SERVICES

WHY DO SPEECH THERAPY?

 Effective communication is one of the most important aspects of childhood and adult life.  It enables us to convey thoughts, converse with others and build confidence and relationships.

Intervention is most effective when done early before compensatory behaviors become ingrained.  It is much easier to fix a small problem than to correct a habit that has grown over years.

We also offer speech therapy in Russian!  You can translate this page to Russian using the button in the top right corner or the tab at the bottom of the page.

COMMON SPEECH DISORDERS

SPEECH SOUND DISORDERS

Your child may struggle saying certain sounds correctly, substituting sounds or could generally be hard to understand. We work with your child, using games, drills, demonstrations, and models to train their ear to hear the target sound, produce it in isolation, and then generalize it to words, sentences, and finally conversational speech. Helping a child correctly say their sounds will not only improve how clearly they communicate with the world, but will improve their self confidence, and can positively affect their reading progress.  If you suspect that your child has Apraxia of Speech, they may benefit from our use of the PROMPT technique.

STUTTERING/FLUENCY

Your child may repeat sounds or syllables, appear to get “stuck” when trying to speak with the result of either silence or a prolonged sound, or they may talk very quickly and seem to swallow whole words and parts of words. We work with children on processing emotions associated with fluency disorders, improving their self-image, and, of course, improving overall speech fluency by teaching fluency tools and techniques.  Fluency disorders are usually called stuttering, or cluttering, and can prevent children from speaking up in class, reading aloud, and even making new friends.  We employ treatment strategies derived from the Stuttering Foundation’s Western Workshop as our foundation for treatment.

LANGUAGE LEARNING DISORDERS/LEARNING DISABILITIES

Your child may struggle learning at school and demonstrate difficulty reading, writing, and spelling correctly. They may have a diagnosis of dyslexia. Your child may also have trouble understanding and retaining information taught. We use the Orton-Gillingham approach to work with children on reading and writing fundamentals, and use various speech therapy techniques to help your child with word-finding issues, sentence structure, and vocabulary, as well as retention and comprehension of new information.

LATE TALKER/NON-VERBAL

Your child may not be verbal or be minimally verbal. You may have become a master at predicting what your child may need or want and have become familiar with tantrums resulting from your child not being able to effectively communicate their wants and needs.  We utilize  Lo & Hi-tech  communication platforms to work with children by using signs, pictures, or a device to help them communicate. This is called Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).

SOCIAL COMMUNICATION

Your child may be struggling with taking on the perspective of others, and not seeing the connection between their actions and reactions of other people. Not having this skill may make it difficult for your child to gain and maintain friendships, and later, to gain and maintain employment. We refer to the work of Michelle Garcia Winner and her Social Thinking curriculum as well as Zones of Regulation to provide you and your child with a common language to talk about feelings and perceptions and work with your child on learning the unwritten social rules and improving their relationships.

TECHNIQUES AND METHODS

PROMPT

PROMPT (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets) is a hands on technique where the practitioner helps the child form sounds by touching their face in specific places while practicing the production of that sound. This support is most beneficial for children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech, but is also a great method to help any child with a Speech Sound Disorder learn how to move their lips, jaw, and tongue to create target sounds.
More About P.R.O.M.P.T.

ORTON-GILLINGHAM

The Orton-Gillingham method has been used successfully for decades to help people with Dyslexia learn to read and write. Whether your child has a diagnosis of Dyslexia or just difficulties with learning to read and write, we incorporate the Orton-Gillingham methodology in our therapy to work on phonological awareness, spelling, and reading foundational skills while also working to improve speech and language skills.
More About ORTON-GILLINGHAM

ZONES OF REGULATION

Zones of Regulation is a curriculum we use to help children learn how to self-regulate. Kids learn to identify how they feel based not only on the situation, but how their bodies respond to a situation. By connecting physical response to an emotion and then adding vocabulary to the experience, your child will learn to better explain what they are feeling and why. Along with these concepts we also teach children to recognize when they are losing control and what tools they could use to feel better.
More About Zones of Regulation

