Therapy to promote children’s communication

Welcome to the Speech and Language Clinic. My name is Frances O’Brien and I am a qualified Speech and Language Therapist. I have a Master’s Degree in Speech Therapy, and I have been in practice for ten years.

I am delighted to be able to open my private practice in Killaloe, and  I take pride in offering a personalised service to all of my clients– “one clinic- one  professional service.”

I am a member of the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists (IASLT) which is the professional body representing Speech Therapists in Ireland.

I specialise in working with young children who have speech and language difficulties. I work with clients from across the Mid West region including Tipperary, Clare,  Nenagh, East Limerick and Offaly. I provide therapy/assessments in a child’s school, at a child’s home or you can visit me in the East Clinic, Killaloe, Co Clare.

Due to parental requests, Saturday appointments are now available.

I’d like to use this site to share information with you about Speech and Language therapy. See Questions/Answers Section to learn more about specific problems or to ask a question that you may have.

What is the one question people often ask?

What is the difference between Speech and Language?

‘In its simplest terms Speech refers to the production of sounds /words whereas language refers to shared rules about how we communicate meaning. You could say, Speech is the ‘how’ we make the sounds, and language is ‘what’ we say.

An example of a speech difficulty might be saying ‘dat’ for the word ‘cat’

An example of a language difficulty might be the inability to understand the meaning of words or the inability to form a complete sentence’

Frances O’Brien MSc, BSc, RN.

As well as sharing informative pieces like this with you on a regular basis, I would encourage you to email me if you feel your child is having difficulty with either speech or language. You can email me on francesgobrien@gmail.com or you can call me on 087 601 5471.