At Sound Start Therapy, our mission is to empower individuals by surrounding them with the right support and tools to achieve their goals.

We work closely with children, their families, and carers to nurture each child’s unique strengths and abilities.  

We recognise that communication plays a vital role in how we connect with others and experience the world. While developing these skills can sometimes present challenges—affecting behaviour, social interactions, and emotional well-being—we are committed to helping every child overcome these obstacles.

At Sound Start Therapy, we believe that every child has the right to feel engaged, included, and connected to the world around them. Through compassionate and personalised care, we help children and their caregivers build the skills they need for meaningful communication and lasting connections.

Sound Start Therapy

Connecting Each Other Through Communication

We’re helping children strengthen communication skills and become part of the conversation. It’s our goal to transform the lives of those experiencing communication struggles and help them to make meaningful connections.

Meet Julia, Our Director

Julia, the director of Sound Start Therapy, is a certified Speech Pathologist registered with Speech Pathology Australia. She completed her studies at Flinders University, following a long career as a Dental Hygienist and Practice Manager.

As a speech pathologist, Julia's primary goal is to help her patients express their needs within a positive, strengths-based environment. She achieves this by encouraging play-based sessions for children of all ages, making therapy fun, interactive, and comfortable. Recognising that consistency is crucial yet challenging, Julia integrates practical home activities, setting attainable and reasonable goals that accommodate the busy lives of parents and caregivers.

Julia's background as a Dental Hygienist benefits her practice, especially in addressing speech sound disorders, communication and swallowing difficulties, and parafunctional issues. She is one of the few speech pathologists with expertise in tongue thrust swallow and orofacial myology assessment and therapy with dental knowledge that helps better understand and assess function in this area. Her extensive healthcare background allows her to offer a unique perspective, adding to the care she provides.

Julia's work experience includes public, non-profit, and private settings, and she has completed certificates or courses in the following:

  • Hanen's "It Takes Two to Talk" for late talkers

  • Play Based Therapy

  • DIR Floortime Introduction

  • LAMP Training

  • PODD training

  • Certificate I & II in Auslan

  • AAC Evidence Based Practice: Communication for the 21st Century

  • Natural Language Acquisition – Meaningful Communication

  • Treatment of Suspected Apraxia of Speech

  • Speech Sound Disorders Program:  Clearing the Air:  Debunking Speech Sound Disorders Misconceptions.   

  • Evidence-based management of phonological impairment in children presented by Elise Baker

  • Sounds-Write" reading and writing program

  • Cracking the ABC code

  • Story Champs

  • Cubed Assessment Certificate

  • Colourful Semantics

  • Early Orthodontic Intervention – what to look for. 

  • SOS Approach to Feeding: Picky eaters versus problem feeders

  • Certificate in Orofacial Myology from the Australian Academy of Orofacial Myology

  • Tongue tie and tethered oral tissue, and tongue thrust swallow therapy

  • SA Health's Dysphagia Competency

  • Traffic Jam in My Brain

  • Trauma-informed Care for Autistic People

Julia is also a professional member of the following organisations:

  • Speech Pathology Australia

  • Australian Academy of Orofacial Myology

  • AGOSCI for AAC users

Get in touch with us or call us and speak to one of our staff to make an appointment and discuss your individual needs.