Speech Therapy Testimonials

Adults

LT, April 2021
"I can't recommend SLT consultancy more! Laura is so so so lovely and helpful, makes you feel comfortable and confident during the sessions. She's been very flexible with our sessions and honest about pricings! After having sessions with her, I now feel so much more confident in myself and cannot thank her enough, 11/10!!!"

M, January 2021
"Laura treated my Mother with incredible kindness and professionalism and I will be eternally grateful. I cannot recommend her highly enough."

CM, October 2019
"I can not recommend Laura enough. Her expertise and knowledge within her field is amazing. Laura not only treats the condition she goes out of her way and over and above. I cant thank her enough for the help and support she has provided. Laura comes with the highest of recommendations."

HD, March 2018
"I can't recommend Laura enough. She is highly professional and extremely friendly. As a professional singer myself, she had great understanding and sensitivity for my craft. I had extreme amounts of anxiety because of my diagnosis. The exerises that we were given were very affective. I only had three sessions with Laura."

IM, 2018
"I cannot thank Laura enough for what she has done for me; after 10 weeks of barely being able to whisper, after one session I can speak again! Laura was calm, kind and made me feel completely at ease. In such a relaxing environment it was easy to focus on the exercises we went through and the results were amazing. I only wish I could give a higher rating! I have been given back my voice which is integral to my job, and who I am. Just amazing!."

MB, September 2016
"I would like to thank you very much for your help and very much appreciate the fact that you were able to see me at such short notice. Your advice has been of immense help and it is thanks to you that I still have a job!"

JW, May 2015
"Cannot thank you enough. You really gave me my life back."

Paul, March 2015
"Thank you for the excellent service/treatment provided, it definitely helped my recovery and probably prevented some long-term damage. Can't thank you enough for your help... especially with my bilabial trills! ;) ."

Kevin, March 2015
" If I can ever endorse you to anyone I would gladly do so as my experience with you has been so very fulfilling. Your patience, guidance and warm manner has put me so at ease in what has been a difficult period in my life post stroke, where I was definitely at risk of losing confidence and potentially not being able to operate "normally" both in the workplace but also in my personal life, without the understanding and tuition you have shared with me. Recognising the challenges I face have been key part in my learning process, and alongside your encouragement and strategies I've managed to both acknowledge and address these shortcomings. I can only thank you for everything Laura, and wish you continued success in your work. Let's keep in touch."

Rachel, September 2014
" As a professional singer I can be using my voice constantly every night for several months. On occasion vocal weakness was ignored and led to vocal cord problems. Having just a few sessions with vocal therapist Laura Dawson has helped me to re-train my vocal cords myself, learning various exercises and techniques that proved incredibly useful and have given me confidence in continuing my career."

Paul, June 2014
" After being diagnosed with a Low Grade Diffused Glioma in my speech and language area of my brain in August 2013, it was imperative that after surgery with Professor Hugues Duffau in Montpellier who performed the 96% bulk resection, that I find a good Speech Therapist back here in the UK to start working on my post-operation deficit on my language and memory. I'm glad I had chosen Laura to help me back on the road to recovery. She was very friendly and obviously knows her subject. The fact that she has worked and assisted other patients in similar circumstances only filled me with confidence that I had indeed found a Speech Therapist that I could work with. Over the last 6 weeks or so, Laura has been able to work with me on exercises and techniques that have been extremely valuable in helping me with restore my language, memories and speech. I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Laura in helping other patients on their road to recovery. Thank you Laura! ."

Andrew, May 2014
"I was very apprehensive when told I was to visit a speech therapist to assist to regain my voice after a complete Thyroidectomy, however arrangements were made directly by a short telephone call for my first appointment on Good Friday, and a week later off I drove to the treatment room. On meeting Laura, we discussed my operation and how I was feeling, from this discussion Laura was able to tell at what stage I was regarding my voice, there was no awkward situation, it really was like a chat with a friend, and after a short video to highlight the problem to me, Laura showed me easy throat exercises that I could practise whilst at home or driving to start the healing process. I am a Sales Director and subsequently my voice is paramount for my job, Laura explained that the success rate was high and that she has no concerns that after a few weeks, my voice would be back to normal. After a small number of appointments and after practising my throat exercises as prescribed by Laura I am now back to normal, I am very happy of the outcome and cannot thank Laura enough for her time and expertise to assist me to do so."

