Building speech, language and literacy skills.
Specialist speech and language therapy and literacy intervention for preschoolers and primary school-aged children with specific learning differences.
Sounds Magic!
For some children, developing the language and literacy skills needed to communicate clearly and to make the most of learning opportunities in the classroom, doesn’t happen easily with the wave of a magic wand.
Sounds Magic specialises in helping children with specific learning differences. The REAL magic happens when professional advice is sought early and implemented effectively and consistently by the team at home, and within your child’s school or early learning centre. Practising the right skills little and often is the key to mastery, which builds self-esteem, confidence and success.
I work together with you to break your child’s long term goals into a series of achievable steps that will facilitate success and harness your child’s true potential.
Who do I work with?
I have extensive experience in supporting children who have Developmental Language Disorder, Auditory Processing Disorder, Speech Disorders, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and mild social communication difficulties.
Speech and LANGUAGE SUPPORT
I can support children who require support in any of the following areas:
Attention and listening
Processing auditory information
Producing speech sounds
Understanding and/or use of spoken language skills in their primary language/s
Fluency of speech (stuttering)
Reluctance to speak
Peer interactions and social skills. This includes interpreting non-verbal communication, understanding the unspoken rules that guide our social behavior and conversation skills.
LITERACY INTERVENTION
I also have a passion for building reading, spelling and writing skills.
I gained specialist teaching experience at a school for children with dyslexia and specific learning difficulties in London and have trained in both the Sounds-Write and Orton Gillingham approaches to teaching reading and spelling. I combine evidence-based literacy intervention with individualised therapy techniques to build your child’s skills and belief in themselves as a learner.
Systematic, explicit, sequential and multisensory instruction is used to build your child’s:
Pre-literacy skills (rhyme and syllable awareness)
Phonemic awareness (sound isolation, blending, segmenting and manipulating the sounds in words)
Phonic knowledge
Vocabulary
Reading fluency
Reading comprehension
Spelling
Writing
Services
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Assessment
I provide a holistic assessment of your child’s strengths and needs, combining your child’s background history with informal or formal assessments. We can then explore options for support and devise a plan together.
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Speech & Language Therapy
If therapy is recommended for your child, this may take the form of monthly, fortnightly, weekly or twice-weekly sessions. Therapy sessions are family focused, goal-oriented, fun, individually tailored to your child’s needs and interests and informed by current research.
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Structured Literacy Intervention
Structured literacy sessions aim to boost your child’s progress in reading, spelling and writing and provide your child with the skills needed to build success, improved confidence and a greater self-belief.
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Training
I provide training in specific topics relating to dyslexia, specific learning differences, whole-school approaches to vocabulary learning, social thinking skills and a variety of speech, language and communication difficulties.
About Donna
I wear three hats as a loving mum to two gorgeous girls, a paediatric Speech and Language Therapist with over 18 years of experience and a certified Sounds-Write practitioner. I hold an Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Level 5 qualification in teaching students with dyslexia and specific learning differences. I have a passion for combining quality therapy and evidence-based literacy intervention to support neurodiverse children in discovering their learning potential and igniting their desire to succeed.
“I cannot rave about Donna enough! I am extremely grateful and fortunate that we crossed paths. It’s like I hit the jackpot. Donna was amazing with my daughter who is dyslexic. She is incredibly experienced, knowledgeable, patient, kind and keeps the lessons fun and engaging. My daughter went from struggling to read and write to being top of her class in both, in just a short time frame. My daughter’s confidence and self esteem has sky rocketed as a result. I would highly recommend her services.”
I come to you
I am based on the North Shore of Auckland. Intervention can be provided at home, at school or within your child’s early learning centre, where learning can occur within a natural environment and your child feels most comfortable.