speech therapy | Sensational Kids

Normalise Speech and Language Therapy

August 13, 2021August 13, 2021 by Marie Brennan

Normalise speech and language therapy into the every day. Try to incorporate what you are working on through everyday activities with your child rather than setting aside a timeslot for “therapy”. This will make it more fun and easier to sustain for you and your child. For example, if you are working on getting your child to make choices, offer two acceptable options at every opportunity from the minute they get up until they go to bed, choose from two t-shirt/dress options, get them to select their breakfast from two options, select their drink again from two options and the same goes for choosing games, books, tv programmes, activities, lunch, dinner, etc. This can happen throughout the day and will help make speech therapy practical and sustainable. If you have other children, get them involved also to make “therapy” part of family life. So again taking the choice theme […]

Now Offering Online Speech & Language Therapy Nationwide

February 3, 2021February 3, 2021 by Marie Brennan

Would your child benefit from online Speech and Language Therapy? Sensational Kids is here to help. We are now offering subsidised virtual Speech & Language appointments nationwide with Elaine Baldwin, Senior Speech & Language Therapist. “Online appointments are working extremely well for the families I am seeing. Goals are being met and the feedback is that many families are finding it more practical and less stressful to do a virtual appointment than to travel in the current climate.” Elaine Baldwin, Senior Speech & Language Therapist, Sensational Kids. Call Sensational Kids on 023 887 8208 now for further information and to book an appointment with Elaine. All stages and all abilities are welcome. Appointments are charged at a subsidised rate of €75 for a 45 minute therapy session.

Virtual Speech & Language Clinic

January 20, 2021 by Marie Brennan

Have you any concerns about your child’s speech and language development? Is your child struggling to use any speech sounds? Are you worried about their understanding? Are you concerned that you child is finding it difficult to communicate? Talk to one of our Senior Speech and Language Therapists at a special virtual clinic on Tuesday, 2nd February between 3pm and 5pm. To ensure that we have time to spend with each parent/ guardian, these clinics are strictly by appointment only and cost €10 per timeslot. Please call us at Sensational Kids, Clonakilty to book in your 15-minute slot on 023 88 78208. This is your chance to raise your concerns with an expert.

Online Therapy Supports Re-Open at Sensational Kids, Monaghan

April 20, 2020April 21, 2020 by Karen Leigh

Generous Donation for Online Therapy Supports for Children in Need in Monaghan Area There’s good news for parents of children with additional needs in the Cavan/Monaghan and surrounding areas. Sensational Kids Child Development Centre in Monaghan, which was forced to close its online occupational therapy supports for children with additional needs during the pandemic due to a lack of funding, has today re-opened its online occupational therapy supports for children and families in need, with thanks to a very generous donation by a donor advised fund from The Community Foundation of Ireland. Sensational Kids’ online tele-health services that are available for children from Sensational Kids in Monaghan include Occupational Therapy and Speech & Language Therapy for children and adolescents of all ages and all abilities, as well as parent advice and parent coaching for parents who have children with additional needs. As a Social Enterprise, our affordable and accessible […]

Working Speech and Language Targets into Home Activities

March 23, 2020March 23, 2020 by Karen Leigh

Trying to keep on top of your child’s speech and language therapy targets can be tricky at times, especially now when there has been such a big and sudden change to everyone’s routine. The following are ways of working on speech and language targets through everyday activities at home. Books: Books are the perfect language tool. For younger children books are important for listening and learning new vocabulary. Children learn words when they are interested-read books that interest your child. If your child is working on ‘Wh’ questions books are great opportunity to work on this. As you are reading the book and looking at the pictures you can ask your child ‘wh’ questions about what they are seeing or hearing-‘What colour is the boys jumper?, ‘who is climbing the tree?’ ‘where is he hiding?’ ‘why is she sad?’. Books are great for learning prepositions also. Use the pictures in the books and comment on the characters, eg. ‘the boy is in the car’, ‘the cat is on the […]