Julia, March 2014
"One of my vocal cords had been damaged following thyroid surgery, and I could barely speak above a whisper when I was referred to Laura for speech therapy. To my astonishment, after less than two weeks practising the simple exercises that Laura taught me, friends and colleagues were commenting on the dramatic improvement to my voice. The range and complexity of exercises increased, but they were not difficult and Laura always took pains to clearly explain the purpose of each one. The improvement continued over the next three months, to the point that my voice has almost returned to what it was before the surgery. Although the damage to my vocal cord is permanent, I am confident that by continuing to practise Laura's exercises, I will not experience any speaking difficulties in future. Laura is a miracle worker, and I cannot thank her enough."

Alan, aged 78 - received input for speech & language difficulties (aphasia) after a stroke
"Throughout life there are few people you meet who actually have the ability and dedication to help change a person's life for the better. Laura is one of those rare people. When my father had a stroke and was left with aphasia, our lives changed overnight. Fear, confusion and a feeling of hitting rock bottom set in. Luckily, having found Laura's services via the internet, it was because of the various reviews written there, we chose you to help us. I can only endorse all the positive comments found there, and have no hesitation in recommending her services. Laura is patient, assertive, professional and a really nice person that we welcomed into our lives. Thank you for all your help, you have provided Dad with a road upwards from a very scary place and thanks to your help he is continuing to make good progress. "

Bernard
"Laura is an excellent speech therapist. I saw her because I'd had a weak breathy voice since April 2012, my voice disappearing almost completely at times. My confidence in speaking situations was very low because often I was completely unable to make myself heard. Laura outlined some techniques and exercises to help me, and spotted some bad speaking habits I had that were contributing to my speech difficulties. After about six sessions with her over a period of around three months, and working consistently in the areas she suggested, I have improved greatly so that now I can say, yes, my voice really does sound like me! I really enjoyed my sessions with her and found her patient, fun, empathetic and professional. I would recommend Laura to anyone looking for a speech therapist."

Katy
"Laura Dawson was very professional, informative and helpful in supporting me with my vocal cord dysfunction and asthma, which enabled me to learn key techniques to regain a better level of voice."

Dean, August 2013
"Laura has helped me tremendously since I began speech therapy with her. She is professional in her approach, but at the same time is very personable and fun to work with, which made my speech therapy sessions with her enjoyable as well as rewarding. I initially made an appointment with Laura to help correct a lisp which I'd developed since having jaw surgery. On meeting with her, she identified additional issues which she thought would help me become a more confident and articulate speaker. I'd long suffered with confidence issues when it came to my voice and speaking. Through working with Laura, I'm now feeling positive in my ability to communicate clearly and precisely and the lisp problem I initially had also being solved. Although my therapy has finished, the exercises and techniques that Laura taught me are invaluable to me daily in maintaining my level of speech and the confidence that goes with that. I would highly recommend Laura to anyone who requires speech therapy."

Children

CA, February 2019
"My son started speech therapy with Laura just after he turned 2 years old and had not yet started speaking. Laura was patient, encouraging and offered so many tools and ideas for me to take away and build on. Each session was different and she varied activities tailored to how my son was reacting. I can't recommend her enough. My son is a chatterbox now and I have learnt so much too. Thank you Laura!."

RB, March 2019
"I took my son to see Laura due to a speech delay and right from the initial assessment through to the end she was brilliant not only with my son but with me to, she made me and my son feel very comfortable at every session, she answered any questions that I had very well and in a way that I was able to understand it better. She's very professional, very patient and is extremely consistent with the level of care and support that she provides. My sons speech has come on really well since seeing her and continues to improve."

NS, 2018
"My son Charlie was 3 Years 7 months when we first met Laura, I had started to worry about how slow his speech was and decided to seek professional help. Laura made us feel so comfortable and incorporated fun games to help bring on his speech and also taught me ways in helping his speech at home. We had a session every 2 weeks for 45 minutes, by December (3 months of therapy) Charlie was speaking clearly in full sentences and his confidence has grown so much, everybody we know has commented on how well he speaks now and how forward and confident he is. I honestly couldn't be happier and I cannot thank Laura enough for helping both myself and Charlie. i would highly recommend Laura to anybody she is fantastic with children, Charlie looked forward to every session. Thank you so much Laura ."

TP, 2018
"Laura Dawson is amazing. My daughter was 2 1/2 years old and had no speech, after little help from the NHS we found Laura and have not looked back. She is great with kids and makes speech fun. We now no longer need to see Laura and my daughter is upset she will no longer have her weekly speech visits!! Laura we cannot thank you enough!! "

LP, 2018
"Cannot recommend Laura highly enough, superb with my little girl and helped her overcome all her speech problems. It was such a stressful time knowing your child struggles with speech , Laura worked miracles and we can't thank her enough. Although now we would like to get sessions on how to shut the little one up for 5 mins."

