An intial assessment can take between 2 and 4 hours and we offer regular session rates of 30 or 45 minutes per session.

London and the Home Counties.

Not at this time.

Not at this time.

Autism is a lifelong developmental condition that affects how people make sense of the world and interact with others.

Autism is a spectrum condition. All autistic people share certain difficulties, such as difficulties communicating and interacting with others socially and to have their immediate needs met, difficulties with their environment and sensory processing difficulties and difficulties with social imagination.

Being autistic will affect individuals in different ways. Some autistic people also have learning disabilities, mental health issues or other conditions, meaning people need different levels of support. All people on the autism spectrum learn and develop. With the right sort of support, all can be helped to live a more fulfilling life of their own choosing.

There is no ‘cure’ for Autism, but the existing skills of the individual, can be enhanced and developed as well as new skills taught to support the individual. Speech therapy can play a major role in helping an autistic individual learn to communicate and engage with other people. Depending on the individuals functioning level, Open Says Me Therapists will focus on one or all these skills:

Non-verbal communication:

This may include teaching gestural communication or training with PECS (picture exchange communication system), electronic talking devices, and other non-verbal communication tools. Intensive Interaction is an approach used by our therapists, as it supports communication in individuals who are at an early stage of development.

Body language:

This can involve teaching the individual how to recognize subtly physical signals.

Asking and answering questions:

Individuals with autism may not develop the ability to ask and answer questions without the help of a therapist. Recognising a question and appropriate answers to provide, as well as formulating, asking, and understanding the answers to their own questions.

Speech pragmatics:

Most of us know how to say, “good morning.” But it’s just as important to know when, how, and to whom you should say it to. Speech pragmatics training can also help the individual understand the meaning of idioms (sometimes hard for people with autism), and to use idioms themselves.

Social communication development:

Individuals have difficulty concentrating on tasks and listening to instructions. Their sense of self and understanding others feelings, can hamper their ability to form relationships with others. Open Says Me therapists can support the development of social communication skills, which include includes varying speech style taking the perspective of others, expressing feelings appropriately as well as understanding verbal and non-verbal communication.

We use a variety of assessments that help us to determine difficulties with swallowing, understanding language –forming words and sounds, using spoken language or co-ordinating facial movements.

An assessment can take anywhere from 45mins to 1hour 30mins. An assessment may need to be carried out over more than one session and is dependent on the individual and how they engage with the therapist.

Assessment costs vary depending on the assessment type and length of time taken to complete the assessment. They will be discussed during the initial consultation. All assessment costings include a written report of assessment findings and recommendations.

There are no hard and fast rules about this, as progress towards targets can vary depending on the individual, their level of functioning and their engagement in sessions.

Yes we do. Speech disorders or impediments are also known as communication disorders, where ‘normal’ speech is disrupted. Open says me work with communication disorders such as:

Stuttering – Flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions. Prolongations of sounds, syllables words or phrases
Cluttering – A speech and fluency disorder, characterised by fast rate of speech which is often difficult to understand
Developmental verbal dyspraxia (childhood apraxia of speech) – Inconsistent production of speech sounds
Dysarthria – Weakness or paralysis of speech muscles caused by damage to the nerves or brain (strokes, parkinson’s, head injuries)
Dysprosody – Alterations in intensity, in timing of utterance segments, rhythm and intonation of words.
Selective mutism – Severe anxiety disorder where the individual is unable to speak in certain social situations.
Speech sound disorders – Difficulty in producing specific speech sounds

We support children and adults with learning disabilities, to increase their speech, language and communication skills to the best of their ability to support the individual to reach and exceed their potential and increase their daily functioning.

Intensive Interaction is an approach used by our therapists with our clients with a learning disability. Just like individuals with Autism, this approach supports communication in individuals who are at an early stage of development. The results speak for themselves and as an evidenced based practice, it is something that our therapists are passionate about.