About Families First Speech Pathology

Families First Speech Pathology is founded and operated by Kaysie Hilton, who has a passion for working with families in neurodiversity affirming ways so they can grow to meet their goals.

We strive to provide quality family centred services which follow the Australian Government’s National Guidelines “Best Practice in Early Childhood Intervention” (2016). Following these best practice guidelines is at core of our beliefs, for this reason we operate a little differently to other therapy services.

An important adult in your child’s life must be present for all sessions

This may mean a primary caregiver, teacher, education assistant/s, orother family member is there for the therapy session.
It is critical for an important adult to attend all therapy sessions so they can see strategies used first hand, and a plan can be put in place so the strategies can be used for the time in between sessions.

The majority of progress needs to happen after the therapy session ends

Children learn best through everyday experiences and interactions with familiar people in familiar contexts –this generally means that your work after the therapy session ends will be the most important factor to their development!
Sessions will end with a plan for what will happen with you and your child after the session ends. You will brainstorm with Kaysie to figure out how you learn best, and how this will practically look for you in your everyday routines.

We want to listen to your priorities and goals

After your initial assessment we will discuss your child’s strengths, areas that require support to develop, and will devise a practical plan on where and when therapy will occur (including how frequently sessions may happen). Kaysie will also help set clear specific goals on what you would like to achieve so your child can participate in their everyday life. For teenager  clients, they will be the ones setting their own goals with support.

Kaysie will regularly check in with you on your priorities and discuss your child’s progress with you. If you have a priority outside of your child communicating, we can help you link in with supports to meet these goals! We know that children function the best when they are within a supportive family and community context.

Neurodiversity affirming supports

Neurodiversity is, simply put, the diversity among human minds. Neurological differences can include Autism, Down Syndrome, ADHD, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, traumatic brain injury, intellectual disability, developmental language disorder, and others. The neurodiversity movement is a humans rights movement recognizing that neurological differences don’t have to be looked at as weaknesses or “problems” that need to be “fixed” or “cured”. They are simply variations of the human brain, which may require additional supports to be implemented with that person.

About Kaysie

Hello 🙂

I’m Kaysie. I have been working as a Speech Pathologist in private practices in Broome, Bunbury and Perth since 2017. I have also worked for Wanslea, the early childhood partner to the NDIS in Western Australia. In April 2021 I decided to branch out on my own as a sole trader, which I have loved every day since!

I have experience in working with neurodivergent and disabled kids and families across all sorts of goals. I specifically have experience in:

  • Assessing and applying to the NDIS for communication devices.
  • Implementing communication devices.
  • Establishing visual communication supports (visual schedules, communication boards/pages, and others).
  • Supporting mealtime challenges.
  • Targeting difficulties with speech and language.
  • Literacy development.
  • Supporting self advocacy skills.
  • Childhood apraxia of speech.
  • Use of PROMPT therapy where suitable.
  • Supporting executive functioning differences.
  • Neurodiversity affirming family education.

Since beginning as a sole trader I have made it my mission to learn from neurodivergent and disabled voices to better support the children and families I work with. This has been something that has allowed me to discover, and then explore my own autistic and ADHD identity! My vision in working as a speech pathologist is to help kids and teenagers be accepted and valued for their differences, and to help families through providing neurodiversity affirming supports.

In recent years I have completed additional trainings in supporting autistic girls and gender diverse youth (through attending the Yellow Lady Bugs conference in 2023), gestalt language processing, energy regulation supports for neurodivergent children (Autism Level Up), and using neurodiversity to support autistic children and their families. I have also completed the introductory course of Collaborative and Proactive Solutions by Ross Greene.

I love working with other neurodivergent people, whether they are neurodivergent children or in the context of neurodivergent families. My passion is in working with those around a neurodivergent individual to reduce environmental barriers and improve attitudes in neurodivergent differences.

Outside of my work as a speech pathologist, I like to invest time into my creative side with painting and drawing, play games, and watch lots of documentaries about amazing animals (I have a particular interest in elephant seals!).