Plain-language guides
for real families.
Evidence-based, identity-affirming writing about communication, autism, AAC, and the everyday questions parents actually ask.
AAC funding through NDIS: a parent's plain-language guide
How to actually get an AAC device funded through your NDIS plan — what the trial looks like, what to ask your planner, what gets devices rejected, and how to budget across AT and CB.
Read article →AAC modelling for parents: what it is, how to do it, and why quizzing kills it
Modelling is the single most important thing a parent does with an AAC system. It's also the thing most parents are never properly taught. This guide is the long version of what we coach every AAC family on.
Read →Gestalt language processing: the 6 stages explained for parents
If your kid is a gestalt language processor, language develops through stages — not vocabulary lists. Here's what each stage actually looks like in real life, and what's helpful (and unhelpful) at each one.
Read →PDA and speech therapy: why traditional therapy backfires (and what works instead)
If your kid has a PDA profile, most speech therapy approaches will make things worse. The compliance, the rewards, the structured demands — all of it. Here's what an autonomy-respecting alternative looks like.
Read →Stuttering-affirming therapy: a different way to work with people who stutter
Most stuttering therapy is built around making stuttering stop. There's another way — one that works on confidence, advocacy, and unmasking, without trying to eliminate the stutter itself.
Read →Echolalia is communication: a parent's guide to gestalt language
If your child repeats lines from movies, scripts conversations, or 'parrots' what they hear — that's gestalt language processing. It's not a glitch. It's a route into language.
Read →Starting AAC: what to expect in the first six months
AAC isn't a quick fix and it's not a last resort. Here's what realistic progress looks like — and what to ignore from people who say it 'should be faster'.
Read →Why we use identity-first language at Speech Sprout
"Autistic person" or "person with autism"? The autism community has been clear for years. Here's the research, and why our practice listens.
Read →Sensory processing differences in autistic kids
Hyper, hypo, seeking, avoiding — eight sensory systems and how they shape your kid's day. With practical accommodations.
Read →Speech delay vs autism: what's the difference?
They overlap, but they're not the same. A clinician's plain-language guide for parents who are wondering — and worried.
Read →Early signs of autism: a non-deficit framing
How to notice autistic traits in young kids without slipping into deficit language. What to do — and what to skip.
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