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Welcome to Speech Therapy in the Tzaneen and surrounding areas. Speech Therapy is the practice of helping people with impaired communication skills overcome and or cope with their difficulties. It is a very wide field ranging from child to adult practice. My focus with children is based on the research that the sooner we help children to communicate their needs, wants, feelings, likes and dislikes, the sooner we prepare them for achievement in school and life. This includes making friends, following instructions from the teacher, learning new concepts and developing at an age appropriate pace. All of these skills are based upon our communication abilities.  In my practice I aim to help my clients achieve to the best of their abilities.

Sadly I meet many of my clients in hospital after they have had a stroke. It is common for stroke patients to need the services of a Speech Therapist because they may have difficulty speaking, understanding or swallowing. Most people do not realise the value of communication until it is impaired or gone altogether. I have often heard that the role of the therapists in hospital settings with stroke or brain injured patients is to give them quality of life. The Dr’s and nurses often save lives, but imagine how frustrating, scary and lonely it must be to not be able to communicate your basic needs and wants. Suddenly your freedom to choose and decide for yourself is taken away from you. You rely on your family and friends to guess what you want. Time to call the Speech therapist. Speech therapists have skills that allow us to determine which specific areas of your communication and swallowing are impaired. Based on our assessment we devise a programme to help you to communicate. This can include alternative augmentative communication (AAC) or learning to speak again. Each person and stroke is unique. There is no one size fits all. Your Speech therapist will work with you to give you communication and safe swallowing skills.