Moon and Stars Speech Pathology

18/06/2025

Banter Speech & Language highlights the serious concerns about the NDIS's proposed pricing changes, which will impact both providers and participants across Australia.
With these NDIS changes, many Allied Health Providers will no longer be viable under their existing business models. For participants, this means less choice and control, longer waiting lists, and reduced access to clinicians with extensive knowledge and experience. The consequences will be felt most acutely in rural and remote communities where service options are already limited.

03/02/2022

I have started reading ‘The Seeds of Learning’ by

I sat with this quote from page 5 for some time. As keen as I am to delve into this book, I read this quote and I stopped. I had never seen this quote before and it was the perfect quote for me at this time.

I completed my Masters of Speech Pathology in 2009. This was only two years but it was the most intense, fast paced learning. For much of the time I felt like I was trying to grab and hold onto as much learning as I could.

I enjoy learning and regularly access training, research and reading to continue to develop my skills and knowledge base particularly in my areas of interest.

But nothing has had me as excited to learn as this book. I’m ready to throw myself into the open and into a new way of assessing and treating speech, language, literacy and executive functioning.

03/02/2022

The already fabulous Tea Tree Gully toy library has just had their annual funding doubled! If you live in the area and have young children I can definitely recommend becoming a member. I joined when my children were very little and then joined again in 2020 to give me access to a huge range of toys and games to use with my clients.

03/02/2022

If you have an autistic child aged 5 - 12 years please consider participating in this research study by completing the linked survey. Research studies such as this assist us in providing the best feeding therapy supports for you and your family.

UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who completed the survey - it exploded virally in 2 hours with 91 completed section 1 surveys!

The survey will only work now for the people who have started section 1 (they receive a second email after completing section 1 with a new link for section 2).

Once it reaches the magic number of 80 completed surveys (both sections 1 & 2), the survey will close so please finish both sections if you would like your results to be included in the study and to receive the gift card.

Thank you again, everyone!

02/02/2022

Today my thoughts are with my little friends who are returning to school or having their very first day at school. I’m also holding in my thoughts the families who are anxious about their child’s transition to school.

Starting school is a big milestone for the whole family. My advice is to you is to work to build open communication with key staff at school, listen to your child and what they or their behaviour might be telling you and to be optimistic and positive in your child’s presence. Children are very perceptive and can pick up on emotions and anxiety.

You are your child’s biggest advocate and you have done a great job getting them to this point! Go gently, know that there will be a settling period and greet your child at the end of the day with a big smile.

26/01/2022

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this post may contain images, voices and names of deceased persons.

Speech Pathology Australia recognises that 26 January represents a day where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands were invaded, people were massacred, languages were stolen, and children continue to be taken away.

For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, 26 January is not a day of celebration, it is a day of mourning and for many, also survival.

The Association stands with and in solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and understand that 26 January marks the beginning of colonial violence. In celebrating this day, we actively erase the violent history of Australia and deny the sovereign rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

The Association urges its members to do some critical learning regarding the history of 26 January and implement strategies to dismantle the systems in which we work that continue to deny Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People’s the right to communicate in their Home Languages.

There is also a children’s book written by Amy McQuire called 'Day Break’ should you wish to discuss 26 January with your children.

For further information regarding the history of 26 January visit the following website:

https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/day-of-mourning

23/01/2022

I’m excited to be back at work, whatever that may end up looking like for 2022! I think flexibility and creativity will be key to service provision this year!

23/01/2022

19/12/2021

See you all next year! Here’s hoping for a safe, happy, and healthy 2022!

10/12/2021

Articulation Station Hive now has activities to target sounds in isolation!

I love that there is more than one activity targeting sounds in isolation and that repetition is built into the activities.

I have been working on stimulating /k/ with a client and this week we got so many more attempts and closer approximations because he was really engaged and having so much fun with the activities!

The quality of the video recordings are excellent!!! Another of my clients watched the video of /r/ in isolation at least 5 times. She commented that Heidi looked like a nice person, had a really nice smile and wanted to do more practice with her!

I’m really loving all the extra features and am excited for the release in January!

06/12/2021

I am grateful and super excited to be a beta tester for the new Articulation Station Hive app that is being released on the App Store January 5th, 2022.

Some of the new features that have been added include:
🌟Themes - the children I used the app with today were both familiar with Articulation Station Pro and they loved choosing a background. Both chose Christmas!

🌟Vowels - am keen to try these with my clients with Childhood Apraxia of Speech

🌟Sounds in isolation - this has three different cues, a video and description. I used this today and learnt a new trick for eliciting /sh/!

🌟Syllables - includes cv and vc syllables with the option of nonsense syllables. I’m keen to try the slider feature with some of my clients with CAS.

🌟Word level activities - there’s too many new features to mention here so will do a seperate post soon

🌟Phonological processes - another great addition to the app that I will do a seperate post about

Please let me know if there is anything in particular that you would like me to show or talk about. I will be sharing more over the coming days and weeks as I use the app and discover more fabulous features!

11/09/2021

Congratulations to the team at Keira Stone Speech Pathology! If you happen to be in the area please visit the playground and use the QR code to give feedback on the communication boards they have developed.