Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Floortime in Büyükçekmece

Therapy in English for Büyükçekmece Families

Are you an English-speaking, international or mixed-nationality family living in Büyükçekmece? Every therapy at our centre is available in English: speech and language therapy, occupational therapy with sensory integration, DIR/Floortime, support programmes for autism, ADHD and learning difficulties, parent guidance and home programme consultancy. Family meetings and progress updates are in English too.

Bilingual Turkish-English sessions

Is your child growing up with Turkish and English? We offer bilingual sessions planned around their language profile: the languages they hear at home and at school or nursery, and how they use each one in play. Bilingualism on its own does not cause a speech or language disorder, so we look at your child's skills in both languages together.

Read more on our bilingual children page and in our article Does bilingualism delay speech? Every session takes place in person at our centre in Beykent.

Speech and Language Therapy in Büyükçekmece

Speech and language therapy for children supports understanding, speaking and communication. Families usually come to us because of late talking, unclear speech sounds or stuttering. We also work with voice disorders, developmental language disorder and language development in autism.

If your two-year-old is not using any words yet, do not put off an evaluation. Our article on the 2-year-old who is not talking explains what to do.

What does a speech and language therapist do in a session?

First, the therapist notes which sounds and words your child uses. Then they build the goals into play and choose materials that match your child's interests. Your child practises without getting bored, often without noticing the repetition.

Goals differ for every child: fluency in stuttering, clear speech sounds in articulation, words and sentences in language development. For an English-speaking child, that might be the "th" sound or first two-word phrases such as "more juice". For a bilingual child, we check both languages first.

Occupational Therapy in Büyükçekmece

Occupational therapy builds the motor and sensory skills a child needs in daily life, for example for children who struggle to hold a pencil, do up buttons or catch a ball.

Occupational therapy focuses on everyday skills, while physiotherapy focuses more on movement and the musculoskeletal system. We compare the two in our article on occupational therapy and physiotherapy.

What does an occupational therapist work on?

At our centre, the occupational therapist supports fine and gross motor skills. Sensory integration, self-care, handwriting and attention are also among the goals. We build these goals into swings, balance games and table-top activities.

For children who overreact to sound, touch or movement, we use our sensory integration room. We also run a school readiness programme for children about to start school. The aim is a more independent child, at school and at home.

DIR/Floortime in Büyükçekmece

DIR/Floortime is a relationship-based, play-led approach that follows the child's interests. The therapist does not direct the play but follows your child's lead. Through play, your child practises shared attention, two-way communication and emotional connection.

We use it especially with autistic children and with children who have developmental delays or regulation difficulties, within the same plan as speech therapy and occupational therapy. As our founder is a DIR Floortime therapist, Floortime is the foundation of our centre.

In Floortime, parents are part of the play too, so we coach you on Floortime at home. We also offer special support programmes for autism, ADHD, learning difficulties and parent guidance.

Which Therapy for Which Concern?

The table below matches concerns parents often notice with the related therapy. Many children, though, need support in more than one area at the same time.

This table does not diagnose. It only points you in a first direction, and we decide with you which therapy comes first after the evaluation.

From First Meeting to Home Programme: The Process

Our work moves in four steps, and you are involved in every one.

1. Family interview and evaluation. We listen to your child's developmental history and observe your child in play. The evaluation is based on observation, play and what you tell us, not on standardised tests.
2. Individual plan. Together with you, we decide which therapy comes first and set the goals.
3. 40-minute sessions. We plan how often sessions take place after the evaluation, based on your child's needs. If your child misses a session through illness, we make it up in the same week when the schedule allows.
4. Sharing with you and the home programme. At the end of each session, we show you what we worked on and share activities to continue at home.

Our articles on the speech and language evaluation and the occupational therapy evaluation explain each step. The steps to apply are in our article on how to start speech therapy.

Coming to the first session

If you have them, bring any hearing test results, doctor's reports or notes from school. A favourite toy also helps your child settle into a new place.

Describe the centre to your child as "a place where we go to play". Choose a session time that fits around sleep and meals, because a hungry or tired child will not show what they can really do.

Our Founder and Team

Our founder, Alev Akıncı Yıldız, is a Specialist Audiologist (MSc) and DIR Floortime therapist. She works in a play-based, family-centred way, especially with autistic children and children who are late to talk or who stutter.

A speech and language therapist, an occupational therapist and a Floortime practitioner all work at the same centre. The team reviews your child's progress together and runs the programme from one plan.

Our founder has completed the DIR 101 and 201 Floortime courses and supervision training. You can read about her background and our team on our About Us page.

Our Centre and Therapy Rooms

We hold speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and Floortime sessions at our centre on Yıldıray Çınar Sokak in Beykent. We have no other branches.

Each area of work has its own room. Our sensory integration room has swings and climbing and balance equipment. In the play room, we run play-based speech therapy and Floortime sessions.

Gross motor work takes place in the movement room. In the meeting room, we go through evaluation results with you.

Would you like to see the centre before your appointment? Just mention it when you call. Our address and contact details are on the Our Centre page.

Getting Here from Büyükçekmece's Neighbourhoods

From Cumhuriyet, Mimarsinan, Dizdariye, Ataturk and Fatih, the trip to our centre is short. Kumburgaz and Celaliye, on the other hand, are at the far western end of the district.

Families from Kumburgaz, Celaliye, Kamiloba and Guzelce follow the coastal D-100 east. For Turkoba in the north, the TEM motorway link is another option. The coast road gets busier in summer, so leave a little earlier then.

Street names in Beykent look alike, so save our address in your map app before your first visit. Open our centre in Google Maps for directions.

Coming from a neighbouring district? Our Beylikdüzü, Esenyurt, Bahçeşehir, Avcılar, Silivri and Çatalca pages include travel information. All districts are on our service areas page.