What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Saturday 10am - 1pm

Go Talking Ways, Queslett Road East, Sutton Coldfield (2026)

31/03/2026

1st April folks, April Fools Day… but this isn’t a joke.

Because instead of practical jokes today,
there are a few things I really wish we took more seriously when it comes to communication.

⸻

✨ Communication is not just talking:

Speech is one way we communicate… but it’s not the only way.

Children communicate through:
– movement
– gestures
– facial expression
– sounds
– AAC
– behaviour (or what I’d call a physical response)

If we’re only waiting for words…
we miss so much of what they’re already telling us.

⸻

✨ Eye contact isn’t a measure of listening:

Some children process language better when they’re not looking directly at you.

Looking away, moving, or focusing elsewhere doesn’t mean they’re not engaged.

It often means they’re regulating enough to actually take language in.

⸻

✨ More questions don’t create more language:

“Say it”
“What’s this?”
“Tell me…”

This can feel like pressure… not support.

Language develops through modelling and connection, not testing.

⸻

✨ AAC doesn’t stop speech:

Giving a child a way to communicate reduces frustration and supports language development.

Communication should never be withheld while we wait for speech.

⸻

✨ Play isn’t a bonus… it’s the foundation:

Play is where:
– connection happens
– regulation happens
– communication begins

Without it, language has nowhere to land.

⸻

And I think sometimes…

in the world we’re living in… busy, fast-paced, full of demands, these things get lost.

Not because parents don’t care.
But because life is a lot.

⸻

So this isn’t a joke.

It’s a reminder.

You don’t need to do more.
You don’t need to get it perfect.

But understanding these shifts?

It can change everything about how you support your child’s communication.

⸻

I’m a Speech & Language Therapist based in Birmingham with nearly 20 years’ experience, supporting children who are learning and communicating in different ways.

If this resonates, you’re not alone 🤍
💬 Comment “INFO” or send me a DM… I’m always happy to help.

⸻

Steph | Go Talking Ways

28/03/2026

Screen time is back in the news… again.

Guidelines, headlines, debates, all telling parents what they should be doing.

And honestly?
I think this conversation is more nuanced than that.

Because for some children, especially neurodivergent children, screens can be regulating.
They can offer predictability in a world that often feels overwhelming.

So this isn’t about removing screens completely.

But here’s what I am noticing more and more in my work as a Speech & Language Therapist…

Play is quietly disappearing.

And that matters.

Because play isn’t just something extra we fit in if we have time.

It’s where communication begins.

It’s where children learn to:
✨ connect
✨ regulate
✨ explore
✨ share meaning with another person

And when those foundations are there…
language has somewhere to grow.

And without it, it shows up as:
“they’re not talking yet”
“they don’t respond when I ask questions”
“they seem in their own world”

This isn’t about blame.

Parents are under more pressure than ever.
Life is busy.
Energy is limited.

But this is a gentle nudge.

You don’t need more strategies.
You don’t need more stuff.

You just need moments.

A few minutes of your time.
Following their lead.
Being a bit silly.
Sharing something together.

Because language doesn’t grow from being watched.

It grows from being shared.

I’m a Speech & Language Therapist based in Birmingham with nearly 20 years’ experience, supporting children who are learning and communicating in different ways.

If this resonates, you’re not alone 🤍
💬 DM me PLAY if you want ideas for getting started in a way that feels manageable

⸻

Steph | Go Talking Ways

26/03/2026

There’s a huge misconception about speech therapy…

That we can “make children talk”.

And I get why you might think this… because when your child isn’t using words yet, it can feel like the only thing that matters.

But communication is so much bigger than speech.

It’s connection.
It’s regulation.
It’s feeling safe enough to express something… in whatever way that looks like.

And for some children, spoken language comes differently… or later… or alongside other forms of communication.

If you’re navigating this, you’re not alone.

And there is another way to understand what’s happening.

My DMs are always open 🤍

⸻

Steph | Go Talking Ways

26/03/2026

We’ve been getting this wrong about communication…

And if you’re a parent wondering why your child isn’t talking, or why things don’t quite feel like they’re working… this might be why.

Here are 3 things we now understand differently ⬇️

⸻

1. Eye contact isn’t the gold standard for listening

You don’t need to look at someone to understand them.

For many children, especially neurodivergent learners… looking away, moving, or focusing on something else actually supports processing.

So if your child isn’t looking at you…
it doesn’t mean they’re not listening.

⸻

2. More questions don’t create more communication

“Say it”.
“What’s this?”
“Tell me…”

These can actually increase pressure and reduce a child’s ability to respond.

Communication grows when we model language, not test it.

⸻

3. Communication doesn’t start with words

Before mouth words comes:
✨ regulation
✨ connection
✨ engagement

If a child’s nervous system is overwhelmed, their access to communication reduces.

This is why some children can talk in certain moments… but not when asked.

⸻

💡 So if your child:
– repeats instead of answers
– talks but doesn’t respond to questions
– seems to understand but can’t express it

This isn’t about them “not trying”.

It’s about how communication is developing.

⸻

I’m a Speech & Language Therapist based in Birmingham with nearly 20 years’ experience, supporting children who are learning and communicating differently.

And this shift, from “getting them to talk”
to understanding how a young person communicates…
changes everything.

⸻

If this resonates, you’re not alone.

💬 Comment “INFO” or send me a DM, I’m always happy to help you understand what you’re seeing.

⸻

Steph | Go Talking Ways

22/03/2026

Five days off here… and this felt like the right way to come back…

So I captured this beautiful image in the park today. It got me thinking about life, nature, and its comparisons. Aristotle once said:

“In all things of nature, there’s something of the marvellous”.

