ANNA BIAVATI

Anna is my son’s first Speech therapist before we moved to USA. She is very open minded, easy to communicate, professional and most importantly, cares for her “little friends”. When... read more my child started therapy with Anna he was about 27 months. He didn’t know how to imitate sounds when he started but he progressed in the following months with Anna, and that built a good foundation for his further therapy in the US. Thank you Anna!

I attended a course about SM run by Anna of Word Steps Speech & Language Therapy. This was an eye-opening day for me. Anna shared her extensive experience with the... read more group in an engaging and very positive way. Her recommendations for useful books for my child, and for me, were excellent.

My 9 year old son had a lateral lisp and struggled with ‘Th’ sounds. Anna worked with him over six sessions which were fun and interesting and provided exercises for... read more us to continue with between her visits. We have seen a huge improvement with his speech and my son is much more confident and happier. I am so glad we contacted Anna for help and I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending her.

I approached Anna when I was concerned about my sons speech as he was reaching 3 years old. I was concerned when he was 2 years however, the NHS assured... read more me all was ok. I had a few "gut feelings" about Aarons certain "behaviours" too. We received all in I think 6/8 sessions with Anna, Aarons repeating disappeared stage by stage, he really came on leaps and bounds. Anna listened to me when I feel the NHS system let us down. Without attending Annas Private Clinic, I feel myself and my Husband would still be struggling with teaching our son language and communication. Thank you Anna, I will always be greatful.

I can't speak highly enough of Anna and her work. Non only my daughter's issue with speaking is now a memory, but all the process has been a great experience... read more for her. She loved her sessions, she loved the homework Anna gave her and she has felt supported throughout all the therapy. Anna is a loving caring therapist, and her professionalism is second to none. I can only highly recommend Anna!

We contacted Anna as our 3-year-old bilingual child seemed to have a few problems to deal with people. He didn't speak with anybody that wasn't part of the family. Not... read more even the school teachers. After just one meeting with Anna and some advice she gave us and his teachers, he started little by little to speak and in a matter of weeks all problems have been resolved. My wife and I can't recommend Anna's services enough. Thanks Anna.

Anna lead the training in Inverness, I came to the course half way through the day so I felt like I missed the most important parts. I took away... read more from the course a hangout that was clear and helpful. I've not long learnt about SM and I'm grateful for doing this training as a mother and a childminder.

Hello, we are Vicente and Feli, and this is our experience with Anna Biavati. Our boy, Robbie, was attending nursery and the nursery staff showed their concern about our... read more child's speech development and suggested we could contact a speech therapist to improve the child's communication skills. We were aware of it, but unsure about what to do. We spent over 8 months with an NHS speech therapist; the child wasn't improving and we were frustrated because we did not see any progress. We met Anna Biavati when our boy was 4 and a half years old. Since Robbie was only months away from starting Primary school, we contacted her. Best decision we could make. Between April and November, Anna made a huge positive impact on our child, who, from speaking with single words moved to understand orders and instructions and reply with full sentences. There were only minor issues that the boy would overcome and polish by himself. Anna was able to spot our child's problem straight away. It was Specific Language disorder. He was able to read, but not to talk. Anna prepared and designed a plan for him, using a variety of games and strategies, also introducing other languages, since we are Spanish and Italian respectively. After each lesson, she gave us the right instructions: how to play, talk, motivate and improve communication. Anna encouraged the use of three languages, instead of focusing on just English for the child not to be confused, which ultimately has been another great decision. As the boy's communication skills were progressing, his social skills did too. And by December, he was able to memorise and perform at the Nativity play, which was a significant event and improved his status in school. After Anna gave Robbie the tools to express himself, his confidence also boosted and his speech rocketed. Our boy is about to turn 6, his Primary teacher is in awe, Robbie is at the top of his class at reading and numeracy. Anna is accesible, competent, kind, professional, accessible, dynamic, likable, positive, cooperative, creative, knowleged, experienced, supportive and creates an instant bond both with children and parents. And she speaks several languages! From our experience, we can say Anna makes a difference and trusting her and her work is a wise decision.

