Speech and Language Therapy 

  Families   

 
Are you concerned about your child's communication development? 
 
Would you like to feel confident that you're doing everything you can to help? 
 
After 5 to 10 therapy sessions… 
 
70 out of 75 parents (93%) 
reported an improvement in their child’s ability to communicate successfully, when this was an issue. 
 
76 out of 77 parents (99%) 
reported feeling more confident in being able to help their child’s communication. 
65 out of 73 parents (89%) 
reported an improvement in their child’s emotional wellbeing, when this was an issue (e.g. less frustrated). 
 
67 out of 75 parents (89%) 
reported an improvement in their own emotional wellbeing, when this was an issue (e.g. less worried). 
 
From parents' responses on a rating scale before and after therapy. 

Three-Step Service   

 
Natalie offers a 3-step service designed around the individual needs and priorities of your child and family. 
 

Step 1 

Initial Phone Consultation 
 

Step 2 

Assessment 
 

Step 3 

Therapy 

Step 1: Initial Phone Conversation 

Natalie offers a free, no obligation initial phone conversation to discuss: 
 
Your concerns. 
 
What you feel would be helpful. 
 
The services offered and whether they can meet your individual requirements. 

Step 2: Assessment 

Natalie carries out an assessment of each child's unique communication skills and needs, that usually: 
Takes place in your child’s home and sometimes also in their nursery/pre-school/school. 
 
Involves play-based activities that your child enjoys. 
 
Involves discussion with you, and if applicable, also with nursery/school staff (with your permission). 
 
May include a written report (if required). 
 

Step 3: Therapy 

If therapy is required it: 
 
Usually takes place in your child’s home, and it may also take place in your child's nursery/pre-school/school. 
 
Involves discussion with you/education staff and play-based activities with your child. 
 
Involves you/education staff practising with your child between therapy sessions, during play and everyday routines. 
 
May include a written therapy plan and resources (if required). 
 
May involve support and guidance by phone call or email between appointments. 
 
May involve sharing information with other professionals involved with your child, to ensure a consistent approach. 

Therapy Packages 

Therapy packages are tailored to each child's individual needs. Examples are: 

Advice and Follow-up 

One-off session or meeting plus follow-up phone call 4, 6 or 8 weeks later 

Regular Follow-ups 

Sessions or meetings every 6, 8 or 12 weeks 

Intensive Follow-ups 

Sessions or meetings every month 

Regular Therapy 

Block of fortnightly sessions, plus follow-up session 4 weeks later 

Intensive Therapy 

Block of weekly sessions, plus follow-up session 4 weeks later 

Online Speech and Language Therapy 

As well as in-person services, Natalie offers online services using the video conferencing platform Zoom. The same high quality services can be provided online as in person - assessment, therapy, meetings and training. 
 
For very young children and those who find it difficult to interact online, assessment and therapy activities are carried out through video clips of your child interacting and playing, and sessions with you and nursery/pre-school/school staff, without your child needing to be present. 
 
Natalie offers a no obligation initial consultation and technology trial to determine whether online speech and language therapy is suitable for your child, family and their education setting. 

What People Say 

"I was a little nervous choosing a speech and language therapist, but I spoke to Natalie on the phone and she put me at ease straight away. Our little boy (who was quite timid) took to Natalie straight away as she was calm and caring from the start. Her guidance throughout the therapy was fantastic and after a relatively short time our son has improved so much, from hardly saying anything to now being a bit of a chatterbox. His confidence has exploded and he is now beginning to tell me everything he sees, does and experiences. The video playback (seeing yourself and your child playing together) was particularly helpful as it really homes in on the techniques. I can't say it was easy, as it was a challenge some days trying to fit in the 5-minute 1:1 play sessions, but it was all worth it. To all parents thinking about it, all I can say is that it's not just the sessions with Natalie, it changes the way parents communicate too and fundamentally changes how we all communicate with each other as a family. I would highly recommend Natalie; she is fantastic and hopefully the results speak for themselves - they certainly did with us." 
Parent of a 2 year 9 month old boy: assessment and intensive therapy package 
"Thank you so much for coming today and spending time with my son. It was an amazing experience for us and extremely insightful. I also appreciate you spending that extra time with us guiding me and really helping me understand my son more, which you didn't have to do! Your knowledge is incredible, and it's been so comforting and invaluable to receive today. I can see you're extremely passionate about your job, and your attention to detail and observation is amazing. We can't wait to work with you very soon." 
 
