your teenager at our practice.

Our speech pathology and psychology clinic is located in Braddon, ACT, in Canberra’s CBD. Call us on 5117 4890 or email reception@inpositivehealth.com to get in touch.

In Positive Health, Canberra. Nel MacBean Speech Pathologist Canberra. Campbell MacBean Psychologist Canberra. Sally Arthur Psychologist Canberra. Brent Holgate Psychologist Canberra.

Mouth Breathing and Speech Pathology

Have you ever stopped to notice how your child breathes? Does he breathe through his mouth? Does she breathe through her nose? Humans are designed to be nasal breathers. But many people breathe orally – through their mouths – and this has been shown to have a detrimental effect on a child’s learning, concentration, behaviour, and general health.

There is already mounting evidence for mouth breathing contributing to a lack of working memory, increased learning disorders, and reduced academic achievement, not to mention dental issues. Now the evidence is growing to show that mouth breathing also contributes to speech and language disorders.

Much of the research on the effects of chronic mouth breathing come out of Brazil, and many papers haven’t yet been translated into English. In Brazil all children visit an ENT (Ear Nose and Throat surgeon, also known as an otolaryngologist) before any initial assessment with a speech pathologist. This helps to establish whether a child has, amongst other things, problems with nasal breathing. If a child can’t adequately breathe through their nose, steps are taken to rectify this, if appropriate, and then speech pathology gets involved.

My blogs, over time, are going to talk about the current research surrounding chronic mouth breathing and its effect on learning, behaviour, and speech pathology related issues. The aim is to create awareness, and hopefully a greater understanding, of this underreported and often under-diagnosed and unappreciated condition in children.

Today’s study is one conducted in 2010, in Brazil, by Patricia Junqueira and colleagues. These researchers looked at 414 Brazilian children between the ages of 2 and 16 who had a history of mouth breathing, mostly due to hay-fever, but many as a result of enlarged adenoids, or a combination of the two. They assessed these children for speech-sound disorders or articulation disorders and language difficulties, as well as orofacial myofunctional disorders, and found that their mouth breathing did indeed contribute to their speech pathology issues. Their conclusion is telling – that mouth breathing may lie at the very heart of a number of speech pathology related issues.

Junqueira, P., et al. (2010). Speech-language pathology findings in patients with mouth breathing: multidisciplinary diagnosis according to etiology, International Journal of Orofacial Myology, 36 (1), 27-32.

The Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year awards have been finalised for 2018, and here are the winners:

• Indigenous children: Sorry Dayby Coral Vass (Illustrations by Dub Leffler)
• Birth to 3 years: Heads and Tailsby by John Candy (Illustrations by John Candy)
• Three to 5 years: Rodney Loses It!Written by Michael Gerard Bauer (Illustrations by Chrissie Krebs)
• Five to 8 years: Danny Blue’s Really Excellent Dreamby Max Landrak (Illustrations by Max Landrak)
• Eight to 10 years: The Grand Genius Summer of Henry Hooblerby Lisa Shanahan.

Check out the Association’s web page for the complete list, along with a list of shortlisted books: https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/SPAweb/whats_on/Book_of_the_Year/SPAweb/What_s_On/Book_of_the_Year/Book_of_the_Year.aspx?hkey=6d7d21b1-0cd6-4b86-91e3-11884f031a02

Vocal overuse can be caused by many things, including infection and psychological trauma, and voice-laden professions such as teaching are particularly affected.

The overarching term for voice disorders or problems is ‘dysphonia’ and losing your voice can be devastating. It can have a huge effect on your quality of life, including economic, social and emotional tolls, but most people don’t seek treatment as it is a highly under-diagnosed and under-treated disorder.

If you have a voice disorder and need support, the Australian Dysphonia Network is worth connecting with.

Our speech pathology and psychology clinic is located in Braddon, ACT. Call us on 5117 4890 or email reception@inpositivehealth.com to get in touch.

In Positive Health, Canberra. Nel MacBean Speech Pathologist Canberra. Campbell MacBean Psychologist Canberra.

I have to admit, I am, unashamedly, a grammar nerd. I guess that’s probably a good thing, considering I’m a speech pathologist….

There has been some talk recently of ridding our language of the innocent apostrophe (the 27^thletter of the alphabet, no less). I needed to sit down when I read that. What the?

Apparently texting on a phone (where inserting the apostrophe requires too many taps on the keyboard), website domain names and other computer text requirements just make for a cumbersome apostrophe, and it’s likely to disappear from the language altogether anyway. Really?

Or is it due to “’incorrect, lazy, ignorant and appalling’ apostrophe catastrophes”, which John Richards, the former sub-editor of the Apostrophe Protection Society (yes, it really does exist!) believes to exist amongst English-speaking humans?

As Mary Norris, the Comma Queen of the New Yorker suggests, “It just is not that hard.” Too right.

What are your thoughts? Read the article here at ABC News

Our speech pathology and psychology clinic is located in Braddon, ACT, in Canberra’s CBD. Call us on 5117 4890 or email reception@inpositivehealth.com to get in touch.

In Positive Health, Canberra. Nel MacBean Speech Pathologist Canberra. Campbell MacBean Psychologist Canberra.