Live A Colourful Life In Sandgate

For many, a rainbow is a symbol of hope. It's also the name of a thriving local speech pathology clinic in the heart of Sandgate.

From what began as a small home office in the street that shares its name, Rainbow Speech Pathology recently moved to its new, larger Second Avenue location in December last year.

Principal speech language pathologist Calla Dolton said that one of the reasons she chose the business name was because it represented what they do. � �

We work with people with disability; people across various spectrums of communication ability, across the lifespan,� Calla said.

Living a colourful life; that's kind of our motto. We want all our clients to be able to say whatever they want to say, to whoever they want to say it to.�

Calla said that as well as being able to help with speech and language difficulties, many people were often surprised to learn that speech pathologists could also assist with feeding issues.

We work with children who have oral motor difficulties,� she said. Often the nerves and muscles involved with speaking are the same for chewing and swallowing. If there's a deficit in one area then often their eating and drinking are impacted as well.�

Fussy eating can also be a problem for some children. We get a lot of kids on the spectrum who have sensory issues with food,� Calla said. Even looking at food or smelling a food can be really overwhelming. So we do lots of play. [We] play with food and desensitize them to food in a playful therapy session.�

In the future, Calla said that she was eager to develop group therapy sessions at the clinic.

That's kind of the dream of having a space where we could get our clients who've got similar goals together, and have a group where we work on social skills,� she said.

Calla said that living and working in Sandgate was where she wanted to be.

I love being here,� she said. Our clients come to a session and they go down to the beach or go get fish and chips for lunch. People want to come here.�

To learn more, visit www.rainbowspeechpathology.....