TESTIMONIALS

Donna Rygol

19th September 2011

My 8 year old son was struggling to pronounce his L's. After 8/10 sessions with Nicola he can sound them perfectly. Must admit I was a bit sceptical at first but the difference is amazing and my sons confidence has rocketed. Look no further really, Nicola is lovely, patient, professional and knows whats shes talking about. Highly recommend and money well spent.

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Kelly Barrett 

14th January 2012

Nicola has worked with all 3 of my daughters, and my niece, as they all had problems with articulating certain sounds, causing them problems as they started school. They have all loved working with her as she makes the sessions so much fun and is so patient and positive with them. Another benefit of Nicola's work is that their early reading skills also received a boost because she uses phonics to help with their sounds. My 3 daughters and my niece all made very rapid progress, particularly as Nicola is willing to spend lots of time discussing techniques we could use ourselves at home to help.I would highly recommend her as she has made a dramatic difference to my children's speech.

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Simon & Lisa Mellor

7th July 2012

Nicola worked with both our children at pre school / reception age to help iron out a few minor speech problems and develop their reading through phonics. We found Nicola very helpful , always willing to discuss our children's development and advise us of their future needs , more importantly our children always looked forward to Nicola's visits and enjoyed the classes. We would definitely recommend Nicola to anybody experiencing similar issues with their children's speech.

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Leigh 

28th October 2013

Nicola helped my son with his speech before and during Reception, as he had a number of immature sounds he needed help with. Nicola made the sessions fun and my son enjoyed them whilst learning. The sessions helped his speech enormously, and after focusing on specific sounds with Nicola, my son was then able to pick up other sounds more easily. Nicola was very informative and helped us know what to do to help our son at home. Would really recommend Nicola to others.

Steve & Rach

10th November 2013

Ben was diagnosed with having glue ear around the age of 3. He has had a number of speech and language therapists over the years - some have been more successful than others. Nicola quickly developed a good relationship with Ben, was able to identify some key areas to focus on, and was flexible in her approach to working with him. In particular Nicola has helped Ben with his auditory memory loss, expanding his vocabulary and comprehension of language. We would very much recommend her to anyone with a child who needs support in this area.

Pam

11th November 2013

Nicolas guidance and reassurance has been invaluable. Waiting for my little boy to start to talk was frustrating, worrying and stressful when we were concerned there might have been a delay. Nicola helped us with fun ways to help him, and has always offered very caring, sensitive and experienced advice. Above and beyond what we asked for and I will always be very grateful. She's so natural and lovely very pleased we found her x

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Lesley Prashar 

17th February 2014

I asked Nicola to see my son who is a young adult with downs syndrome. I needed some advice and guidance with his speech. Nicola is a very caring lady who was very understanding and initiated a plan with my son and he responded very quickly. The strategies she put in place have helped a lot. Thank you so much for all your help. I would definetly recommend Nicola if your child has any need for a speech therapist.

Hayley Pritchard

18th June 2014

Liam had been struggling with his speech since the age of 3. I called Nicola as I found the NHS service poor and Liam wasn't improving. Nicola worked with Liam very well and Liam always looked forward to Nicola's lessons. Nicola has patients, good communication skills and makes the lessons fun aswell as learning. Nicola always keeps you informed of your child's progress and what practice is needed. Liam loved Nicola like she was part of our family. Liam has now developed all his sounds at his age and can speak clearly. I would highly recommend Nicola for speech therapy lessons for your child as she has made such a difference in Liam's life and speech through her professional work and at the same time made it fun for Liam. Thank you Nicola!

Angela Brumby

28th July 2014

I contacted Nicola after failing to make any progress with the NHS service. She has worked with both my children but for very different reasons. My daughter, age 5, had some minor speech sound problems which became apparent as she started phonics in Reception. Nicola very quickly ironed out these issues within a matter or weeks! The change in our daughter and her new confidence when talking was miraculous! My son, age 2 ½ had speech delay issues and still had a very limited vocabulary with poor pronunciation. After a number of sessions with Nicola, his vocab increased and he bagan to put 2-3 words together to form basic sentences. Nicola also gave me lots of strategies and advice in order to continue his development at home. Nicola tailored both sessions to suit my children’s differing ages and needs. She is professional, caring and patient and the children absolutely loved her!

