About

A passion for helping others led Tara down the path of Speech Pathology into a career that allows her to provide families with excellent quality speech therapy services.

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Tara graduated from Macquarie University with a Masters degree in Speech and Language Pathology. She also holds a Bachelor Degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences from Sydney University.

Tara has over 10 years experience working in a wide range of health care settings, such as private practice, government and private hospitals and schools, disability and learning support schools, preschools, day care centres, community health centres, specialised brain injury hospitals and nursing homes. She is highly competent in implementing diagnostic communication assessments and interventions. Tara has experience in implementing a broad range of evidence-based approaches and she has successfully assisted clients with a range of mild to severe communication difficulties and disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome, intellectual disabilities, global developmental delay, speech and language delays/disorders, specific language impairment, articulation and phonological disorders, fluency, literacy, pragmatic and social skill difficulties.

Tara is committed to providing evidence-based interventions with a focus on strengthening children’s ability to cope and thrive within their environment by stimulating their communication skills. To effectively achieve this, she is dedicated to implementing family centred practice principles which involves collaboration with each client and their family to set holistic and functional goals. To continuously expand and update her skills, Tara is actively involved in professional development activities.

Tara is a certified Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia and attended the Speech pathology Australia National Conference in 2017. In terms of professional development, Tara has completed various professional training courses to complement her Bachelor of Health Science (Speech & Hearing) and Master’s Degree in Speech Pathology, such as;

 

• Early communication: Hanen training in “It takes Two to Talk”. A parent training program to develop language skills in children aged 0 – 5 years.

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• Stuttering: The Lidcombe Program training for children aged up to 6 years, who have a stutter. It is a behavioural treatment and it can also be effective for some older children.

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• Stuttering: continuous education and professional development at the Bankstown Stuttering Unit, recognised nationally as a leading specialist Speech Pathology service.

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• Literacy: Sounds Write. This is an evidenced-based phonics program utilising a highly successful approach to teaching reading, spelling and writing.

 

• PROMPT training. This stands for Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets. It is a tactile-kinesthetic approach to speech therapy, which means that the Speech Pathologist uses touch cues on the client’s face (vocal folds, jaws, lips, tongue) to support and shape correct movement of these articulators.

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• Autism, non-verbal and minimally verbal communication abilities: The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is a way for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to communicate without relying on speech. To communicate, people use cards with pictures, symbols, words or photographs that represent tasks, actions or objects.

 

• Hearing impairment, non-verbal and minimally verbal communication: Key Word Sign NSW. This is a communication strategy used to support understanding and encourage language in children and adults with communication difficulties. 

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• The Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) feeding approach integrates motor, oral, behavioural/learning, medical, sensory and nutritional factors and approaches in order to comprehensively evaluate and manage children with feeding/growth concerns. The SOS feeding therapy approach is based on typical developmental feeding steps, stages and skills found in children. 

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• Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy: Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders (OMDs) are disorders of the muscles and functions of the face and mouth. Myofunctional Therapy helps to treat the OMDs.

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More information about these programs can be obtained from under our ‘Helpful Links & Resources’ page.​