A bit about Ruth and Lee
We are passionate, committed and experienced speech/language pathologists, who joined forces to create Communicating Kids Speech/Language Pathology in 2009. We are Certified Practicing Speech Pathologists and members of Speech Pathology Australia and, between us, have over 35 years of experience as speech/language pathologists.
Ruth Davies - B.App.Sc.(SpPath), MSPA, CPSP
Ruth has worked as a speech pathologist for over 30yrs. She graduated as a speech pathologist from Cumberland College of Health Science (now part of the University of Sydney) in 1988 and has since gained post-graduate qualifications in "Later Language Development" - the language of school and beyond. She has worked extensively with children and families in outreach preschool and school settings, as well as in speech pathology clinics in hospitals, child development centres, the University of Newcastle and in private practice. Ruth has enjoyed a long association with the University of Newcastle, teaching and supervising speech pathology students, and she served as a member of the External Advisory Group for the University’s ‘Bachelor of Speech Pathology’ programme between 2012-2017. She was instrumental in establishing and developing the University's school-based speech pathology service throughout the Newcastle and Lower Hunter areas. Ruth is currently part of a small team of international experts providing course development, training and clinical supervision to Orient Speech Therapy, a large and growing Chinese therapy organisation.
Ruth has worked in the private sector in some capacity for over 25 years, with the past 15years being dedicated to establishing and developing “Communicating Kids”, our paediatric speech/language pathology clinic in Hamilton, Newcastle.
Lee Cockburn - B.Sp.Path, MSPA, CPSP
Lee ‘discovered’ the profession of speech pathology after working in classrooms and realizing that, as a speech pathologist, she would be able to combine her studies of English and Linguistics, her training in teaching literacy, her love of working with families and her need to ‘get to the bottom of things’! She trained as a mature-aged student and graduated in 2007 and joined Communicating Kids the year after. Since then, Lee has developed a special interest in treating the unique language and learning difficulties experienced by school-aged children, especially when those difficulties occur with Attention Deficit Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or Dyslexia.
Together...
Our practice enjoys the support of a strong professional network of paediatricians, psychologists and school counsellors, occupational therapists, teachers, GPs and parents who include us in their care teams for children who have speech, language, learning, literacy or social communication difficulties.
Although many of the students we work with are referred to our service by teachers, doctors, or other allied health professionals, the majority of our new students come to us after recommendations from family or friends. We are proud to be able to maintain a very personalised and friendly service, and we love hearing from our students as they move from school, into tertiary training and beyond.
Ruth and Lee are members of Speech Pathology Australia and are registered providers with Medicare and all major private health funds.
As members of Speech Pathology Australia, our work is guided by the SPA Code of Ethics (2010). for our information, a full text version of the Code is available for download here.
| SPA Code of Ethics |
