Desiree Lau

Desiree is a Speech Therapist who has more than 14 years of experience working with children with speech and language difficulties during her career at KKH. She was the Head of the Speech Therapy service at KKH. Apart from being a clinician, Desiree is currently also a Senior Lecturer at the Singapore Institute of Technology since 2020, lecturing undergraduate Speech and Language Therapy students.

She specialises in working with children who stutter / stammer, late talkers, children with delayed speech and language, and children with articulation or phonological disorders. She is very comfortable working with children with global developmental delay (GDD, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, down syndrome and other syndromes, to elicit speech or other means of communication.

Desiree obtained her degree, Bachelor of Applied Science (Speech Pathology) in 2006 from the University of Sydney. She went on to obtain her Masters in Health Sciences (Speech Pathology) in 2010. In 2012, Desiree was awarded HMDP, to receive training in the United States of America. She observed Kennedy Krueger’s Center for Autism and Related Disorders which gave her more skills on how to work with children with autism. She is currently registered under the Allied Health Professions Council.

In 2008, Desiree started the first Hanen parent training group (It Takes Two To Talk), where training empowered parents to support language stimulation in the home environment. This was extremely beneficial late talkers or children with speech and language delays. Desiree also started support groups and group therapy for fluency to school-aged child with stuttering / stammering as she wanted to do more to help these children.

Desiree provided clinical education to other speech therapists to develop their skills in speech and language and fluency. Desiree presented at workshops and symposiums on speech and language assessment and intervention, to doctors, nursing staff, other healthcare professionals and parents.

Desiree is a mother of two young daughters. Even with the experience and knowledge as a speech therapist, Desiree used to worry about her children’s development. Hence, she empathises and understands how parents feel when their child encounters difficulties. She believes that early intervention is the best approach and that parents are their child’s best educators. As a working mother, she appreciates that time is not a luxury for some families. Desiree works with the families to seamlessly incorporate goals and therapy into their daily activities so that speech and language goals can be generalized.