"I've just read through the report and can't thank you enough. It's excellent and so accurate to who my son is and what his needs are. I'm so grateful that you included recommendations for a nursery setting also. My mum and mother-in-law have read it too and are extremely impressed with how detailed it is and how accurately it represents my son! Finally somone who sees what I see and more! Thank you again so much." 
Parent of a 2 year 8 month old boy: enhanced assessment and report 
"You were excellent in supporting our son with his speech and language difficulties, or I should say supporting us and other care givers to help understand his needs in a thought-through way. The changes we made increased his confidence in communicating with us and our confidence in understanding him. He is currently doing so well with his speech and I think the work we did with you acted as a foundation for this progression. You really considered him as an individual and didn't rush to come to conclusions on where he was, you took the time to get to know him, to really have a good picture of what was happening for him. This meant that we were all better placed to help him where necessary. A massive thank you for being very good at your job!" 
Parents of a 3 year 9 month old boy with a history of conductive hearing loss: holistic assessment and intensive therapy package 
"Other than a few words, our son was unable to talk at the age of three when we met Natalie. He is now very communicative and ready to go to school in September! After each session we have seen improvement! The 5-minute practice sessions were very powerful and rewarding. Thank you! Our son has enjoyed the sessions and talks about you. If we need help in the future we will contact you and also recommend you to others." 
Parents of a 3 year 11 month old boy: assessment, intensive therapy package and follow-ups 
"Natalie’s guidance and support has been invaluable to our family. We have a 2 year old little boy with autism and sensory processing differences, who is currently pre-verbal with limited understanding. We made contact with Natalie as we were desperate to build a stronger relationship with our son and to support his need to communicate more effectively. We particularly loved that Natalie has experience with autistic children and was able to use that insight in her communication techniques. We have now been working with Natalie for the past 6 months and we have seen such a huge difference in our son's ability to use intentional communication with us, and he enjoys interacting with us so much more now. He is much calmer and happier now. Natalie is warm, calm, patient and friendly, and our son has always been comfortable with her in the room. Our sessions with Natalie have been so beneficial to our son and us as parents. We are so much more confident in communicating with him now and are hopeful for the future that his abilities to use intentional communication will continue to progress over time. We would recommend Natalie to any family needing communication support." 
Parents of a 2 year 8 month old boy: assessment, intensive therapy package and follow-ups 
"Thank you Natalie. I'm so relieved that our son appears to be settling into school. Your input and co-ordinating has been invaluable and I don't know how we would have equipped him or got through this transition without you." 
Parents of a 4 year 11 month old boy (same boy as below) 
 
