ABAEL Speech and Language Therapy

ABAEL specializes in providing services for USAF children based at RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall, RAF Feltwell and RAF Alconbury. We are a Tricare participating provider who offer high quality speech and language therapy for children of all ages. Our experienced and passionate therapists have worked across a variety of different environments, with a range of communication needs and offer individualised child centred plans based on your child’s strengths and needs.

Why choose ABAEL?

  • Most of our speech and language therapists have 15 years or more clinical experience
  • Our therapists keep up to date with evidence-based practice and access ongoing learning and support 
  • We specialize in working with USAF children so we know the unique circumstances you may face
  • We aim to see you within 2 weeks of receiving your child’s referral (authorization)
  • We offer individualised assessment, evaluation and therapy for children with any communication need 
  • We write goals and deliver therapy plans that are child-centred and individualised 
  • We use a play-based approach to ensure sessions are fun and motivating for your child
  • We can offer flexible sessions within your home
  • We can travel to you so that your child is seen in a familiar environment 
  • We believe in working in partnership with parents and other professionals to achieve the best for your child
  • We have friendly, helpful and professional admin staff
  • We write robust reports and session notes in addition to using evidence based testing and therapy techniques. 
  • We liaise with other professionals involved in your child’s care such as school and nursery staff. 

Who do we see?

We support children and young people who have speech, language and communication needs. This includes difficulties with:

  • Attention and listening
  • Understanding language: following directions and responding to questions
  • Using language: vocabulary and sentence building 
  • Communication and interaction: being able to engage with others to communicate key messages
  • Speech sounds: the clarity of what is being said
  • Stuttering: when speech is not fluent

What can we offer children and their families?

We can offer a range of services including:

  • A comprehensive assessment
  • Flexible therapy sessions
  • Training for parents, carers and other key people in your child’s life
  • Liaison with other people such as school and nursery staff

What do we want for the children we work with and their families?

We want to help your child achieve their full communicative potential. Assessing your child allows us to make a personalised plan based on your child’s individual abilities and needs.  In addition to offering flexible, individual therapy sessions, we ensure that parents are given guidance so they can help their child. We can also offer training for parents or advice for education staff so that the people who see your child everyday have the skills and confidence to encourage their communication too. 

Most importantly, we want your child to enjoy working with us so that therapy is fun!

How do I get help and support from ABAEL?

1. If your child has undiagnosed speech and language difficulties then:

– Contact your PCM or Developmental Behavioral Paediatrician

– Ask for your child to be assessed for speech and language services

– If they are diagnosed with Speech and Language needs you will likely get a referral to a network provider

2. If you already have a referral please contact Referral Management as soon as possible and SPECIFICALLY ask for ABAEL/Dr. Catherine Wild.

3. Alternatively, you can contact EFMP to ask for guidance about available providers.

What is Speech and Language Therapy?

Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) is a specialized healthcare field focused on

diagnosing, managing, and treating individuals who have speech, language and communication difficulties. It is carried out by professionals known as speech and language therapists (SLTs) which is the equivalent of a speech and language pathologist in the US. 

What does Speech and Language Therapy at ABAEL address:

  1. We work with children who have any communication difficulty: this may or may not be associated with another diagnosis such as autism or ADHD
  1. Difficulties with speech, including: 
  • Phonological delays and disorders e.g. when a child substitutes sounds in words for another sound. They may or may not follow a typical developmental pattern for speech sound acquisition. 
  • Articulation difficulties e.g. when a sound is produced in a different or distorted way. 
  • Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS): a childhood neuro-processing speech sound disorder in which the precision and consistency of movements underlying speech are impaired in the absence of neuromuscular deficits (e.g. there are no abnormal reflexes or abnormal tone). The core impairment in planning and/or programming the spatio-temporal parameters of movement sequences results in errors in speech sound production and prosody (ASHA, 2007)
  1. Language difficulties which include: 
  • Expressive language difficulties: delayed development of spoken language; limited vocabulary or word retrieval difficulties; reduced word combinations; difficulties using different sentence structures; grammatical errors; reasoning and problem solving. 
  • Receptive language difficulties: challenges in following directions or responding to  questions; understanding spoken or written language.
  • Developmental delays in language skills.
  • Developmental language disorder (DLD). 
  • Associated executive function issues such as working memory, organisational skills, attention and focus
  1. Social Communication:
  • Needing to increase a child’s range of communication functions so that they have the potential to communicate anything that they need to
  • Supporting a child to develop the pre-requisites for communication by building interaction with others
  • Supporting children with taking turns in conversations or interpreting non-verbal cues.

5. Fluency issues (e.g., stuttering or cluttering).

Goals of SLT at ABAEL:

  • Enhance communication skills to improve quality of life and social interactions.
  • Provide strategies and tools to facilitate speech and communication development
  • Empower families and caregivers with techniques to support ongoing progress.