There’s so much we miss unless we take the time to stop, look, and listen. So much beauty is happening around us that we fail to see because we’re so busy with our life. Another life, nature’s life, is going on around us and we miss so much of the lessons it could teach us…

… Unity…
… Togetherness…
… Love.

Our senses are overloaded in life and we rarely stop for a moment and think of the most precious moments until it’s too late. Take a moment now, we have this time to stop and look around you and admire the beauty of the simplest of things. Think of the sights and sounds that make you happy. Cherish all you have right now in this moment.

Drop a heart if this resonated ❤️

Steph | Go Talking Ways

18/03/2026

There’s something interesting about working in this field for a long time. You start to notice how our understanding evolves. What we thought supported communication 20yrs ago sometimes looks very different through what we know now about neurodiversity, sensory processing and language development. Here are a few things many of us are learning to see differently.

Eye contact isn’t the gold standard for listening.
Many people process language more easily when they’re not looking directly at someone. Looking away, moving, or focusing on something else can support attention not reduce it.

AAC doesn’t stop speech from developing.
Research consistently shows that Augmentative & Alternative Communication can support language development & reduce frustration by giving children reliable ways to express themselves while spoken language continues to grow.

Movement often supports attention.
Some nervous systems regulate through movement. Sitting perfectly still isn’t always the state where learning happens best.

Special interests aren’t distractions.
They’re often the doorway into engagement, connection & language. When we step into what someone loves, communication has somewhere meaningful to grow.

Behaviour is communication.
What looks like resistance, withdrawal or overwhelm is often a nervous system responding to the environment.

Sensory experiences shape communication.
When someone’s sensory system is overwhelmed or under-supported, accessing language becomes much harder.

The more we understand these things, the more we shift from asking: “How do we get children to behave or communicate in expected ways?”, to asking: “What environments allow communication to feel safe and possible?”

Nearly 20yrs working as a Speech & Language Therapist, and learning from the children & families I support, and my own experiences, continues to shape how I think about this work.

Understanding communication through a neurodiversity-affirming lens changes the conversation completely. Let’s chat. My DMs are always open. And these conversations matter 🌈 Steph | Go Talking Ways

16/03/2026

♾️🌈This week is Neurodiversity Celebration Week 🌈♾️

For me, this isn’t just a theme for the week.
It’s the lens through which I see the world.

Nearly twenty years working as a Speech & Language Therapist, and mum in a neurodivergent household, has shown me something again and again:

Human minds have never worked in just one way.

Some people think in pictures.
Some think in patterns.
Some feel things intensely.
Some notice details others miss.
Some communicate through movement, scripting, AAC, gestures, music, or silence before words arrive.

All of these ways of experiencing the world are part of the same human landscape.

Neurodiversity simply names something that has always existed… a wide range of ways of thinking, processing, learning and communicating.

When we start to see it this way, something shifts.

Instead of asking:
“how do we make people fit the system?”

we begin asking:
“how do we shape environments where more minds can thrive?”

That shift changes everything.

It changes classrooms.
It changes therapy.
It changes conversations between parents and professionals.
It changes how children come to understand themselves.

My family and the families I work with are constantly teaching me this.

They show me what it looks like to follow curiosity, honour communication in all its forms, and recognise strengths that don’t always fit neatly into conventional expectations.

This week is a reminder to keep building spaces where difference isn’t something that needs explaining…
it’s simply recognised as part of who we are.

Because when people are understood, respected and supported in ways that make sense for them… communication grows, confidence grows, and the world becomes a much more interesting place.

Here’s to celebrating the many ways minds work. 🤍

⸻

Steph | Go Talking Ways

15/03/2026

🌸Mother’s Day can hold many different emotions.

But today I wanted to take a moment to recognise a group of mothers whose strength often goes unseen.

SEND mums.

The mums who become experts overnight.
The mums who learn new language, sensory processing, gestalt language processing, EHCPs, masking, regulation… because understanding their child becomes the most important thing in the world.

The mums who advocate in meetings.
The mums who research late at night.
The mums who quietly carry the emotional labour of systems that don’t always understand their child.

The mums who follow their child’s lead when the world keeps asking them to do the opposite.

The mums who celebrate scripts from favourite shows, gestures, sounds, eye contact, AAC buttons, shared laughter… every single way their child communicates.

And for the mums who sometimes sit with that quiet ache of wondering what their child’s voice might sound like one day…

Your child already feels your love.

And the connection you build with them… day after day, is the foundation for everything.

Today is for you ❤️

⸻

Steph | Go Talking Ways

11/03/2026

This might look chaotic…

But this is actually how my brain works most days.

Thinking about communication.

Thinking about the nervous system.

Thinking about how language actually develops.

Thinking about how many families are still being told things that don’t quite fit their child.

Because the truth is, the more I’ve learned in nearly 20 years as a Speech & Language Therapist, the more I’ve realised something:

Communication isn’t just about words.

It’s about connection.
It’s about regulation.
It’s about feeling safe enough to interact with the world.

And when you start to understand things like gestalt language processing, sensory processing, and neurodivergent learning styles, suddenly a lot of children who once seemed “delayed” start to make a lot more sense.

This is the work I care deeply about.

And if you’re a parent trying to understand how your child communicates, you’re in the right place.

(Ps I actually really did see a bird).

Who else can relate to the million things to think about??

⸻
Steph | Go Talking Ways

Go Talking Ways

31/03/2026

28/03/2026

26/03/2026

26/03/2026

22/03/2026

18/03/2026

16/03/2026

15/03/2026

11/03/2026

Address

Opening Hours

Website

Alerts

Contact The Practice

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Saturday	10am - 1pm