Virtual Care at Sensational Kids

March 21, 2020April 14, 2020 by Karen Leigh

A Brand New Way to Receive Sensational Kids Services Our innovative Virtual Care services leverage video conference technology to allow you to connect remotely with one of our healthcare professionals, regardless of where you’re located. Access to therapy supports for a child or adolescent can make all the difference in the world, which is why Sensational Kids is innovating to improve access to services and to look after our vulnerable children and adolescents, when clinic based services are unavailable. You can now connect with us remotely for Virtual Care. From Monday 23rd March, all of our occupational therapy, speech & language therapy and play therapy sessions will be moving to online video calls using a secure virtual healthcare video conferencing system. You can also request for a therapist to call you over the phone. Our Virtual Care services are easy to use, private, and most of all convenient. Removes accessibility […]

Supporting Communication in Children with Hearing Loss

February 21, 2020February 21, 2020 by Karen Leigh

Hearing loss, also known as hearing impairment, is a partial or total inability to hear. In children, hearing problems can have a significant impact on the ability to learn and develop their spoken language. The age at which hearing loss has occurred is known as the age of onset. Some children may have hearing loss since birth where are others have acquired hearing loss, after the point where they began to learn language. Children with hearing loss are likely to present with language delays i.e. learn and develop their language at a slower pace that children without a hearing loss. It is vital to think about helping a child build a language and communication foundation as early as possible by accessing early intervention. The development of language and other skills begins with communication. There are many communication strategies and approaches that can be used early to build language including, but not limited to […]

Coming this month… speech & language drop-in advice clinic in our Cork centre!

September 6, 2019September 6, 2019 by Beth O'Regan

A great opportunity to speak with our senior speech and language therapist about any concerns you may have in relation to speech and communication difficulties with your child. To ensure that we have time to spend with each parent/ guardian, these clinics are strictly by appointment only. Please call us in Clonakilty to book in your FREE 15 minute slot today on 02388 78208.

Speech & Language Therapy Drop In Clinic

August 2, 2019August 2, 2019 by Karen Leigh

Sensational Kids is providing a free drop in clinic at it’s child development centre in Kildare Town in August for parents who have concerns about their child’s speech or language development. Are you living in Co. Kildare or the surrounding area and have concerns about your child’s speech & language development? Help is at hand! We are delighted to provide a free Speech & Language Therapy Drop-in Advice Clinic. • 6pm-8pm on Wednesday, 21st August 2019 • 10am to 12 noon on Wednesday, 28th August 2019 There’s no need to book – just call in to have a quick chat with our Speech & Language Therapist, Kate FitzHerbert. Each advice session will last about 10-15mins. Phone Sensational Kids, Kildare (045) 520 900

Sensational Kids Clinical Services

July 24, 2019July 24, 2019 by Karen Leigh

Sensational Kids provides a range of child development services in Ireland for children and adolescents of all ages and all abilities, including occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, play therapy, educational psychological assessments, hippotherapy, and hearing tests.

Detecting Speech and Language Difficulties in Young Children

April 26, 2018February 10, 2020 by Karen Leigh

Speech, language and communication skills are fundamental foundation skills for life. Many children develop these skills appropriately, but others struggle. Research has shown that the earlier any difficulties are identified and subsequently treated, the more favourable the outcome. The stages of speech and language development are the same for all children, but the age children reach these stages can vary. It is not possible to detect a problem when we are unaware of what is deemed “typical” in development. However, there are some general signs that indicate a delay which should be acted on: A young child who does not respond to their name or who does not make sounds should be seen by a doctor immediately. A child should be referred to Speech and Language Therapy if: by 12months of age they don’t use gestures by 18 months they are not using words and have difficulty understanding basic […]

Speech & Language Therapy Drop In Clinic in West Cork

March 15, 2018September 21, 2018 by Karen Leigh

Are you living in West Cork and concerned about your child’s speech & language development? Help is at hand! We are delighted to provide a free Speech & Language Therapy Drop In Advice Clinic At Sensational Kids, Building G West Cork Technology Park, Clonakilty P85 VF62 10am to 12 noon on Wednesday mornings until the end of October 2018 6-8pm every Thursday Evening until the end of October 2018 No need to book – just call in to have a chat with our speech & language therapist Elaine Baldwin. Phone Sensational Kids Clonakilty 023 887 8208