ABOUT
Little Figures of Speech is located in Durbanville and is a well-established speech and language therapy practice owned by two passionate and enthusiastic speech and language therapists, Ivette Weyers and Annelize Classens.
Annelize Classens is a senior therapist who studied and graduated from Stellenbosch University in 2011 with an Honours degree. Later she completed her Community Service years in the Northern Cape, where she developed an affinity for paediatric speech therapy through managing a speech therapy department. Classens owned her private practice in Aliwal North, primarily focusing on early intervention and school-aged children. She is a qualified Read for Africa phonografix reading therapist, a dyslexia specialist and has extra reading and spelling therapy training. She relocated to Cape Town and in 2018 began working with Ivette Weyers as Speech Therapists at 'Little Figures of Speech'.
Ivette Weyers obtained her Honours degree from Stellenbosch University in 2011. She completed her Community Service year in the Eastern Cape, working primarily with the paediatric population in hospitals, clinics, and schools. She is experienced in assessing and treating language disorders. However, She has a particular affinity towards auditory processing deficits, fluency, phonological disorders and language impairments in pre-school and school-aged children.
Services includes :
- Early Intervention
Early intervention is essential in addressing delays in speech and language. Classens and Weyers plead with parents that as soon as they begin noticing worrying speech and/or language development with their children that they contact them. They believe that addressing the issue as soon as possible is critical. - Language Therapy
Communication is an essential part of a child's development, and therefore any language or communication disorders or delays can have a significant impact on the child's development. Classens or Weyers will complete a full language assessment to determine whether receptive language or expressive language (or both) needs therapy to improve the child's language skills. Language is fundamental in a child's later scholastic and academic performance. Other developmental delays can present themselves with language delays, and further assessments and referrals may be required. Early intervention through language therapy aims to improve a child's ability to understand how to use language correctly and effectively, to help them understand spoken language and become a competent communicator. - Speech Therapy or Articulation Therapy
Specific articulation, phonological errors, and oral motor disorders, using specified techniques, are speech therapy focuses. The primary focus is to improve the child's ability to effectively communicate, participate in social interactions and build on their self-esteem. Early intervention is key to treating speech disorders as the success rate is higher the earlier the intervention. Classens and Weyers will determine the underlying condition through diagnostic assessments, which is crucial in identifying speech disorders. Many factors can cause speech disorders, including muscle control weakness, acquired communication disorders, and the inability to form sounds and words correctly. - Stuttering Therapy
Children who stutter or have dysfluency need assessment, treatment and support, and therefore it is essential to contact a speech therapist if any dysfluency is suspected. Classens and Weyers will work closely with family, caregivers and teachers of children who stutter as socialising skills, emotions, and academic success can be affected by dysfluency. Early intervention is essential, and an assessment needs to be conducted to determine the type of stuttering and secondary behaviours that accompany the stuttering. - Reading and Spelling Therapy
Speech Therapists play a fundamental role in the intervention process regarding reading and spelling skills. Acquiring good reading and spelling skills requires language and auditory processing skills. Using standardised reading and spelling tests, Classens and Weyers determine specific interventions dependent on a child's needs. They focus on foundation skills and building blocks to achieve academic and scholastic success. - Auditory Perception
Auditory Perception refers to how the brain processes what is heard, and difficulties are common in pre-school children. It is an essential skill for a child to acquire academic and scholastic success, and early intervention is essential. Auditory memory, auditory discrimination, auditory closure and auditory analysis and synthesis are the different auditory processing types.