"I just wanted to say again, thank you for all your input. I'm so pleased we found you. The input you have given us as a family and to the school has been invaluable. Two years ago when we realised our son was struggling with his speech, we were really worried about his uncertain future. I really felt like you held our hand as he transitioned from pre-school to school, then into year one - makes it all a little less worrying! I was thinking back to our first sessions where you videoed us interacting with him, and thought about how far we've come." 
Parents of a 6 year 5 month old boy: holistic assessment, intensive therapy package, school transition support and follow-ups 
"Natalie has been a key person in my son’s dysfluency (stammering) journey, even though she has never met him! When I initially spoke with Natalie, it was her holistic approach which fitted with exactly what I wanted. My son had no idea of his speech dysfluency and that was the way I wanted it to stay. Natalie and I worked together using videos of myself and my son playing. Using those and the information I provided, she helped me to understand his triggers and dysregulation. This has given me the ability to understand, help and develop strategies, which in turn has led to huge progress in his speech. Thank you Natalie for all your help." 
Parents of a 6 year 10 month old boy: holistic assessment, intensive online therapy package and follow-ups 
"Thank you very much for helping us help our son to make so much amazing progress with his speech and language. Your support has made such a difference to us all as a family." 
Parents of a 4 year 2 month old boy: assessment, intensive therapy package and follow-ups 
"Our son has improved in leaps and bounds, more than we thought possible at the start. Thank you very much for all the time you have spent with all of us." 
Parent of a 4 year 3 month old boy: assessment, intensive therapy package and follow-ups 
"It has been such a wonderful journey seeing our son progress week by week, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am for the part you have played, and for your support and encouragement." 
Parent of a 2 year 1 month old boy: assessment and first four sessions of intensive therapy package 
"Wow, Natalie has been a god-send for us as we were at a loss with our little one and we found it difficult to make the right decision for our daughter. Natalie totally understands our daughter’s needs, setting out a plan of action and helping us move in the right direction. We have learned so much as parents in order to assist our daughter’s progress, and she continues to make progress in leaps and bounds. Natalie is highly professional, highly skilled in her work, and friendly. We would 110% recommend Natalie, no doubts whatsoever! A big thank you Natalie from the bottom of our hearts, we cannot thank you enough! We all look forward to seeing you again!" 
Parents of a 3 year 9 month old girl: holistic assessment and intensive therapy package 
"Natalie has been with our family for nearly four years and I honestly cannot thank her enough for the difference she has made in our lives. Our daughter has progressed at every stage with her speech and language, due to the professional approach and loving manner in which Natalie communicated with us as parents, and with my daughter. Through the tough times, Natalie was a phone call away with advice and new techniques to try. She made the appointments fun for our daughter, and our daughter looked forward to her visits and was asking when the next one was. I can whole-heartedly say that our little girl would not be communicating as effectively or as confidently if it wasn’t for the support and guidance from Natalie. We are so grateful and are sad that our daughter has reached the age where we have to transfer to another therapist. A huge thank you for all of your guidance and for genuinely caring about our family and believing in our daughter. It was lovely to have someone who took such pride in every success of our daughter's. I felt Natalie was so invested in our daughter's progression." 
Parent of a 6 year 5 month old girl: holistic assessment, intensive therapy package and follow-ups 
"Our daughter has come such a long way with therapy from Natalie. She has gone from not being able to put two words together to being so chatty I can't stop her. Putting sentences together with more confidence and correctly! I've learnt how it is so important to have quiet play time to let her think in a calm space and look to me when she needs help, thereby offering the necessary word or words she may need. We've both enjoyed the sessions very much too as they are always fun. Thank you Natalie, we are so grateful for all you've done to progress our daughter to being a confident little talker to take her through starting school. Natalie is very professional yet at the same time calming and friendly, and the sessions are very relaxed. Our daughter very much enjoyed the sessions." 
Parent of a 4 year 3 month old girl: holistic assessment, intensive therapy package and follow-ups 
"We feel incredibly lucky to have been able to work with you in supporting our son. He has come such a long way, and your skills, diligence and care have been invaluable to us. We truly are grateful." 
Parents of a 6 year 7 month old boy: holistic assessment, intensive teletherapy package and follow-ups 
"Thank you for your work with our daughter and the thorough report, which we feel will stand us in good stead for seeking further help. The report is a very accurate picture of her strengths and challenges, so thank you for being so thorough; we really appreciate the time and effort that you have put into preparing this. Thank you very much for all your support and for going the extra mile for our daughter." 
Parents of a 4 year old girl: holistic assessment and report 
"We would like to thank you ever so much for all that you have done to support our son and us as a family, despite all the challenges of the COVID pandemic. You’ve really been a great advocate for him, and we are just amazed by the progress he has made in the last few years from hardly making eye contact and not speaking at all, to now never stopping talking! Usually it is an endless loop of Peppa Pig quotes! He is even making up word play jokes, which is so lovely to hear (deliberately changing the letters of a word or replacing a word with its opposite for funny effect!) And also lots of (absolutely monotone) singing!" 
Parents of a 5 year 9 month old boy: holistic assessment, intensive therapy package and follow-ups 
"Our three year old daughter experienced selective mutism. We decided to get in touch with a specialist to help us deal with the problem. Pre-school recommended Natalie and we are so glad they did. The issue, which we were really worried could affect our child for years to come, was sorted in a matter of months. Thanks to her extensive knowledge and experience of this condition, Natalie was able to put in place a great plan of action tailored to our daughter's specific needs and individual personality. The staff at pre-school and ourselves at home followed all of Natalie's expert advice and as a result, my daughter who wasn't saying a single word at pre-school can now happily chat to all her little friends and all the members of staff. It's such a joy and a great relief. Thank you Natalie for all your precious help and constant support throughout this stressful time - we couldn't have wished for a better outcome!” 
Parents of a 3 year 11 month old girl: holistic assessment and recommendations 
"Our son is doing incredibly well at school. We are very proud of him and his speech truly is fantastic. Thanks again for everything you did for him and for us too, we will be forever truly grateful." 
Parents of a 4 year 9 month old boy: assessment, intensive therapy package and follow-ups 
"Thank you so much for your lovely email and thoughts. It really is such a blessing to have you on board through this journey with us. We would love to go ahead with the bookings you've suggested, as we feel your insight would be really beneficial at nursery and within the Team Around the Family (TAF) meeting." 
Parents of a 2 year 7 month old girl: assessment, intensive therapy package and follow-ups 
"Thank you for everything you have done for our son, it has made a huge difference to him." 
Parent of a 4 year 1 month old boy with a history of conductive hearing loss: assessment, intensive therapy package and follow-ups 
"Natalie was incredibly helpful, very good with my son and gave very helpful tips and thorough follow up. She gave great advice on what I could do to help my son with his speech. He is speaking so much more now. He used to stick to safe topics but now he speaks about most things and constantly asks questions." 
Parent of a 3 year 7 month old boy with conductive hearing loss: assessment, advice and follow-ups 
"From the bottom of my heart THANK YOU - for all that you have done for our little family. You have changed our lives and we will always be so grateful." 
Parent of a 6 year old boy: holistic assessment, intensive therapy package and follow-ups 
"Natalie carried out a very detailed assessment and thorough report for us. We are very grateful for her help with setting specific targets and showing us how to achieve them. Clear targets and strategies were set weekly. I really admire Natalie's patience and am very grateful for all the extra time she put in working with our family. We highly recommend Natalie and are looking forward to working with her again!" 
Parent of a 2 year 8 month old boy with a history of conductive hearing loss: assessment and intensive therapy package 
 
