Hong Kong Speech Pathologists in Australia
If you’re a Hong Kong-trained speech pathologist thinking about practising in Australia, you’ve probably Googled “SPA overseas accreditation” at some point. And you’ve probably come away with more questions than answers.
Bonnie had the same experience. In Episode 22 of Bilingual Speech Spot, she and Chloe talk through how she navigated the path from Hong Kong to Australian registration — and why she chose to do a second master’s degree at the University of Queensland rather than pursue the overseas accreditation route.
This one is for the therapists. But it’s also for the parents who wonder what’s behind their bilingual clinician’s training — and why it matters.
A Hong Kong Speech Pathologist moving to Australia
Bonnie was in the first cohort of PolyU’s speech therapy master’s programme in Hong Kong. She practised for six years across a range of settings — special schools, private clinics, and an NGO — before making the move to Australia.
When she looked into the SPA Overseas Accreditation pathway, what she found was uncertainty. No one in her professional circles had successfully completed it. The risk felt too high. So she made a different call: a second master’s, this time at UQ.
It was a big decision. It also turned out to be a formative one.
Three Things That Stood Out
1. The two degrees gave her different things — and both mattered.
The PolyU degree built her foundation. Strong theory, solid grounding in Cantonese and Mandarin clinical work, confident management of the “bread and butter” cases — language delay, articulation, the presentations she’d see most often. What it didn’t give her was depth in areas like fluency or feeding.
The UQ degree expanded her range. The curriculum was broader, covering a wider set of presentations in more depth. And it included something the PolyU programme didn’t: OSCE-style simulation training with actors. Practising assessments and conversations with trained actors before ever sitting with a real client is a different kind of preparation — and Bonnie spoke about it with genuine appreciation.
2. Cultural integration was part of what the second degree gave her.
Working with Australian families isn’t just about having the clinical skills. It’s about understanding a different cultural context — different communication styles, different family structures, different expectations of what therapy looks like. The UQ experience gave Bonnie that context in a way that a portfolio-based accreditation process wouldn’t have.
This resonated with Chloe. Both therapists talked about the particular experience of supporting immigrant Cantonese-speaking families in Australia — families navigating a system they don’t fully understand, in a language they’re still learning, often without extended family nearby. That combination of cultural fluency and clinical skill is something bilingual therapists bring to the table that’s hard to quantify.
3. Neurodiversity affirmation is shared ground — and it’s shaping their next series.
Both Bonnie and Chloe focus primarily on children aged 0–5, and both take a neurodiversity-affirming approach. They talked about the work of reframing diagnoses for families — not as deficits to be fixed, but as differences to be understood and supported. And they talked about the social taboos that still surround developmental diagnoses in many Cantonese-speaking communities, and how to gently challenge them.
This conversation is the first in a new “Therapist Chit-Chat” series. Coming episodes will cover bilingual development in depth, the NDIS and how to navigate it, and a comparison of early childhood special education pathways across Australian states.
A Note for Parents
If you’ve ever wondered why your bilingual therapist’s training background matters — this episode is a good listen. The pathway from Hong Kong to Australian practice isn’t simple. The clinicians who’ve walked it bring something specific: they understand your child’s language environment from the inside.
Find us at blackburnslp.com.au/resources or @phd.speechie.mum.
SPA海外認證困難重重？一位香港受訓治療師的澳洲執業之路
如果你是香港受訓的言語治療師，正考慮到澳洲執業，你多半已經搜尋過「SPA海外認證」這幾個字。然後你會發現：網上資料不多、身邊認識的人也不多、成功案例更少。你不知道這條路是否走得通，甚至不知道除了這條路之外，是否還有第二個選擇。
Bonnie也經歷過這個階段。在《Bilingual Speech Spot Podcast》第22集，她與Chloe坦誠分享自己如何在香港理工大學畢業、執業六年後，決定不走SPA海外認證，而是選擇到昆士蘭大學（UQ）再修讀一個言語治療碩士。
為什麼不選擇海外認證這條路？
Bonnie研究過SPA海外認證途徑後，發現最大的問題不是難度，而是不確定性——身邊沒有一個人成功走完這條路，她完全無法預知投入時間與心力後，結果會是如何。相較之下，再讀一個碩士雖然需要重新投資兩年時間與學費，但至少路徑清晰、有明確終點。
這不是一個「對」或「錯」的決定，而是一個非常真實的風險評估：你能夠承受多少不確定性？
兩個碩士，兩種訓練，缺一不可
理大為Bonnie打下了紮實的理論基礎，包括廣東話與普通話臨床工作的底子，以及處理最常見個案（語言發展遲緩、發音問題）的自信與能力。但她坦言，在流暢度、餵食困難等領域，訓練相對缺乏深度。
UQ的碩士課程正好補足了這一塊——課程涵蓋更廣，還有一項理大所沒有的元素：OSCE模擬考核，也就是與受訓演員進行模擬評估與對話，在真正接觸病人之前，已經反覆練習過。此外還有一項較少人提及的收穫：文化融入。與澳洲家庭合作，不只是依靠臨床技巧，還需要理解不同的溝通方式、家庭結構，以及對治療的期望。這一點，是以作品集為基礎的認證流程未必能夠給予的。
給治療師的啟示
如果你也是香港受訓、正考慮移居澳洲執業的言語治療師，Bonnie的故事想告訴你：SPA海外認證並非唯一的路，但每條路都有代價——時間、金錢、心理壓力，你需要選擇自己能夠承受的那一種。
這一集是全新「治療師傾偈」系列的第一集——一場沒有術語包袱、廣東話治療師之間的真心對話。之後還會探討雙語發展、如何使用NDIS，以及澳洲各州學前特殊教育系統的比較。如果你想與其他海外受訓治療師交流這類真實經驗，歡迎加入 Bilingual Spot Special Interest Group，與我們一同延續這場對話。（連結：加入表單）
給家長的話
如果你的孩子的治療師是雙語背景，你可能也會好奇：他們的訓練是如何養成的？這一集其實也值得一聽——從香港到澳洲執業的路並不簡單，走過這條路的治療師，往往能由內而外地理解你孩子的語言環境。
blackburnslp.com.au/resources | @phd.speechie.mum