It mostly looks like playing
Ninety minutes, $190, and your child will think they came to play games in a room with good toys. That is the assessment working — a four-year-old asked to perform on demand tells you nothing useful.
The ninety minutes
We talk, they play · 0–15 min
Your history of it — what you have noticed, when it started, what you have already tried, how the birth and early years went. Your child plays while we talk, and we are watching that too.
Structured assessment through play · 15–55 min
Standardised assessments delivered as games — naming pictures, following instructions, telling a story from a picture book. It looks nothing like a test, which is exactly the point.
A language sample · 55–70 min
Ten minutes of your child talking freely, recorded with your consent. Frequently more informative than any formal test, because it is how they actually talk.
What we found · 70–85 min
In plain language, with the scores explained and compared to the range for their age. You will be told what is within normal variation and what is not.
The plan, or no plan · 85–90 min
Either a recommended block with specific goals, or — about one time in five — a few things to do at home and a review in six months. You get the written report within a week.
If the answer is “nothing to worry about”
About one assessment in five here ends with no therapy recommended, because the child is within normal range and simply on the later side of it. You get the report, a few things to do at home, and a review in six months if you want one. That is a good outcome and it is worth the $190 — a clinic where every assessment leads to therapy is not assessing anything.
What to bring, and what to expect
Anything from the school or kindy
Your child’s red book
If you have one. If not, get one — glue ear explains a lot of unclear speech and we will send you for it anyway.
A favourite toy or book
A teacher’s note or a report is genuinely useful, even an informal one.
No call-out charge
The personal health record, for early milestones and hearing screening results.
No sales visit
Something familiar helps a shy child settle in the first ten minutes.
Parents stay in the room
Always, at every session, unless your child is a teenager who would rather you did not. You are the one doing the ten minutes a day at home, so you need to see what it looks like. Siblings are welcome too — there are toys for them and nobody minds the noise.
First assessments are usually available within three weeks
No referral needed for a first appointment. Ring between 8:30am and 5:30pm weekdays and we will find a time.