Initial assessment

The initial assessment is where we start. It’s a single 45-minute session in the Cronulla clinic — for a child, a parent or carer stays in the room the whole time; for an adult, you can bring a support person if you’d like.

We use a mix of standardised tools and informal observation, chosen to fit the person in the chair. For a child under five that might mean play with toys and books on the floor. For an older child it might be a tabletop task with pictures and stories. For an adult it might be a conversation, a reading task, and a short questionnaire.

We cover:

• What you’re noticing day-to-day and what you’d like to be different.
• Speech, language, voice, fluency, and swallowing — whichever are relevant.
• Background: medical history, hearing, prior reports, school feedback.
• A first read on what’s likely happening and what would help.

At the end of the session we’ll give you a short verbal summary — not a formalised written report — because parents can’t be expected to recall everything from the first session alone. If a written report is needed later (for NDIS or a school), we can prepare one separately.