Speech and language therapy is concerned with the management of disorders of speech, language, communication and swallowing in children and adults. Speech and language therapists are allied health professionals (in Dutch: paramedici). They work closely with parents, carers and other professionals, such as teachers, nurses, occupational therapists and doctors. Speech and language therapy is often abbreviated ‘SLT’. Other names for speech and language therapy are speech and language pathology (US, Australia), logopedie (Dutch), orthophonie (French), foniaudiología (Latin America) and labels very similar to those.

Until 2012, Laura worked as a generalist speech and language therapist in the Scottish Highlands, with both adults and children. Since moving to the Netherlands, Laura has focused mainly on working with children, as this is the largest source of work in the international community. However, she is well-equipped to work with adults too and welcomes English- or Spanish-speaking adult clients who would like to work on the following issues:

• articulation issues
• expressive or receptive language disorders
• accent modification
• voice problems
• mild dysfluency (stammering/stuttering, or cluttering)
• mild eating, drinking and swallowing disorders (dysphagia)

These issues may have been present for a long time, or have arisen suddenly, sometimes as a consequence of physical causes such as a cardiovascular accident (stroke) or a progressive neurological disease. In either case, if you wonder whether you may benefit from speech and language therapy, feel free to contact Laura to discuss this further. She will be very happy to advise regarding the course of action. When she feels a different therapists possesses more expertise in your particular area, she may refer you on to a colleague.