ANNA BIAVATI

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 was a wonderful speech therapist for my son. She was endlessly patient and always had a treasure of fun activities for him to do. He really enjoyed all her... read more sessions and his speech problems improved a lot. Thank you Anna!

Anna is absolutely incredible both for the parents and the children. She has healed our 6year old daughter from SM after a 2- year mute period in school. We cannot... read more thank her enough and warmely recommend her services.

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.

Anna worked with my son before and just after he started school and the results were fantastic. He now has lovely clear speech and we are so grateful. Anna was... read more friendly and put him at ease right away. The therapy was all based around games and fun exercises and Anna took the time to teach us how to continue the therapy with our son between appointments in order to get the best results. I would highly recommend Word Steps.

The inverness training day was a great success and it was really nice meeting other parents going through the exact same experience as myself.

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.

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.

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 contacted Anna as someone had recommended her to me through one of the selective mutism pages on Facebook. Words can’t express how grateful I will always be too Anna... read more for her kindness and helpfulness to myself and especially my daughter. After years of getting no where, struggling to find proper help and support for my daughter we finally found someone who totally understands selective mutism and took the time to explain everything properly to me about how my daughter will be feeling. My daughter built up a lovely relationship with Anna she has such a lovely way with children so patient and kind and always on hand if we ever need advice or support. Anna you are amazing!

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.

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.

During 2019 we approached Anna for help with our Spanish pronunciation. As adult learners we wanted our British mouths to make more Spanish-sounding vowels and consonants, and I was... read more having real problems trying to roll my “r’s” convincingly. Anna quickly devised a short programme to meet our requests, and also devised exercises to improve our intonation and to help make our sentences flow. We enjoyed the sessions, and we feel that we made good progress. Muchas gracias, Anna!

I cannot speak highly enough of Anna! As parents we were feeling fairly deflated in our approach and frustrated with Other professionals regarding our sons speech delay and clarity of... read more speech. We have attended therapy on and off for approx 6months with Anna. What we have learnt has been invaluable and what my son has achieved in this time is truely heartwarming. It has been hard work but with so many ways to play and stimulate our son he has rarely objected and even enjoys the games/activities! Anna thinks outside the box and truely “knows” her clients so that she knows how to get the best from them. Her professionalism and experience is second to none, she empowers parents and really connects with children. She is also a genuinely lovely person. My only regret is that we never met sooner! A fantastic experience.

I cannot recommend Anna highly enough. She helped my son who did not speak to any adult in school until p3, to gain confidence and he is now in p5... read more and able to approach the teacher and initiate speech. Anna worked with my son at his pace, she gently gained his confidence through play, starting in the environment he felt comfortable in – home, and then progressed onto working with him at school. Through the work that Anna did with him he can now speak to children in his class that he didn’t talk to for the first 3 years and he can also approach teachers to tell them if something is wrong. Anna is very knowledgeable about the psychology underlying the problem and works to increase self esteem. She really engages with the children and gets on their level and she has a wonderful energy and charisma.

Anna is a passionate professional and expert in the area of selective mutism and we can't thank her enough for the invaluable advice and support she gave us with our... read more daughter. We have a much greater understanding of how to best support our daughter and we know that should we require any more help and support that Anna is there for us. Thank you!

Anna has been so supportive of both me and my four year old son over the past 18 months. Our sessions whilst challenging at times were also great fun... read more and my son enjoyed every single one. Anna approached his speech delay from a different angle to that of the nhs therapists, taking a step back and looking at the cause. All of the activities done in clinic and the resources provided for use at home were tailored very specifically for his needs as opposed to using a boiler plate approach. Anna was a great sounding board for me to bounce ideas off and provided invaluable input at meetings and with forms. She provides an all round service, employs innovative ideas and techniques and most importantly set my son at ease and helped him to have fun whilst progressing his speech. Would highly recommend.

Anna has been a great support professionally. I reached out to her for specialist clinical supervision and she responded very efficiently. We were able to have a telephone call (due... read more to distance) which helped so much. Anna provided resources and shared her highly specialist knowledge about Selective Mutism. She put me at ease and encouraged me to ask questions to support the case I was working on. Thank you very much! Charmaine