We are a bilingual family. When our daughter was approaching the age of 3, we noticed she was having language and communication issues. We contacted Anna after having been told... read more by the NHS Speech and Language Therapist that everything was ok with our daughter’s speech. We knew that was not the case. Anna carried out a thorough assessment and identified areas to work on. We followed Anna’s advice, and put in place the strategies given. This was very helpful, and our daughter started making progress. We found Anna to be a really important point of reference and support throughout our daughter’s journey and continued to use her services as she progressed in school. She is now 10, and we still do an annual review and assessment to make sure that we are on track. We cannot thank Anna enough for the help and support she has given us as a family. Her support has meant that our daughter’s confidence has steadily grown and she can look into the future with a positive outlook. We would highly recommend Anna. Claudia

Anna helped my son Marco from about the age of 3.5 till about 5 years old. She has been an absolute life saver, amazing with the wee one and superb... read more at explaining to me and husband how to best support his needs. We are raising our children as multilingual, and as her own experiences were an absolute godsend. In addition to being a very knowledgeable professional Anna is also an amazing person. Can not recommend her ability and services high enough.

Anna was a angel in our lifes. We contacted her when my daughter was 3,5 yo with very significant speech delay and the NHS slt said she wasn't ready for... read more 1-1 therapy. However, I knew we had to do more for her so I decided to look for private therapy. A friend recommended Anna who is also specialised in bilinguism (our family has 3 languages). From the first session I could see the difference in Cissa. Anna has a special way to talk to children that is very interesting. My daughter absolutely loves when "Aunt Anna comes to play". She taught me so much about how to speak, what to do, how to help Cissa learn. She went above and beyond, she fought hard for Cissa to get a space in the ICAN provision - that was never mentioned to us before by the NHS although Cissa was the perfect candidate for that. She is a very qualified professional that works in a personalised way, who design activities that will help Cissa to achieve her goals while teaching me how to do all on my own. I just wish I had found her earlier!

Anna is our second SLT, she was amazing. Before she came, I was very confused about my girl's language development. The NHS SLT said she was fine and no... read more longer need further therapies. But she only has 20 words at age of half two, Anna told me, although she will catch up, but yet she didn't, that is the very first time I felt being understood by someone finally. She can always bring me lots of ideas about playing with kids, she can also quantitatively tell me how will my girl develop, (I think this is very very special and important). after few months therapies, my girl was totally changed, she is now not that sensitive and becomes outgoing, now we finished our therapy, but my daughter still miss her very much. I am so grateful for her help. She is very friendly and responsible, I think all people talked to her will know what I mean.

Our child has been suffering from Selective Mutism and only speaks to a small number of fellow pupils in the same class. Anna is a specialist in this condition and... read more with her help, our child has now widened their circle of friends. Her relaxed manner puts children at ease. This gave my child confidence to speak and play with people they had been unable to do so previously with. New friendships have been formed through this and our child is more content and happy to go to school than ever before. Throughout the process, Anna would keep us updated with progress and would look to gain agreement with us how to continue. We can't praise her high enough for making a real difference.

Anna has worked with my son for over 2 years and has been an absolute pleasure to have. She has become a friend and a confidant as well as an... read more incredible speech therapist. She goes above and beyond to ensure everyone's comfort and happiness and is a true professional. She helped my son overcome his selective mutism through working with us as a family to help us understand the condition and how to help, as well as with the school to help them adapt to his plan and understand his condition. She provided all parties with a tailored program and I can honestly say that without her generous, patient spirit he would not have made it. She is kind, supportive and truly lovely and her program has made this the best journey possible.

I took my six year old grandson to see Anna as he had a problem pronouncing certain letters. Anna quickly established there was no physical problem for this and... read more set in motion a lesson plan to help him overcome this. She is a lovely lady who is clearly knowledgeable in her field and has such a lovely way with the children that my grandson did not have a problem going to see Anna and indeed looked forward to it. Her lessons have helped immensely and gave me the tools to continue her good work. I am happy to recommend her.

What a wonderful woman who has energy drive and commitment to ensure that people who have SM are heard

Thank you for the excellent training in SM which was relevant and empowering as Anna really got across with energy and enthusiasm that we can make a difference. Since the... read more training I have been able to put the strategies into practice and spread the knowledge and information on SM to pupils, parents, fellow teachers and professionals. We realise that making a positive difference is a long drawn out process but it is heartening being armed with some strategies and understanding into the condition. I particularly found it useful chatting to other parents, teachers and professionals and one recovered adult who suffered from SM as a child. Thanks again!

Very highly recommended, Anna is clearly an expert in her field and gave our daughter a thorough assessment, we were glad to have contacted her.