Hi Everyone, my name is Mary Hampton. I’m a Speech and Language Therapist, Dyslexia Tutor and Teacher of English as an Additional Language. I arrived in Lucerne in August 2020 from Sheffield in the UK between lockdowns, with my husband and daughter and two cats, and along the way we have been joined by a puppy from Romania, so it’s been an interesting nine months!
I still run my company – Language Therapy Ltd in the UK and see a number of children there through Zoom and Teams, and I am gradually building a business here seeing children and young people in Lucerne, Zug, Aargau and Zurich.
The children and young people I work with are from around 2 years up to 25 years who have speech language or literacy difficulties.
There are lots of reasons why children and young people have difficulties with their speech, understanding, interaction or writing and lots of different methods for supporting and developing their skills. What I try to do is to unravel the strengths and challenges that each child faces and use the methods best suited to each individual to build their skills and confidence. There is no “one size fits all”.
Parents and teachers are a vital part of all children’s learning and development and I always work with everyone to make sure the children get consistent feedback and encouragement. Part of each teaching or therapy session is spent setting and reviewing “homework”.
For young children, during the first appointment I assess their skills, then suggest and demonstrate activities and methods of interaction which will help them progress. Sometimes that first appointment is enough to put everyone’s minds at ease, but if further appointments are required then I can schedule them at intervals to suit families and the needs of the child, whether that is twice weekly, weekly, fortnightly or monthly.
For older children, often from eight years upwards, an in-depth assessment looking at understanding, speech in sentences and speech sounds as well as interaction skills with a detailed report can be helpful to provide a record of the child’s skills and develop a language programme that can be followed at home, in school and in therapy sessions.
Making therapy and teaching as easy to access as possible is important, and I offer appointments at your home, at schools and of course over the last year virtual sessions have been added through Zoom or Teams, or you can come to an office – I use rooms in Zug, Root, and the Lili Centre.
Although I have always seen children with general speech and language delays, I have also developed specialities in working with neurodiverse children and young people who have Autistic Spectrum Difficulties, Dyspraxia, ADHD, Dyslexia, Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy.
I have trained in specific programmes such as Dyslexia Literacy Programme, Signing, PROMPT, Talk Tools, Social Stories, Social Thinking and Cued Articulation.
I welcome any questions or inquiries and if I cannot help you, I can usually point you in the direction of someone who can.