Lydia 

29th July 2014

My daughter was three-and-a-half years’ old when we asked for Nicola’s help. We were told by the NHS that the wait would be at least four months and with her struggling to speak in sentences and to make herself understood, we considered the issues to be more urgent (the wait was actually closer to eight months). Nicola was approachable, friendly, helpful, supportive and excellent in communicating with my girl and with me. She works brilliantly with children, including those with limited attention, and engages and adapts to the child to ensure they remain enthusiastic about the activities. She uses activities in each session that can be continued in her absence and provides additional resources throughout the therapy. She also provides regular feedback about the child’s progress and strategies going forwards. The transformation in my girl over the six months we were helped by Nicola has been incredible. By the time her NHS appointment came around, her language skills were assessed as being age-appropriate. In addition to regular home visits, Nicola liaised with nursery staff and provided invaluable support to me in addition to my daughter. I will be eternally grateful and would highly recommend Nicola to anyone who considers their child may need extra help with speech or language.

Sarah Duckworth

5th November 2014

I found Nicola's details on the Internet and contacted her out of the blue having been turned away from everywhere else saying there was nothing to be done. I was very concerned that my then 4 year old son would struggle to integrate into school well with his communication skills being as they were. Nicola was brilliant and understood my concerns and worked with me to identify what would work best for both me and my 4 year old. All of the lessons were based around games which we could then repeat in the week and she also liaised with the school to ensure that they were aligned too. I now view old videos of my son and cannot believe the difference! I am so grateful for her help, patience and flexibility when my son wasn't really in the mood! I would also highly recommend Nicola to anyone who asked! Thank you

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Celeste 

9th November 2014

My daughter struggled with C and G sounds. I work with Nicola so she'd given me lots of advice and ideas to try to help my daughter make the sounds. Unfortunately my daughter rarely responds well to me trying to correct her in anything so although what we were doing should have been fun she would just end up frustrated, grumpy and refused to join in. When my daughter was 7 she started getting frustrated that she couldn't make the correct sounds. So I decided Speech Therapy sessions were needed. We met with Nicola about 6 times. My daughter can be really shy with adults so I was worried she wouldn't talk at all but Nicola soon brought her out of her shell. My daughter absolutely loved the sessions during which the 3 of us played games. By the end of the first session my daughter could (with some effort) make both C and G sounds. Nicola gave us things to practice each week and because Nicola had stressed it was joint homework my daughter was happy to let me help. After 6 weeks my daughter was correctly using C and G in sentences during the sessions and she was self correcting herself in every day speech. I was amazed at how quickly the sessions with Nicola helped my daughter. As I work with Nicola I know how great she is professionally and fantastic to work with. From a parents perspective she is also brilliant, my daughter absolutely loved her, responded brilliantly and although she doesn't need any more sessions she keeps asking when we can go and play games with Nicola again. I would highly recommend her to anyone needing Speech Therapy support.

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Caroline Ridgway

23rd December 2014

My 4 year old son has issues with the pronunciation of certain letter sounds which made him shy and frustrated. As we had to wait 6 months for our NHS appointment to come through we decided to start speech therapy with Nicola. My son quickly developed a rapport with her and really enjoyed his therapy sessions and looked forward to seeing what games she would bring each week! In total my son had therapy with Nicola for about 11 months and everybody has commented on how much his speech has improved as well as his self confidence. I would highly recommend Nicola for any child in need of speech therapy. Thank you.

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Faye Hill

13th January 2015

We approached Nicola as our daughter, Ava, had developed her own language and nobody but us could understand her. She was referred for speech therapy by pre-school but the NHS could only provide therapy in approx 6 months time, ie. after she had started school. Her speech was such that she was getting frustrated when trying to speak to the other children and teachers in pre-school. Nicola was absolutely fantastic with her and also gave us the tools to assist Ava rather than confuse her. A lot of the therapy was done via play and Ava thoroughly enjoyed her sessions. Thanks to Nicola she settled into school without any problems with her speech. Would definitely recommend using Nicola - she was fab!

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Claire

28th January 2015

We got in touch with Nicola just before my triplets were 3. They had developed their own language together and it had delayed their communication. We were worried they were going to start getting frustrated if we didn't see someone quickly. They were only saying a couple of words together and Nicola advised us how to increase this and their vocabulary. She worked with them in a group and individually through playing games. Nicola was absolutely great with them and they really enjoyed the sessions. They came on leaps and bounds in a couple of weeks. We would highly recommend Nicola to anyone who needed speech and language therapy.