"I just wanted to send you this video to show how our son's speech has improved. It's been a year since we started therapy with you and what a difference a year makes! Thank you very much for all your help. We are very grateful for what you've done to improve his speech." 
Parent of a 3 year 7 month old boy (same boy as above) 
"I just wanted to thank you for the brilliant therapy session today, I learnt loads! I'm so happy we found you, I feel like we will be able to make real progress for our daughter with your expert help. Thank you again." 
Parent of a 3 year 10 month old girl: holistic assessment and intensive therapy package 
"You have been wonderful and I cannot thank you enough for your care and support. My son wouldn't be where he is today without you." 
Parent of a 2 year 8 month old boy: assessment and intensive therapy package 
"Natalie is great at assessing speech problems. She is very professional and knowledgeable, always on time and reliable. Her explanations about the speech troubles and also her specific advice on how to improve, have been particularly helpful. Excellent professional services.” 
Parent of a 3 year 11 month old boy: assessment and regular monitoring package 
"We really appreciate the help you have given us and feel it's set a great foundation for our daughter to continue developing from. We're really pleased to have found you and will be in touch in the future if we feel some extra support would benefit her. Thank you so much for your help!" 
Parents of a 2 year 10 month old girl: assessment and intensive therapy package 
"Before the visits I was at a complete loss with how to help my daughter with her speech and language development. After the assessment I felt so much more positive. My daughter instantly took to you and was even laughing playing games when she first met you. Her confidence grew each week. We had five therapy sessions and the difference in my daughter at the end was massive. Her eye-contact has become very strong and is still growing, and she is becoming so much more vocal. She is coming out with different sounds all the time and some of them are starting to sound like words. Each visit was so positive and at the end you left us with new things to do that we both enjoyed. I always felt confident at the end of each session that I could implement the techniques. I could use them so easily throughout the day. We were more than happy with the whole experience - you were friendly, approachable, kind and very helpful. I can’t thank you enough for making such a difference to my daughter’s development and my confidence in how to help. I believe that your visits have made a big difference to my daughter’s confidence with strangers too, as she is now confident and stays calm when people are in our home." 
Parent of a 2 year 11 month old girl: assessment and intensive therapy package 
"Thank you for our lovely last session, words really cannot express what you have done for our family and how you have opened up my son’s world of communication and enabled him to live as much of a stress- and anxious-free life as possible. I cannot believe the change in both of us over the past year. This summer holiday has just been the best, and I desperately don’t want him to go back to school now as I’m loving spending every day with him, which is such a turn around compared to last year when we both struggled as he was unable to communicate and I didn’t understand what he wanted or what he was trying to get across, and he was very anxious and upset a lot of the time, so thank you again from the bottom of my heart, it’s been a real joy and pleasure welcoming you into our lives and working with you." 
Parent of a 4 year 4 month old boy: holistic assessment, intensive therapy package and follow-ups 
 
"Thank you for coming into our lives and making such and amazing and positive difference. You have opened up my son’s world of communication and understanding, and allowed him to have a voice, not only verbally but also through pictures. You have taught him how to navigate the world around him and given us the tools and advice to alleviate anxiety. You have opened up his world and imagination to toys and play, and accepting others around him and joining in with his play, providing him with the play skills to start school with. Words will never express enough how grateful we are to you." 
Parent of a 4 year 5 month old boy (same boy as above) 
Book a free, no obligation initial phone conversation with Natalie today. 
 
Call 07454 868455, email natalie@freemeservices.com or use the contact form below. 
 
Our site uses cookies. For more information, see our cookie policy. Accept cookies and close
Reject cookies Manage settings