SOCIAL THINKING CURRICULUM

Social Thinking is a brain child of Michelle Garcia Winner and a curriculum used to help children with Autism, ADHD, anxiety, and general difficulties socializing and understanding how their behaviors affect others. For older children we would use the Superflex curriculum which uses superheroes to personify skills like flexible thinking, focus, organization, etc to battle “unthinkables” which personify behaviors such as saying mean things to others, having a tantrum when you lose a game, jumping around from topic to topic, etc. We Thinkers! is a curriculum used for younger children and helps them learn about feelings and thoughts and how the two are connected, and then realize that other people also have thoughts and feelings. Skills like keeping your body with the group, and following the group plan are taught using this curriculum to help little ones join in and succeed in group activities.
More About Social Thinking

LO-TECH/HI-TECH AAC

Lo-tech/Hi-tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication can be anything from sign language, to a sheet of paper with some pictures that a child and an adult could point to to help meet needs and understand each other, or a visual schedule to help the child understand what to expect and to help complete work before moving on to a more preferred activity. It could also mean a device or even an app on the iPad (such as LAMP Words for Life) that could help someone who is not able to talk communicate by tapping pictures or typing. We use these methods in our sessions for a variety of reasons and with all children. While spoken language is fleeting, having a visual to remind a child of an expectation or to help them communicate their needs or ideas allows children to focus and learn better.

More About Lo-tech/Hi-tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication

WHAT TO EXPECT

The Flow from Initial Contact to First Session

  1. Step 1: Initial Contact

    Call or text our office to begin the intake process. During this first conversation, we will collect:

    • Your name and your child’s name.

    • Your child’s date of birth.

    • Your insurance provider.

    • The primary concerns bringing you to our office.

    We will also discuss availability for a weekly 30-minute session.

    Step 2: Securing Your Time Slot

    If we find a session time that works for both you and our office, we will move forward with these two tasks:

    1. Pediatrician Referral: Contact your child’s pediatrician and ask them to send a referral to our office.

    2. Intake Forms: We will email you a welcome letter with intake forms. Please fill these out as soon as possible to ensure we can hold your agreed-upon session time.

    Note: If we cannot find a mutually agreeable time right now, we can add you to our waitlist and will contact you as soon as a slot opens up.

    Step 3: Insurance Verification

    Once we receive your completed intake forms, we will verify your child’s insurance benefits and eligibility.

    • We will email you an estimate of costs as a courtesy.

    • Because insurance details can sometimes be unclear, we highly recommend calling your provider yourself to confirm the coverage and rates we quoted.

    Step 4: Scheduling the First Session

    As soon as we have received your intake forms, insurance verification, and the pediatrician referral, your assigned clinician will reach out to you directly to schedule your child’s initial session.

The Services

1. An Evaluation is needed to establish a baseline

Before regular therapy sessions begin, we must establish a baseline of your child’s current skills. To do this, we require a formal evaluation conducted within the past 6-9 months.

  • If you have a recent report: You can upload evaluation reports from your child’s school, a hospital, or a previous private practice while filling out intake forms.

  • If you do not have a recent report: Your child’s first session with us will be a formal evaluation.

2. Plan of Care (POC)

The results of the evaluation are used to create a Plan of Care (POC). This document serves as a roadmap for your child’s progress and includes:

  • A summary of your child’s current abilities.

  • Specific goals we will work on to improve their communication skills. These goals are agreed upon by both the SLP and the family in order to best serve your child.

  • Recommendations, as appropriate, in terms of learning styles and supports to ensure progress.

If we use a provided evaluation we may use the goals included with it initially and then adjust as we get to know your child. An official POC from our office will be available with the first progress report. 

3. Therapy

Our sessions are 30 minutes in length and we structure this time carefully to ensure your child makes the most of every minute.