SP, 2018
"Laura Dawson has been fantastic and I would highly recommend her. I took my 4 year old son to speech therapy as he had difficulty in forming the front of words and certain letters. Laura was extremely patient with him and made him learn and practice through play. And as a bonus he really enjoyed the sessions. After 8 sessions, he is now in the normal range and a more confident boy. Laura is brilliant with children, which can be a difficult task and I highly recommend her."

VH, 2017
"I can't praise Laura highly enough. I took my four year old to Laura when the school and local health visitors speech therapy wasn't having much impact and I saw results immediately. Not only does Laura work with the child she teaches the parents how to practise at home. I started out with a shy little 4 year old who couldn't say many sounds and now following the direction of Laura she can make all her sounds and is a confident and outgoing little girl. Thank you so much Laura."

Mother of Alice, June 2016
"My 5 yr old daughter was experiencing problems pronouncing her front sounds ('s' ,'t' and 'd'). After just 8 sessions working with Laura she can now distinguish the different sounds and her speech has greatly improved. Laura makes the sessions enjoyable and fun and my daughter loved attended. Thank you so much Laura ."

Mother of Leo, July 2015
"We have had the absolute privilege of having Laura as our son's Speech Therapist. He had severe Speech Delay and Laura worked with him for almost two years. We went from having a child that could hardly communicate verbally to an energetic, happy and confident boy thats turned out to be quite a chatter box! The therapy has not only helped him with his speech but its also been a huge support to his reading and social development at school. Laura is an extremely knowledgeable professional but she also makes each session different, well-structured and fun. As hard as it is to make a young child concentrate, Laura always finds the way to engage them and make each session seem like a play-date. We were also provided with plenty of tips so we could support our son at home and we were able to follow our son's progress as he achieved each milestone. We couldn'nt have asked for a better Therapist and we highly recommend Laura to any parents whose child is experiencing speech difficulties."

Father of Ben, November 2014
" We had previously worked with Laura with our son for Speech Therapy and were very pleased with the results. When our son began school, it was suggested to us that he would benefit from Narrative Therapy so we naturally turned to Laura for help again. As before, our son instantly connected with Laura again. He loved going to his Therapy sessions each week as Laura made them fun and engaging for him. Laura was very helpful for us too, suggesting ways we could help Ben and put into practise the new ideas that she had taught him. It was fascinating to see the progress he made each week and watching his confidence grow. We now have a happy little boy who enjoys telling stories and talking about events he has encountered. We would definitely recommend Laura for any Speech and Language/Narrative Therapy as once again she has helped us tremendously with our son."

Mother of Omaye, November 2014
"My 6 year old son and I had the pleasure of working with Laura to address a Functional Speech disorder (lisp) that he had suffered from. Laura was engaging, warm, funny, and above all extremely competent...a true professional!. Three, 50 minute sessions later - (together with practice exercises at home) and my son's lisp was all but gone. I couldn't recommend Laura highly enough."

Mother of Ysabeau, November 2014
"We would like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for all your help and support with speech and language lessons for our daughter. Each week you introduced new incentives to keep her focus and interest. You listened to our requests to focus on specific areas and changed the next session accordingly. We found your flexible approach very supportive and tailored to suit our daughter specifically. You also gave us some great tips and armed us with some useful tools to help our daughter to progress and move forward. Overall we felt our daughter responded well to your teaching methods and we noticed a marked improvement over just a short period."

Mother of Edward, June 2014
"Laura worked with our 8 year old son for 7 therapy sessions to improve his pronunciation of the /s/ sound. We were extremely impressed with the way she was able to engage him in the work. The sessions contained a stimulating mix of games, some using an iPad which he especially enjoyed, and more traditional therapy exercises. After each session Laura set us a task to work on at home which allowed us to practise the skills acquired. The end result is a much improved /s/ sound and a whole bank of games and activities we continue to use at home. We were especially impressed with her non-judgemental 'fixing up'phrase which reminds our son to focus on his /s/ without feeling he is being criticised. We feel confident that the strategies taught will be useful to him for the future. Our whole experience of speech therapy with Laura was an extremely successful and enjoyable one."

