April Cottage Therapies

01/12/2023

What a year. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some amazing friends, colleagues, schools and families. Thank you to everyone who has supported me while I’ve been growing a human! I’ve been winding down the last few weeks and ready to spend some much needed family time at home in the warm with a Christmas film or two.

Our courses are still available to purchase and if you have any questions, I’ll be here to answer them 💁🏻‍♀️

01/11/2023

I can’t believe it’s November and I’m getting ready to welcome my new bundle of joy. I’m busy handing over my caseload and tying up lose ends to finish in a couple of weeks. I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their continued support. I have loved working with you all, in homes, preschools and schools. There really is never a dull day!

When I’m ready, I’ll be back to assessment and therapy but for now, I’ll get used to juggling my new role as mum of 2!

Our courses are still available to purchase (link in bio) and any questions, feel free to message me

Much love

Charmaine

01/10/2023

We’re on the countdown! As the weather turns autumnal, I’m nesting and starting to get ready for our new arrival. That’s meant some goodbyes to my lovely families as well as a busy start to the new term in schools.

Not quite winding down yet though! I’ve started the Curiosity Training Programme which I’m loving. It’s refreshing my skills in Intensive Interaction and giving me some new perspective and energy on engaging with little ones.

I’ll be slowly doing a bit less work as we approach half term but rest assured our courses and consultations remain available. These are perfect for late talkers and anyone who’d like to like to sign (links in bio 🙃)

08/09/2023

Looking to start private work or got some capacity to take on a new challenge? I am looking for a speech and language therapist with experience and a passion for SEN. I currently work with a very small caseload but I am looking for someone to hand them over to while I focus on growing my family 👶🏼

Competitive rates of pay and access to supervision, resources and assessments

DM or Contact me at charmaine@aprilcottagetherapies.com for more information

And don’t forget to share or tag with someone if you think they’d be interested ☺️

01/09/2023

Hello to a new term, season and chapter!

I’ve had a wonderful summer full of family fun, clinics and catch ups but now to plan for autumn. Mine is looking a little different as a approach my third trimester of pregnancy and planning to handover some of my caseload to safe hands 🙌

I’d have some lovely ✨ glimmer ✨ moments that I’ll share with you in my stories as they just make me smile every time I think of them 🥰

What have been your glimmer moments?

01/08/2023

August is here! For me it’s family time, time to sort some cupboards out and buy stationery (I LOVE stationery!) I’ll be doing the dreaded Clarke’s visit too and trying to entertain a 4 year old for the whole month. Wish me luck.

Whether you’re going away or staying home here’s some of my tried and tested top tips

- play games in a different way than you’re used to e.g these snap cards can be used for hide and seek, matching pairs, following instructions (e.g put the yellow car under the chair) I bought cars because my little boy has a focused interest on all things with wheels but they also do animal, farm, jungle and garden

- don’t over plan. Children can find games out of the simplest of things. Let them explore and use things creatively. Think junk modelling and treasure hunts

- use a now and next or story at the airport to explain what will happen

18/07/2023

What a lovely surprise to come home to. I have absolutely loved working with this gorgeous family and seeing how far they’ve come. A little gestalt language processor who has worked through all the stages and now using spontaneous novel phrases for a range of communication functions! Amazing! We’ve especially loved all the fishing, marble run, play dog, books and puzzles.

05/07/2023

🩷 JULY 🩷

My favourite month for a few reasons. I love the buzz of summer plans, it’s my birthday and nature is in full bloom!

It’s been a busy few weeks here with lots of planning and changes for the autumn term already.

At the moment, I’m not able to take on any new families as I don’t want to start work that I won’t be able to finish. This means, as things draw to a close with my current families, I’ll have some free time to maybe go on a course or do some reading 🤓

I’d love to know what interventions or areas of speech therapy you’d like to know more about and if you’d be interested in webinars or face to face courses. Please help me fill my time or I may just go and ruminate in a cafe until this baby arrives!

Much love families and speechies 💛

22/06/2023

Something to mull over 🤔

Storytime -

We're delivering a training.

Amy makes a statement related to the fact that we are all multimodal communicators and that we seriously detest the phrase "use your words."

Jac doesn't miss a beat - seamlessly picks up the thought thread and says "Think about what it would be like if every time you texted a person, they called you and said, "I need you to use your words."

And, there you have it another mic dropping.... Jac truth bomb... that totally Leveled UP! the point in a way that its intent could not be misinterpreted by anyone.



Image description: Red to gold gradient square with Autism Level UP! logo lower right corner and text that reads: Think about what it would be like if every time you texted a person, they called you and immediately said, “I need you to use your words.” - JHFede

It’s absurd.

It is equally absurd to ask any person who has clearly communicated a comprehensible message to “do it again” the way you want them to. If you understood the message, the function of the communication has been accomplished. The form of the communication is irrelevant.

01/06/2023

It’s June! It’s all very busy at April Cottage HQ. This time of year we’re supporting transitions into school, wrapping up interventions, meeting new parents and planning for the holidays.

So what’s happening in June?

🧸 Saturday clinic continues

👀 I’m still on the look out for a new member of the team to support my lovely families (pm me!)

✏️ lots of school visits

🤓 completing my online supervision course so I can help even more therapists

And as always our chatty chops course and signing courses are always online with virtual consultation whenever you need it 🤩

17/05/2023

Amazing training opportunity from Elklan

FREE TRAINING, for Early Years settings and practitioners in the LAs listed below, to help you support the speech and language of your pupils.

Join our Q&A this evening at 5pm if you have any questions and would like to find out more:
https://elklan.co.uk/Apply/event?e=65363

Those who take part will receive training, support and resources all paid for and will be paid for staff time.

Please share this post with any friends and colleagues in the listed LAs who might be interested.

If you are in the LAs listed below and would like to find out more information, click here: https://www.elklan.co.uk/CFSResearchProgramme/

Education Endowment Foundation

01/05/2023

It’s May and the first bank holiday of many! April zoomed bywith what felt like a really long Easter break and I’ve been straight back into schools. My 4 year old’s school place got confirmed and now we’re psyching ourselves up for September (with some fun thrown in too!)

I know the first year of school can feel really daunting, especially if your child needs additional support. You may also be wondering what support is reasonable for schools to offer. I’ll be signposting you to some really helpful content this month. Feel free to share your worries about school and I’ll answer in my stories

Happy May everyone 💜