Speech and Language Therapy
Jean de Wet
Speech and Language Therapist
I am an experienced Speech and Language Therapist offering services to children in the Tauranga area.
My practice, Words, is based in Omokoroa.
I qualified with a BSc Logopaedics from the University of Cape Town in 1990. Since then, I have helped hundreds of
children develop and grow their communication and literacy skills. I have worked in a wide range of settings –
first in South Africa, then the United Kingdom, and then with the New Zealand Ministry of Education for 18 years
until I started my own practice in 2015.
Services
I assess and help children with a range of difficulties affecting their communication skills:
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Literacy skills – I provide individual or small group intervention to help children
master the concepts, skills and spelling code knowledge they need for success with reading and spelling. I am
trained in Sounds-Write, a well established, evidence-based structured literacy approach. For younger children I
can help develop phonological awareness skills. Children with speech sound disorders are more likely to have
difficulty with these important building-blocks for literacy.
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Speech clarity – whether it is immature speech sound development, a speech sound disorder or
Childhood Apraxia of Speech, I have a wealth of experience in helping children to be able to talk clearly and
make themselves understood.
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Stuttering – very young children usually respond well to a parent-led approach which I can
implement with you. Older children may need to learn to control their stuttering and build confidence in their
speech ability. I am trained in the Lidcombe approach to help young children who stutter, and the Camperdown
programme for adult and adolescent stutterers.
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Receptive and expressive language – this includes vocabulary and grammatical development, and
the ability to use and understand language to function successfully and interact with others.
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Social communication skills – interacting and communicating with others successfully involves
more than talking and understanding language. I offer help individually or in groups for children to assist with
developing social communication skills.
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Hanen programmes – I am trained and certified to deliver It Takes Two to Talk,
More Than Words and the Learning Language and Loving It and Teacher Talk programmes.
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Workshops – I am happy to deliver workshop sessions tailored to needs, for example to a group
of educators or parents at an Early Childhood Centre.
If circumstances make it difficult to meet face-to-face, I also offer online services.
Please contact me to discuss any concerns you may have about your child’s
communication skills and literacy development, and how I can help.