Mother of Ted, June 2014
" Ted has responded very well to Speech Therapy sessions. Ted felt comfortable around Laura his speech therapist. I have been very happy with what has been covered in each session. Laura has been flexible with times and has given me good feedback on how Ted has been throughout his time at speech therapy. Thank you Laura."

Mother of Harry, April 2014
"My son Harry always seemed to have some trouble with pronouncing some letters and sounds, but we did think that it would be something he would grow out of. By the time he started in reception class, he was started to be made fun of by the other children when starting sound work in class, which we knew then that we had to look into speech therapy. I started to look on the web locally and came across Laura's site. I was a bit reluctant at first as I'd not known anyone to have ever used a speech therapist, but I gave her a call and left a message, which Laura returned the next day. From the moment I explained everything to Laura, she put me at ease and arranged an appointment for my Harry and I to meet her. I'm so glad we did, as after the first session she assessed Harry and knew exactly what sounds etc he needed most help with. The way that Laura teaches is in a fun, relaxed atmosphere so Harry didn't realise he was actually learning - he was happy playing the games that she arranged each week. I would never hesitate in recommending Laura as Harry has made a fantastic improvement since he started his speech therapy and it opened my eyes to how even I, pronounce some things! Thank you Laura we wish you every success for the future!"

Mother of Sam, March 20014
"Sam has just finished two blocks of speech therapy with Laura and it has made a huge difference. Sam's speech is much clearer and lots of people have commented on the progress he has made. Sam loved going to see Laura and he saw his appointments as fun. Laura is an excellent communicator, she is fantastic with children and put both Sam and me at ease from day one. I would definitely recommend using Laura's speech therapy service and thank her for all the help she gave to Sam and me."

Mother of Isabelle, March 2014
"My daughter Isabelle's speech has come on fantastically since she started therapy with Laura. Laura has always made her sessions fun so Isabelle did not lose interest. Isabelle looked forward to seeing Laura every week. I would highly recommend Laura. Thanks Laura for all your help."

Gemma, Mother
"From my initial telephone enquiry to my son's final session the service I received was excellent. My enquiry was dealt with in a professional, objective manner and I immediately felt that Laura would be an excellent choice to work with. The information shared at both the initial assessment and throughout the sessions meant that I was informed about my son's needs, targets and successes, and how I could best support him at home each week. Even though my son had just turned 3, Laura was able to engage him in different 'games' to work on his pronunciation - he really enjoyed going to see Laura and thought he was just going to play each Friday! Friends, family and professionals have all commented on the significant improvements in my son's speech in such a short space of time. I would thoroughly recommend Laura to anyone seeking a therapist for children."

Mother of Abigail, aged 4 - received input for a speech & language delay
"Laura, thank you again for all the work you have done for Abigail. She misses you and the games you played together... The work you did with her and the tools you gave me to help her at home have been amazing. You have helped bring on her confidence and teach her how to move sounds around in her mouth to correct words. It is hard to believe that she couldn't say 'cat' or 'give' before... Thanks to your report and my input the teacher recognises that Abigail should start working on specific areas straight away."

Evan - received input for an articulation disorder
"My 7 year old son had been struggling for years with his speech and there were many sounds that he couldn't make. He had been receiving weekly speech therapy sessions at his school, but he had made little progress in 2 years. I decided I needed to find something else and that's when I found Laura. He has seen Laura once a week for 14 weeks and the difference is amazing. He can now speak so much more clearly and we've also noticed that his reading has come on a lot too. Laura has a lovely way with children and makes the sessions fun. I would recommend her to anyone!"

Charlie, aged 7 - received input for a speech sound disorder
"It gives me great pleasure to recommend the speech therapy services of Laura Dawson. My son came to see Laura after a variety of NHS and private speech therapy sessions. Laura was the first therapist to recognise a potential condition that hadn't been recognised by anyone else and she liaised with his school's speech therapist to ensure that he was reassessed and given more appropriate support in school. Laura has boundless energy and was able to connect with my son and make the sessions exciting and fun. I highly recommend Laura and the quality of therapy that she provides."

