Stepping Stones Therapy Services

Ashton Horsley (nee Craig), is the owner of Stepping Stones Therapy Services and is also the Principal Speech Pathologist. She enjoys working with children with a variety of needs and disabilities, with extensive experience working with children with autism. Ashton's primary duties are completing autism spectrum disorder diagnostic assessments as part of a multi disciplinary team, a small caseload of clients, and clinical supervision. Her passion lies in working with the family unit, and providing them with the essential skills needed to make meaningful changes in their daily lives. Her primary goal: to build up families to a point where they no longer need her! Ashton is trained in use of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), as well as PODD, Key Word Sign, PECS and PROMPT therapy as means to assist communication and articulation. She is a trained facilitator of the Secret Agent Society social skills program, and the Little Highway Heroes social skill training program. Ashton has also completed training in working through Family Centred Practice, the Key Worker Model, Routines Based Assessment and Intervention and the Positive Behaviour Support model. Outside of Stepping Stones, you might find her wrestling one/both of her two daughters – you’re welcome to guess which one is the firecracker, ‘spirited’ child!

Why choose Stepping Stones Therapy Services? Put simply, because we ensure all of our services are evidence-based, functional, and fun and enjoyable for your family to be a part of!

Our staff work across a few different modes of therapy, to ensure that we have the best approach to suit your child. These include:
- Discipline-specific therapy for children with mild/singular areas of difficulty.
- Family Centred Practice: Working with the family as a whole, not just the client. Any recommendations or strategies given by our staff are done in collaboration with the whole family unit, so that they are achievable and relevant to the way your family ‘works’. Achievable and functional goals then lead to improvements in areas most important for your family.
- Key worker model, for children who require intervention from a wide range of disciplines, but would prefer to have this all completed with the one therapy provider who develops a strong and lasting relationship with your child. Key workers will work together with you and your child to provide the therapy that is needed, based on input from the relevant professionals.
- Routines based assessment and intervention, for families who would prefer to receive assistance with how to make minor adjustments to their current daily routines to help with child development, as opposed to specific therapy sessions. Research has shown that by using this method of service delivery, improvements are seen not only in functional everyday activities, but in specific skill areas (normally targeted in discipline-specific therapy) too.