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Elizabeth

30th March 2015

Hi Nicola, Thanks for all your hard work with Isabel and pulling the report together it really is wonderful. Very many best wishes, Elizabeth

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Nicola Bragg 

24th April 2015

I'd just like to say that Nicola has been amazing with my 4 year old daughter Mischa, she's been struggling since she was 2 with sentences first of all, Nicola came when she was around 2 and spend time with her just playing at first and getting Mischa to recognise "boy girl", colours etc it sounds so simple but to try doing that after Nicola had gone, was a lot easier to watch than actually do, Mischa really looked forward to her coming with her bag of tricks lol! Her sentences were forming a lot more, I have recently had Nicola back to see Mischa again in the last few months, for the pronunciation of her words, once again Mischa loved working with her pronouncing the sounds of the letters, and card games etc, she has really improved. Family friends and school teachers have said she got a lot better, so thanks Nicola for all your amazing hardwork x 

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Claire 

26th May 2016

Nicola is a lovely person to work with. I am an adult who sometimes has issues with mumbling. Nicola was really helpful at listening to me and helping me understand what might be the cause of my issue. Her approach is relaxed and helpful & I recommend her to anyone that needs help with their speech. Thanks Nicola x

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Jane 

21st July 2016

If you have any concerns about your child's speech just call Nicola, she is amazing! Our 4 year old daughter had difficulty pronouncing certain sounds, and became very aware of this when she started school. Nicola worked with her for a year and the results were incredible. She develops such a lovely bond with your child and as a parent she always has time to listen to your worries and concerns. I can't recommend her highly enough and we look forward to seeing you in 6 months for a review!

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Jonathan Scudder 

3rd August 2016

The help nicola gave us and our daughter was invaluable. After only a few sessions we started seeing improvements in Maria's (my daughters) speech. Nicola identified other aspects of Maria's learning and pointed us in the direction of someone who could help with her behavioural problems.

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Avani Patel 

31st October 2016

My 4 yrs old daughter couldn't make the 'c'&'g' sounds. After realising that she would need professional help, i tried contacting the NHS speech therapist helpline, but didn't get a response of any sort. That's when we decided to go private and contacted Nicola. She did an assessment with her and suggested weekly sessions. After a couple of sessions, my daughter started making the sounds correctly and we were delighted to hear them. Nicola would visit her at the nursery for the sessions and also advised the teachers there on how to support my daughter for her speech. Playing through games she would put my daughter at ease and made the sessions very interactive and fun. My daughter showed good progress and after 3 months she could make all the correct sounds, using them in her words,sentences etc.. She came a long way in a very short time than we had expected. All thanks to Nicola...i would absolutely recommend her to anyone who needed a speech therapist for their children.

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Karen Flatman 

29th March 2018

I contacted Nicola to help us confirm that my daughter was only suffering from tongue tie and no other swallowing disorder. This was the necessary step we had to take in order for our private consultant to perform surgery. This tongue tie had gone undiagnosed for 10 months and we has resorted to the private sector to get us some answers. My little girl was unable to eat solids and we were becoming increasingly frustrated with the system and it's fair to say pretty desperate for someone to help us. The day that I called Nicola was pivotal in our journey to now having a healthy and happy 20 month old. To be listened to, understood and not patronised - something that had been relatively lacking until then - really did mean so much. Even that day on the phone she was professional but clearly really cares about people. Nicola then came out to see us and she was fantastic with my daughter immediately connecting with her. Her style and approach was caring and a credit to her profession. Quite simply without Nicola we would still be stuck. Even after surgery and when her job was effectively "done" she continued to care and support our family - well above and beyond the call of duty. Nicola - huge thanks to you - we will always be hugely grateful!

Michelle Crookes 

13th August 2019

My son was diagnosed very late with tongue tie and cleft-palate - he was 6 when we finally got a doctor to refer to speech and language and they picked up what was wrong!  After having corrective surgery the speech and language therapist at the hospital diagnosed issues with certain sounds and referred to our local therapist team with a recommendation that he be seen very quickly given his relatively late age for therapy.  I waited 7 months, constantly phoning the local team to be told that he was ‘on the list’, before I decided to go private.  I picked Nicola off a list because she was the first to phone me back and I am so delighted that it worked out that way! She was very professional at the initial assessment but also really friendly and approachable with my son and he thoroughly enjoyed his sessions with her.  We, unfortunately, could not complete our speech journey with Nicola but we were able to get back into seeing the speech therapists at the hospital (I requested not to see the local team when my younger daughter got an appointment before my son after being referred in after him!) and the cleft palate team were delighted with how far Sam had come and have been able to pick up where we left off with Nicola.  Even now, Sam often picks the game that he and Nicola played when the therapist asks what he wants to play when practising sounds and he still says that she was his favourite therapist!  I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to anyone!!