  • The First 5 Minutes: Check-In & Review We start by reviewing homework from the previous week and checking in with both you and your child. This ensures we are aligned on any developments or challenges that occurred between sessions.

  • Direct Goal Work The majority of our time is spent working directly on your child’s specific communication goals. We encourage family members to participate or observe during this time. This is the “active learning” phase where we practice new skills through evidence-based techniques.

  • The Last 5 Minutes: Wrap-Up & Transition We use the final minutes for clean-up and a summary. We will review the specific skills and strategies your family should practice with your child until our next meeting.

Parent involvement in sessions, and between sessions, is crucial for the child’s progress, as children spend most of their time with their parents, not with their therapists. By participating in sessions and practicing strategies at home, you help bridge the gap between “therapy time” and “real-world communication.”

4. Progress Reporting

We believe in data-driven care and transparent communication. To ensure your child is making meaningful gains, we conduct regular formal reviews of their progress.

  • We provide written Progress Reports periodically—typically every 3-4 months or after approximately 15 sessions. This interval allows us to gather enough data to see clear patterns in your child’s development.
  • The report is a comprehensive look at your child’s journey and focuses on three key areas:

    • What is Working: We identify the specific strategies, cues, and activities that are most effective in helping your child learn.

    • Measurable Progress: We compare current data against the initial baseline goals to show exactly how much growth has occurred.

    • Plan of Care Adjustments: If a goal is met, we celebrate and set a new one. If a goal is proving difficult, we analyze why and adjust our approach or the goal itself to better fit your child’s pace.

    • A re-evaluation may be recommended every 12 months.

Teletherapy

Talk Play Learn offers the option of conducting sessions via teletherapy. Your speech-language pathologist (SLP) will meet with you through the HIPAA-compliant secure Zoom videoconferencing platform to provide both direct therapy and parent coaching. Just like with in-person sessions, parents continue to be a big part of the therapy session.

Teletherapy sessions continue to center around working with the family to improve the child’s communication skills through playing games, watching videos, reading books and using the child’s interests to engage them.

Once it is deemed appropriate to have in-person sessions, the family and provider may choose a hybrid version, where the family spends a number of sessions in the clinic, and a number of sessions are delivered via teletherapy. If it is appropriate, services can be delivered completely via teletherapy.

Requirements for teletherapy

  • Consistent, and reliable internet connection. Being able to plug directly into the modem is ideal.
  • Tablet or computer that has a microphone and camera and is charged.
  • Quiet space in the home with minimal distractions where the child and the parent can sit comfortably.
  • Good lighting, with a wall behind the child (or a window if the curtains can be drawn).
  • Adult present or nearby throughout the entire session to facilitate.
  • Toys/Materials needed for session if planned with therapist in advance.
  • Snack and a drink available to the child during the session.

Some reasons families may choose teletherapy are:

  • Therapy delivered in your home. There is no need to figure out logistics of travel and childcare for siblings.
  • If someone is a little sick, there is no fear of spreading germs.
  • Children may feel more comfortable communicating while in their own homes and able to use their own toys.
  • Therapy happens in an environment where the child spends most of their time.
  • Parent participation, which is crucial for progress, is built in.
  • Ability to video portions of therapy and review or refer back to videos for later practice.
  • Secure platform that ensures privacy and confidentiality.

Situations when Teletherapy may not be a good choice:

  • Children who are not able to stay in one place may have difficulty attending.
  • Family may not have access to necessary technology (strong internet connection and a laptop, tablet, or large-screen smart-phone).
  • No one is available to be nearby to help the child engage and complete tasks and trouble-shoot any technology issues. 

 

CONSULT WITH AN EXPERT

Are you wondering if your child has a communication disorder? Contact us with your concerns and we can answer your questions, provide resources, and if necessary, complete an assessment to help determine your child’s strengths and weaknesses in the realm of communication.