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

Wellington Regional Hospital — Google Maps (external link)


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.

ORA community referral formDOCX70 KB

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 (external link)

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.

Child development — Wellington, Hutt and Kapiti (internal link)