Ms Kadayer's knowledge and skills in the area of Verbal Behaviour (VB) is extremely relevant in the field of autism and her continued presence within our community would be of great benefit to all families touched by this disability.

Mr Smith, Herts
Louise is very accurate in her analysis and catching every opportunity to motivate new learning - not only on the child's side but also for the "grown-ups" around. Our son's programming could not be in better hands.

Anonymous, Norfolk
Under Louise's guidance Omi has made significant and remarkable progress, his eye contact has improved dramatically, his periods of social isolation has decreased and he has begun to enjoy the company of others.

Dr Jones, Berkshire
I have known Shelley Brown for 6 months through the work she has undertaken with my autistic son. She has made a significant contribution towards my son's language acquisition and I have no hesitation in referring her to other families.

Mrs Christine Labios
Louise has provided us with hands on education and has visited our home many times to demonstrate with our son practical ways of interacting with him.

Dr ASM Ziaul Hoque
Louise first came to our home in December 2006 and within just four weeks we had seen remarkable progress in our 3 year old son.

Gareth & Sarah Squire
"It was a pleasure to have our consultant Shelley in our home for 2 days. She discussed strategies, demonstrated them, then coached us as we worked with our son. We were delighted to see an immediate improvement in our boy. We really look forward to our next consultation."

Wendy Kiefel, Australia

Who we can help

Having a child with a full diagnosis or even just suspicions of autistic behaviour and other developmental disorders can be an emotional roller coaster, both for the child and the family. As a parent or guardian, you can be faced with a baffling array of abbreviations, scientific terminology and complex issues on top of the normal parenting duties that any child requires. You may also have been told to ‘wait’, that your child may well catch up within the next few months. Verbal Behaviour Consultants (VBC) recognise that it’s just as important to help the parent understand their child’s condition as it is to help the child. So in answer to the question, “who can we help?” – we can help you and, most importantly, we can also help your child.

VBC provides consultation, guidance and support in the form of Verbal Behaviour intervention for children and adults with language delays and challenging behaviour that interfere with learning, socialising and family life. By motivating a learner to interact with the world around them and see language as a gateway rather than as a barrier, we can help parents and learners take a series of small steps together that add up to a big leap forward in developing communication and language skills.

We don’t use jargon-filled clichés or hard to understand language – that would be both counter-productive and against our fundamental commitment to encouraging those with language delay issues to develop their language skills. But what we can do is to offer support, encouragement and training that works to empower our babies, children, teens and adults through the use of verbal behavioural therapy with the ultimate goal of normalising (not sure what to use here, but best not to use the word normal) their lives. Through Verbal Behaviour therapy, we aim to encourage learners to re-establish their places within their peer groups and remove the barrier of frustration caused by an inability to communicate effectively.

The earlier you identify and treat language and developmental conditions, the easier it is to pinpoint the trigger for inappropriate behavioural patterns. Consequently we can be more successful at helping a learner to ‘unlearn’ those traits by enhancing their ability to communicate successfully without having to resort to disruptive behaviour. At VBC, we have experience in a wide range of disorders.

Language delay

Language delays refer to significant difficulties learners exhibit and experience in learning to talk, understand, or use any aspect of language as compared to expectations for typically developing individuals at similar developmental levels and in similar environments. The key is to pinpoint and treat the reason behind the delay. Read more...

Challenging behaviour

Challenging behaviour is defined as culturally abnormal behaviour of such intensity, frequency or duration that the physical or emotional safety of the person or others could be in jeopardy. Challenging behaviour can also cause disruption within the learner’s social group and it is our challenge to discover the underlying cause for this behaviour and turn it into a more positive expression. Read more...

Oppositional Defiance behaviour

Oppositional defiant disorder is described as an ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile and defiant behaviour toward authority figures which goes beyond the bounds of normal childhood behaviour. Read more...

Aggression

Aggression can be the physical manifestation of a range of triggerpoints and is obviously disruptive to the learner’s social group and can lead to a great deal of stress and tension within a family unit. Finding the underlying reason for that aggression is key to altering the learner’s behaviour. Read more...

Sensitivity

Some children with behavioural developmental disorders may display either an overtly heightened or significantly reduced ability to interpret social data such as body language or intent and this may contribute to excluding them from interacting fully with their peers and social groups. Developing communications through language can help. Read more...

Autism

Autism is defined and diagnosed behaviourally and can be understood using operant principles. This manifests in an inability to process social stimuli and triggers sometimes disruptive behavioural patterns. However, with early diagnosis and intensive applied behaviour analysis and treatment, learners can become almost indistinguishable from typically developing children. Read more...

In the read more can we mention that if your child doesn’t have early diagnosis, all is not lost. Can we also say that when we say intensive, we don’t mean 40 hours of table top therapy.

Asperger’s Syndrome

The essential features of Asperger's disorder are severe social interaction impairment and restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour and activities. It is similar to autism, but children with Asperger's do not have the same difficulties in acquiring language that children with autism have. Where they may have difficulty is in the use of language in a social context. Read more...

ADHD

Those with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have difficulty concentrating and may also demonstrate disruptive, overstimulated or aggressive behaviour and have trouble controlling impulses. This impacts school performance and makes it very hard for the child to stay on task. However, treatment of ADHD has developed to new levels with greater success through language and behavioural therapy. Read more...

OCD

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disorder characterised by the presence of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are repetitive, unwanted thoughts and in OCD there is a sense of urgency and tension that rises until the person feels compelled to act on the obsessive thought. OCD can be linked to a number of other disorders, including eating disorders. Read more...

Tourettes

Tourette’s Syndrome is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in childhood, characterised by the presence of multiple physical (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. Read more...

Downs

Down’s Syndrome is a chromosomal disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. Verbal behaviour therapy can help to improve a Down’s Syndrome learner to express themselves in a more articulate manner and interact more easily with their social group. Read more...

Fragile X Syndrome

Fragile X syndrome, or Martin-Bell syndrome, is a genetic syndrome which results in a spectrum of characteristic physical, intellectual, emotional and behavioural features which range from severe to mild in manifestation. Read more...

Retts

Rett syndrome is a disorder of the nervous system that leads to developmental reversals, especially in the areas of expressive language and hand use. Verbal behaviour therapy can assist in the development of expressive language. Read more...

Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy is a broad term that describes a group of neurological disorders. It is a life-long condition that affects the communication between the brain and the muscles, causing uncoordinated movement and speech difficulties. Read more...

Acquired Brain Damage

Trauma or illness can damage the language functions of the brain. Regaining a command of communication techniques and language abilities is key to the treatment and convalescence of brain damaged learners. Read more...

Sleep issues

A child that has problems sleeping, suffers from repeated night terrors or otherwise broken sleep patterns may have a deeper, underlying cause for such behaviour. Your child’s body may just not have learned how to have a solid night’s sleep. Read more...

Eating issues

Obsessive eating disorders (from ‘fussy’ eaters to bulimia and anorexia) can be linked to poor social interaction skills and communication disabilities that isolate the learner. The earlier the triggers can be identified through communication and verbal behaviour therapy, the more quickly the issues can be resolved. Read more...