Elise Bacarese-Hamilton

Founder and Speech and Language Therapist

I am a qualified Speech and Language Therapist and the founder of Honeypot Practice.

I work with children with a range of speech, language and communication needs, with particular interests in early language development, speech sound disorders and Gestalt Language Processing.

I founded Honeypot Practice because I wanted to provide therapy that could be genuinely shaped around the individual child. I believe children should feel comfortable, understood and engaged during therapy. Sessions should be fun and motivating, rather than something a child feels they simply have to get through.

Every child communicates differently, and there is no single approach that is right for everyone. I take the time to understand how each child's communication is developing, what they are already able to do and what may be making communication more difficult for them.

Parents are also a fundamental part of my approach. You know your child better than anyone, and what you see at home provides valuable information about how they communicate in everyday life.

My role is not simply to work with your child during their appointment. I want families to understand what we are working on, why we are working on it and how they can support their child's communication naturally between sessions.

A smiling woman with long, blonde hair, wearing a cream turtleneck sweater and black textured tights, sitting in a cozy, plant-filled indoor space.

Communication difficulties can look very different from one child to another.

Perhaps your child is talking less than other children their age, finding it difficult to understand or use language, struggling to make their speech clear, or developing language in a different way. You may already know that your child needs Speech and Language Therapy, or you may simply have a feeling that their communication is not developing as you would expect.

My role is to understand your child's individual communication profile, identify their strengths and areas where they need support, and provide practical, evidence-based intervention that helps them develop their communication skills.

I work closely with parents and education settings because communication does not develop only within a therapy session. The aim is for children to develop skills they can use successfully with the people and in the places that matter to them.

I provide assessment and therapy for children with speech, language and communication needs, including:

  • Early language development and late talking

  • Expressive language difficulties

  • Receptive language and difficulties understanding spoken language

  • Speech sound difficulties

  • Difficulties being understood by others

  • Gestalt Language Processing

  • Functional communication

  • Building attention and listening skills

  • Parent coaching and communication strategies

  • Supporting communication within nursery and school

  • Working collaboratively with education staff and other professionals

Support may involve an assessment, individual therapy, parent coaching, work within your child's nursery or school, or a combination of approaches depending on their needs.

I believe children learn best when they are having fun.

Therapy should not feel like something a child has to endure. I therefore aim to make sessions playful, motivating and genuinely engaging, using each child's interests wherever possible.

This does not mean therapy is simply play. Activities and interactions are carefully chosen around specific communication goals, but children are often able to learn far more when they are interested in what they are doing and enjoying the interaction.

I take a child-centred and strengths-based approach. Rather than starting with everything a child cannot yet do, I look carefully at the communication skills they already have and use these as the foundation for further development.

For younger children, this often means following their lead, joining them in activities they enjoy and modelling language naturally within those interactions. Communication should be useful and meaningful to the child, rather than something they are expected to demonstrate simply because an adult has asked them to.

There is also no one-size-fits-all therapy programme. Assessment helps me understand the nature of a child's difficulties so that intervention can be tailored to their individual communication profile.

Qualifications and Professional Background

  • First Class Integrated Master's degree in Speech and Language Therapy (MSci)

  • Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (RegHCPC)

  • Certified Member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (CertMRCSLT)

  • 8 years experience working with children and young people with SEND.

How Can I Help?

My Approach

Ready to speak?

Not sure if your child needs speech and language therapy?

Get in touch to talk things through. I’ll help you understand what’s going on and what to do next.