Paediatric speech & language therapy · Reading

Helping little voices take off

I'm Anjali, a children's speech and language therapist. If you've been watching your child struggle to be understood and quietly worrying, you're in the right place. We'll work out what's going on, in plain words, and your child will think we're just playing.

Book a free 15-minute chat How it works

A bright therapy table at Lark Speech Therapy in Reading, picture cards laid out mid-game with a child's hands only in frame

Who I help

The children who come to Lark

If one of these sounds like your child, you're in the right place. If you're not sure which one fits, that's exactly what the free chat is for.

Late talkers

Your two-year-old understands everything, follows every instruction, and says almost nothing. Everyone keeps telling you not to worry, and you keep worrying anyway.

Speech-sound flashcards and a small practice mirror on the therapy table at Lark Speech Therapy in Reading

Speech sounds

You understand your child perfectly. Strangers ask you to translate. 'Tat' for 'cat' was sweet at two, but they're four now and getting frustrated at not being understood.

Stammering

Words get stuck, repeat or stretch, and you can see your child pushing to get them out. You want to know what helps, what doesn't, and what to say when it happens.

A basket of picture books in the waiting nook at Lark Speech Therapy in Reading

School-age language

Following long instructions, telling you what happened at school, getting a story in the right order. Your child is bright, but the words don't keep up, and school is starting to notice.

How it works

We assess, through play

The first proper step is a 90-minute assessment. To your child it looks like games, picture cards and a grown-up who is surprisingly fun. To me it's a structured look at how they understand, talk and interact, and you stay in the room the whole time. Afterwards you get a written summary in plain English, never a mystery report.
You get a plan in plain words

I explain what I found, what's typical for your child's age, and what I recommend, with every bit of jargon decoded on the spot. If therapy would help, we set goals together that you actually understand. If it wouldn't, I say so, and tell you what to watch for instead.
Sessions that feel like play

Weekly or fortnightly 45-minute sessions built around games, because play is how young children learn and the evidence backs it. Every session ends with five minutes for you: what we worked on, why it matters, and one small thing to practise at home.

How it works

Assessment, plan, sessions. Decoded at every step

Everything starts with a free 15-minute chat, because you shouldn't have to pay to find out whether you need me. Then, if it's worth doing, an assessment, a plan in plain words, and sessions your child will actually look forward to.

Initial assessment

£120

90 minutes

A relaxed, play-based look at how your child understands, talks and plays, followed by a written summary in plain English. The whole picture, decoded, with an honest recommendation about what to do next.

A pre-assessment questionnaire and history phone call
90 minutes of play-based assessment, with you in the room throughout
A written summary in plain English within a week, yours to share with nursery, school or your GP
An honest recommendation, including 'no therapy needed' when that's the truth

About initial assessment

Therapy session

£65

45 minutes

Weekly or fortnightly 45-minute sessions built around games your child actually wants to play, working on the goals we set together. Every session ends with five minutes for you: what we did, why, and what to practise at home.

A 45-minute play-based session built around your child's goals
The last five minutes with you: what we did, why, and what to practise
Simple home practice woven into games you already play
An open progress review at the end of every block of six sessions
Liaison with nursery or school, with your consent, whenever it helps

About therapy session

Free parent chat

15 minutes · free

Fifteen minutes on the phone or over video. You tell me what you've noticed, I ask a few questions, and you get an honest steer on whether an assessment is worth doing, plus at least one idea to try at home either way.

A real conversation with a qualified therapist, not a booking script
An honest answer about whether an assessment is worth your money
A pointer to the NHS pathway or another service if that's the better route

Book a free 15-minute chat

Anjali Rao, paediatric speech and language therapist, seated in her bright clinic room in Caversham, Reading

Anjali Rao playfully demonstrating a speech sound during a session at her Caversham clinic in Reading, the child in session present as hands only at the table edge

About me

I'm Anjali Rao

I spent eight years as a speech and language therapist in NHS children's services across Berkshire: community clinics, nurseries, school halls, and more carpet time than I can count. I loved it, and I learned the job properly there. I went independent for one reason: time. Time to see families quickly instead of adding them to a list, time to explain things fully, and time to work with nurseries and schools instead of just posting them a report.

I work with children from around eighteen months to eleven years: late talkers, unclear speech sounds, stammering, and school-age children whose language isn't keeping up with their thinking. Parents are part of every session, always. You know your child better than I ever will, and most of the real progress happens between sessions, in your kitchen, in the bath, in the car.

What sessions actually look like

Play, with a clinical spine. To your child, a session at Lark is a game about a hungry puppet, or a very silly grown-up who keeps saying words wrong on purpose. Underneath, every game targets a specific goal from your child's plan, and I'm collecting evidence the whole way through. That isn't a compromise: play is how young children learn, and the research backs it as the way in. You'll never leave wondering what just happened, either. The last five minutes of every session are for you, jargon decoded on the spot. If I ever say 'phonological awareness' without immediately explaining it, you have my full permission to make a buzzer noise.

Two languages at home?

I get asked this a lot, usually with a worried face: 'We speak two languages at home, is that confusing him?' No. The evidence here is clear and cheering: growing up bilingual does not cause speech or language difficulties, and the best thing you can do is keep speaking the language you're most comfortable in, because rich, warm language at home is the goal, whatever the language. I grew up in a house that moved happily between English and Kannada, so this one is personal as well as professional. And if a difficulty is present, it shows up in both languages, which is exactly the kind of thing an assessment untangles.