Ben, aged 4 - received input for an articulation disorder
"We were very impressed with Laura’s professionalism, patience and enthusiasm. Our four year old son couldn't wait to visit Laura each week and we were amazed how Laura managed to hold his attention for the whole session, he enjoyed playing and learning so much with her! His speech and confidence in communicating has really improved in just a few sessions with Laura. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Laura and would like to thank her very much for her help with our son. Steven & Sarah Carter "

Mother of Sona
"We first visited Laura when it became evident that my fears of Sona's speech delay were in fact noticeable by complete strangers...I didn't want to waste time and so approached Laura for help and advice, after doctors proved unhelpful. Many speech therapists would refuse to take on a "patient" as young as Sona - who was only a little over 2 years old at the time, but Laura had no hesitations and quite rightly so. She is fantastic with children - Sona who was usually almost scared of approaching strangers (perhaps because she couldn't communicate with them at all) loved Laura - so much so that she constantly asked for her at home. Laura helped educate us as to how we could encourage Sona's speech development, whilst increasing Sona's confidence of talking, which within a small period of time worked wonders....the problem we now face is.....Sona won't stop talking!! We would definetely recommend Laura after seeing Sona come out of her "shell" thanks to Laura's help.

Mother of Oliver
"Laura was very good in explaining how my husband and I could help our son begin to say more words; she showed us techniques to use in his play that we would not have thought of otherwise. Oliver really liked Laura and enjoyed playing with her which made things a lot easier. We would recommend Laura to anyone whose child has a speech delay."

Mother of Tom
From my initial telephone enquiry to my son's final session the service I received was excellent. My enquiry was dealt with in a professional, objective manner and I immediately felt that Laura would be an excellent choice to work with. The information shared at both the initial assessment and throughout the sessions meant that I was informed about my son's needs, targets, successes and how I could best support him at home each week. Even though my son had just turned 3, Laura was able to engage him in different 'games' to work on his pronunciation-he really enjoyed going to see Laura and thought he was just going to play each Friday! Friends, family and professionals have all commented on the significant improvements in my son's speech in such a short space of time. I would thoroughly recommend Laura to anyone seeking a therapist for children.

Mother of Alfie
"From a very young age it was recognised that our son had speech and language difficulties in terms of pronunciation of letters and sounds. It was recommended that he see a speech therapist to work on this before he started school and so after deciding to go private due to not being able to commit to the daytime NHS sessions, I found Laura on a speech and language therapist website and decided to give her a try. I have to admit that I was apprehensive about the initial assessment that Laura was going to do and worried that perhaps the therapy sessions would not work and would have been a waste of money. I did not need to worry about this at all because Laura was extremely professional at the initial assessment and was able to quickly diagnose the problem writing a report and sending it to myself, the NHS therapist and my sons school. Throughout the course of sessions, Laura remained engaging and inspiring and her sessions were really good fun. My son quickly grew to really like Laura and looked forward to our weekly Saturday morning sessions (the timings of these were great and meant that I did not need to worry about taking time off work- Laura was also extremely accommodating with my schedule). My son continued to progress and suddenly letters and sounds that he could not pronounce before clicked into place. In less than a year, my child has gone from having difficulty pronouncing the majority of sounds and letters to now being at the right level for his age and he no longer needs extra tuition in school. He speaks beautifully now and everyone comments on how much he has progressed. This was all down to Laura who not only worked with him at the weekly sessions but also guided me and showed me how to work on his sounds at home as well as giving new worksheets and games every week to encourage progression without my child being aware that he was doing 'homework'. Thank you so much Laura, you have made 2 very worried and anxious parents extremely happy and you have also helped my son grow in confidence and become a very confident and proficient speaker."

Mother of Evan, May 2013
"My 7 year old son had been struggling for years with his speech and there were many sounds that he couldn't make. He had been receiving weekly speech therapy sessions at his school, but he had made little progress in 2 years. I decided I needed to find something else and that's when I found Laura. He has seen Laura once a week for 14 weeks and the difference is amazing. He can now speak so much more clearly and we've also noticed that his reading has come on a lot too. Laura has a lovely way with children and makes the sessions fun. I would recommend her to anyone! "

Mother of Olivia
"After previously using a Speech Therapist for my 12 year old daughter that I had no confidence in and felt it was a total waste of money, I decided to have another try with someone else. I contacted Laura Dawson and from that first conversation I knew she would be just right for my daughter. At the first consultation the empathy and rapport between Laura and my daughter was excellent. Her methods are current (she even Skyped my daughter to check on her progress!!), relevant and really get results if the homework is practised as requested. I would have no hesitation in recommending Laura!!."

Mother of Billy
"Laura saw my son Billy for Speech therapy over 8 sessions over 5 months. Billy picked a lot up very quickly, in our short time with Laura. Laura was very good and understanding with Billy and made the speech therapy sessions fun and interactive for Billy. She also visited Billy at my home which was a lot easier for me and more helpful in his own family surrounding. I would highly recommend Laura as a Speech Therapist- she was brilliant with Billy and very understanding. ."