Community paediatric service for children with disabilities.

A community based service team, providing therapy and social work to assist children with disabilities (including Down syndrome, global developmental delay and cleft lip and/or palate) and their family/whānau achieve their full potential in their daily lives. We work with children in schools, kindergartens, home, community, clinics and recreation centres.

Speech Language Therapists work with children between 0 and 3 years of age and their families who have been referred with communication and/or feeding difficulties. Children with communication difficulties will only be seen for Speech Language Therapy if they require another therapy (such as Physiotherapy) as well.

The service provides assessment and treatment of:

• feeding and swallowing
• early communication skills
• language disorder and/or delay
• speech disorders
• feeding and swallowing
• AAC – Alternative and Augmentative Communication