The unglamorous bit that matters most

I'm registered with the HCPC, the Health and Care Professions Council, the statutory regulator: 'speech and language therapist' is a protected title, and you can check my registration on their public register any time. I'm a member of the RCSLT, the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, our professional body. I hold a current enhanced DBS check, the fullest level of criminal-record check for people who work closely with children. I'm fully insured, supervised, and safeguarding trained. None of that is exciting. All of it is exactly what you should demand of anyone who works with your child.

You'll find me in a bright ground-floor room on Church Street in Caversham, or at your kitchen table, or on the nursery carpet, wherever the work works best.

HCPC registered

The Health and Care Professions Council is the statutory regulator for this profession. 'Speech and language therapist' is a protected title: only HCPC registrants may practise under it, and you can check my registration on the HCPC's public register any time.
RCSLT member

The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, the professional body that sets practice standards and keeps the profession's training and research honest.
Enhanced DBS

In plain words: the fullest level of criminal-record check that exists for people who work closely with children, renewed regularly and always current.

BSc (Hons) Speech & Language Therapy
8 years in NHS children's services
Fully insured · ongoing clinical supervision · safeguarding trained

More about me

Parent words

From families who've been where you are

When we started, strangers understood maybe half of what our son said and he'd stopped trying with new people. Six months on he ordered his own ice cream, loudly, and was understood first time. There are still sounds we're working on, and for the first time we know exactly how.

R. K., dad of a four-year-old

I spent months being told 'he's a boy, he'll catch up' while my gut said otherwise. Anjali took us seriously without ever making it scary. She turned the games we already play into practice, and his words are coming now. His own words, more every week.

A. B., mum of a two-year-old

Our daughter's stammer hasn't disappeared, and Anjali was honest from the very first call that it might not. What has changed is everything around it: she puts her hand up in class again, and we know how to help instead of holding our breath.

J. and P. T., parents of a seven-year-old

Fair questions

Things parents ask before they book

Should we just wait and see?

It's a fair question, and the honest answer has two halves. Some children genuinely do catch up in their own time, and nobody should frighten you into therapy your child doesn't need. But the research is also clear that when support is needed, starting earlier makes it easier and more effective. You don't have to gamble on which half your child is in: a free chat or a one-off assessment settles it, and 'no therapy needed, here's what to watch' is an answer I give happily and often.

Will my child grow out of it?

Some things, very possibly. Certain speech-sound patterns are a normal part of development and fade on their own, and plenty of late talkers bloom late. Other patterns don't tend to resolve without help, and it takes an assessment to tell the two apart. That's what an assessment is actually for: not to sign you up, but to tell you honestly which situation you're in.

What happens in an assessment?

Ninety minutes of what looks, to your child, like playing games with a friendly grown-up. Underneath the games I'm looking carefully at how they understand language, put words together, make speech sounds and enjoy a back-and-forth. You stay in the room the whole time, and within a week you get a written summary in plain English with an honest recommendation.

Do you work with schools and nurseries?

Yes, and it's some of the most useful work I do. With your consent I can visit, share strategies with your child's key worker or teacher, and talk to the school's SENCo, the staff member who coordinates support for children with additional needs. When home, school and therapy pull in the same direction, progress speeds up noticeably.

What about NHS speech and language therapy?

NHS speech and language therapy is good, and I should know, I spent eight years in it. The honest picture is that waiting lists in many areas are long, and children can wait months for a first appointment. Private therapy can run alongside the NHS pathway: stay on the list, and with your consent I'll share my assessment and coordinate with the NHS team so nothing is duplicated. You don't have to pick a side, and I'll never suggest leaving an NHS service that's working for your child.

My child is shy. What if they won't talk to you?

Then we'll have a lovely quiet session, and I'll still learn a great deal. Plenty of children say very little the first time, and I never push a child to perform. We build trust through play at their pace, and how a child warms up tells me almost as much as talking does. Shy children and I get on famously: I'm not in a hurry, and they can tell.

How many sessions will my child need?

Anyone who answers that from a website is guessing, so I won't. It depends on what we're working on and how your child responds. What I can promise: goals set in blocks of six sessions, an open review at the end of each block, and me telling you plainly when it's time to reduce, pause or finish. No child stays in therapy here because a schedule says so.

Where you'll find me

A bright clinic room in Caversham

The clinic is a ground-floor room on Church Street in Caversham, five minutes over the bridge from Reading town centre, with the door straight off the street. Home, nursery and school visits run across Reading and the surrounding villages.

5 Church Street, Caversham, Reading RG4 8DZ

The room is on the ground floor with step-free access from the street, and buggies are welcome inside
On-street parking on Church Street and nearby, with buses from Reading town centre every few minutes
Home, nursery and school visits available across Reading, Caversham and Emmer Green

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The berry-pink front door of the Lark Speech Therapy clinic on Church Street in Caversham, Reading, with its small bird sign

Next step

Start with a free 15-minute chat

Tell me what you've noticed, in your own words and in whatever order it comes out. I'll ask a few questions and give you an honest steer on whether an assessment is worth doing. Either way, you'll come away with something useful to try at home.