About this episode

This episode discusses the role of speech pathologists in Autism diagnosis and highlights the importance of contemporary language and practices.

In this week’s rebroadcast, Anneke Flinn and Robyn Stephen, Director and Principal Clinician at Melbourne Child Development, and Speech Pathology consultant at Melbourne Paediatric Specialists, discuss the speech pathologist’s role in Autism diagnosis. SPA and the presenters of this podcast acknowledge that this episode was originally recorded in 2024. As terminology and perspectives evolve over time, the original episode title and some of the language used may no longer reflect current preferred terminology. To support respectful and contemporary practice, the title of this episode has been updated. We recognise and respect that terminology preferences vary among neurodivergent people and communities, and we value approaches that honour diverse perspectives and individual preferences. Robyn has provided her own reflection on neuro-affirming care and the language we use when working with Autistic people. She also wanted to highlight that if you decide to delay a diagnostic decision for a few months whilst you monitor the child in a new setting such as kindergarten that this is not a watch and wait period as far as support is concerned. Intervention including parent and educator…

People in this episode

Guests: Anneke Flinn, Robyn Stephen

Topics covered

• Autism diagnosis
• speech pathology
• neurodiversity
• intervention strategies
• child development

Keywords

• Autism
• speech pathology
• diagnosis
• neuro-affirming care
• intervention
• child strengths
• support

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Melbourne Child Development, Melbourne Paediatric Specialists, Speech Pathology Australia

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