Many thanks,
Michelle

Natasha Jones 
28th February 2022
We got in touch with Nicola after having some concerns about our 8 month old daughter struggling with weaning. She had a late diagnosed posterior tongue tie, and that combined with having to take oral medication twice daily (which she hates!) meant that she’d developed a slight oral aversion and was finding it difficult to manipulate food in her mouth. Mealtimes were proving very stressful and we wanted to make sure there wasn’t a physical issue for her food reluctance. Nicola was warm, professional and very reassuring. She listened to our concerns, observed videos of our daughter eating and drinking and provided really helpful feedback on what she’d noticed. She gave us some tips on how to make progress with spoon feeding and also BLW, and we definitely all felt a lot more comfortable and confident carrying on with introducing solids after her involvement. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Nicola to others.
Thank you again, Tasha and Thea

Emma

3rd January 2023

Nicola gave me advise regarding my premature son, who was failing to wean, when no other professionals were available, this was our only help. Nicola was patient & informative from the 1st phone call we had. I highly recommend her and would call her again with any future problems.

Clare

11th January 2023

We approached Nicola when our eldest daughter (now 16) was about 8, after years of worrying about the fact she had an interdental lisp. She was a very bubbly, funny, articulate girl and wasn’t really even aware of it herself, but we were worried that as she got older, if it was left as it was, it may become more pronounced or harder to improve and this may in turn lead to teasing.

Nicola played games with our daughter and explained how the process would work clearly and transparently. We had some simple exercises to follow and it was all done in such a way that our daughter had incentive to change but never any upset that she needed ‘correction’.

After a few sessions we noticed an improvement, months after the sessions ended even more, and now years later we have even forgotten that she had this issue. We watch old videos now and it surprises us.

Her speech is very clear without a trace of a lisp. She has thanked us for the fact we undertook the therapy.

About a year ago we felt our younger daughter would benefit from seeing Nicola. Her speech isn’t overly crisp with ‘t’ and ‘th’ sounding like an ‘f’ and other subtle things. We haven’t fully resolved this as it was more of a general subtle thing, but we have some tools now to use with her.

Nicola is very professional, warm and friendly. We had mentioned concerns about our eldest daughter to our GP but were fobbed off. I’m so glad we made the decision to seek help and so glad we saw Nicola.

Jessica

4th May 2023

It’s hard to put into words how much Nicola has done for my son. When I first spoke to her, he was one and entirely reliant on breast milk. He wouldn’t eat or drink anything else. I was going back to work, and it was all incredibly stressful. I had been given a range of contradictory advice, nothing felt right and no one would listen to me.

From our first phone call onwards, she was supportive, helpful and wonderful. When she came to meet us in person, she was brilliant with Arthur. I went from feeling so alone to feeling supported and like we had a plan.

Slowly, through implementing the strategies and advice she gave us, we started to notice a difference. Gradually, he began to discover the fun and joy of food and water. There were no quick fixes, but over time his progress has been massive. He now eats and drinks happily and regularly demands more. He’s gained the weight he lost, and is meeting his milestones.

I am so glad I found Nicola when I did. If I’d have listened the the people who told me to just not breastfeed him or force him to eat, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

Lucy
24th August 2023
Hi Nicola, hope you are having a good summer. I just wanted to let you know, remember all that time ago you mentioned ARFID and it reminded you of Charlie - he's just been diagnosed with it. I wish there were more people like you, so many professionals have missed it and you were the only one who picked up on it and you weren't even seeing him then! Thank you so much, we really appreciate everything you have done xx 

Becky
4th February 2024
Morning Nicola. Thanks so much for yesterday's assessment and your reassuring words. Both Charlie and I found it very useful to have you over. Also thank you for sending the report through so quickly. We’re feeling much better each week about Alby’s desire and ability to eat. We won’t even hesitate to call you again if anything changes. You’ve played such a critical role in Alby’s journey.
Thanks again. Becky 

Amy
12th March 2024
Nicola was recommended us for help with significant eating issues in my 4 year old boy. She was fantastic with him and immediately made him feel at ease. Nicola is very professional, kind and empathetic and I would highly recommend her to anyone.

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