Speech-language therapy — Wellington, Hutt and Kapiti
Speech-language therapists work with people who have difficulties speaking and swallowing. We provide speech-language therapy services in Wellington, Hutt and Kapiti.
Contact us
Call the speech-language therapy service on 04 385 5999 extension 82373.
Where to find us
Speech-language therapy is based at Wellington Regional Hospital.
Street address:
Grace Neill Block — Level 10
Wellington Regional Hospital
49 Riddiford Street
Newtown
Wellington 6021
Services we provide
Speech-language therapists provide treatment to people in hospital, at outpatient clinics and in their home.
Speech-language therapists manage communication disorders in adults, including:
- difficulty with expressing or understanding language
- unclear speech
- voice problems.
They also assess and treat swallowing and feeding problems in adults, tamariki and pēpi.
Swallowing difficulties in adults
Signs of swallowing difficulties in adults include:
- coughing or choking when eating
- recent weight loss or failure to gain weight
- complaints of discomfort when eating
- difficulty getting food down
- recurrent chest infections.
Communication or swallowing problems in adults may be caused by:
- stroke
- traumatic brain injury
- neurological conditions such as a subarachnoid haemorrhage or brain tumour
- head and neck cancer
- dementia
- progressive neurological diseases such as motor neurone disease, Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis
- voice impairments such as vocal nodules or vocal fold palsy
- tracheostomy
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- cardiac surgery.
Swallowing difficulties in pēpi and tamariki
Signs of swallowing difficulties in pēpi and tamariki include:
- refusal to eat or feed
- having to be forced to feed
- breath-holding or choking when feeding
- coughing when feeding
- noisy swallowing or breathing when feeding
- failure to thrive, or poor weight gain
- failure to progress across food textures as expected.
Swallowing problems in pēpi and tamariki may be caused by:
- developmental conditions such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy or autism
- structural deficits such as cleft palate
- reflux or cow's milk protein intolerance
- developmental delay
- negative early feeding experiences
- injury resulting from complications at birth
- behavioural challenges
- brain injury
- environmental factors such as bottle feeding or position during feeding.
Referral information
Outpatient services
A referral for outpatient services in hospital must come from a healthcare provider.
Community services
A referral for community services at home can come from a healthcare provider or yourself.
To refer yourself, fill out our form.
Email the completed form to RES-OpBkOraChs@ccdhb.org.nz
Tamariki with speech and language delays or stuttering should be referred to the Ministry of Education.
Ministry of Education | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga
Tamariki with feeding or swallowing difficulties related to a recognised diagnosis or who have an overall developmental delay should be referred to the child development team.