"My son was lucky to be nurtured by Katie for this speech therapy over the period of one school year. During that time he transformed from a confused little chap who had limited links with life and people away from his immediate family into a confident and fun loving little boy.

Katie really wants her students to improve and succeed. Her traits of enthusiasm, commitment and patience allow her to gain the confidence of the children and therefore bring out the best in them. The sessions I observed were made fun by Katie using her personality and experience to bring something extra to the lesson.

The support Katie gave us as parents of one of her students was marvellous. Feedback in a non jargon way was gratefully received as were the many pieces of good advice on things to try at home. What amazed us was the wealth of techniques at her disposal, allowing her to personalise exercises for Hugh knowing what he would enjoy. All this guidance allows for consistency between the learning and home environment and so I am sure a quicker route to clearer speech.

In addition to her experience in speech therapy Katie has worked with other specialist professionals so over the years she has collected many good ideas about other confidence building things. For example we appreciated her help on supporting Hugh in experimenting more with fruit and healthy eating, with his pen grip, with transitions in general and with his social skills.

I am delighted to provide a reference for Katie who has helped our family so much. In short her commitment to her little students will give them the confidence to try new things, and give parents the knowledge of what support they can offer leading I believe to a quicker route to improved communication.”

Anne Cross

“We would like to thank you once again for all your efforts with Joseph. When Joseph first joined I CAN last September he really struggled with words and he could only say a handful, none of which were connected or made a sentence.

A year later and Joseph is a very chatty, happy, well behaved little boy and you and the team must take most of the credit for this. Joseph enjoyed his time with you. You made him feel valued and his confidence grew and grew and he loved to take part in your structured games designed to improve his speech.

When we visited I CAN it was always you we met, we were both very very happy as you made us feel very welcome and you explained clearly how he was progressing.You also gave us advice on things to try at home with him which in turn helped us develop together as a family.

We would recommend you to anyone else who had concerns about their child’s speech knowing you could truly improve their speech and confidence.”

Mike and Nina Pirolli

“My son Morgan started I CAN in September 2005, he was unable to say more than a few words. He was also a quiet child and didn’t mix well with other children at all. I always thought he would be left out and become lonely and withdrawn. Since having speech therapy with Katie he came on in leaps and bounds. His speech became a lot clearer, he became so much more confident and even started making friends. He would come home full of beans. He would tell me funny things he did with ‘l’ and ‘f’ sounds with Katie. He would also come home and teach me some signs that he learnt. I found this particularly useful as it stopped him from getting so frustrated.

I always found Katie so easy to talk to. Whenever I had questions/concerns about his progress Katie always reassured me. I knew if I had problems I could phone her. I thought Katie was brilliant with Morgan. He really connected with her and would come home talking about her. I would highly recommend Katie as a speech therapist as she really got through to Morgan and helped so much. You can tell she loves working with children and has their best interests at heart. I know a lot of children who have been to I CAN and had therapy with Katie and they all think very highly of her.”

Nicky Kelly

“Katie Toynton has helped Luke with his speech and language enormously. At age 4, Luke could only be understood by his parents and had real difficulties making speech sounds. After a year of speech therapy with Katie, I no longer feel I must function as a full time interpreter! Friends and family have commented on the enormous progress Luke has made. Luke loved Katie and responded well to her teaching methods. She is very calm, gentle and patient. Katie has also been very responsive to parental input and kept us up to date with the latest areas of work to allow us to help him at home. I strongly recommend Katie as a speech therapist.”

Diana Boyd

“It was a great comfort to know that I left my son in Katie’s care each day and that she really had his best interests at heart. The work she did with him was fantastic and he enjoyed every minute he spent with Katie. I would definitely recommend Katie as a speech therapist as she is kind, caring and brilliant at her job.”

Coral Hawkes

“I first met Katie Toynton at our speech and language unit where my daughter, Scarlett was attending when she was 3 years old. Katie was Scarlett’s Speech and Language Therapist. Scarlett is now 6 years old and attends a local mainstream school.

When Scarlett first arrived at I CAN she was certainly a different child than she is today. She was very reserved, shy, unconfident and unable to socialise or communicate properly with her peers or tutors. In fact she spent the first 6 weeks of the time there hiding underneath a chair!

What a remarkable difference her having speech and language therapy has made. With Katie’s help, within that year, she has learnt to effectively communicate. This has given her much confidence and has enabled her to lead a normal life. She now has many friends and actively participates with all aspects of school and social time. I know speech and language therapy made an enormous impact and led to Scarlett’s communication development.

Scarlett was very fond of Katie and felt very secure with her. This was of vital importance to her improvement. I personally found that Katie worked with the utmost understanding and kindness and I found her to be very approachable and always willing to discuss any concerns that I had.

Katie was very aware of each child’s abilities and got on well with all of the children. At I CAN I know that many of the other parents felt just as confident of Katie’s abilities and support.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Katie as a speech therapist to other parents. I feel very privileged to have had her support.”

Alison Marshall

(Most helpful about the therapy was the) "fun activities to motivate Madelaine, honest feedback with regard to progress (and) willingness to work with other professionals"

Claire Hargreaves

"Max enjoyed having a break from school to go and 'see Katie' weekly! Personally, it was about speaking to someone who understood exactly my concerns and helped to ease them."

Anna

"She has a calm, friendly manner and as very encouraging and reassuring to both the children and parent(s). I would not hesitate in recommending her in the future."

Kirsty Archer