Pediatric Services
Therapy and Evaluations
Early Intervention
Early intervention focuses on supporting children from birth to three years old during the most important stages of development. These early years lay the foundation for communication, learning, and connection.
I work with young children to strengthen communication, social, cognitive, and play skills while also supporting families every step of the way.
How Speech Therapy Can Help
I believe the most meaningful progress happens in everyday moments. By integrating strategies into your child’s daily routines and activities, I help you feel confident supporting language development throughout the day.
My approach is play-based because that is how young children learn best. Through engaging, interactive play, I target functional communication skills in ways that feel natural and motivating.
Therapy may help your child:
- Develop early communication skills such as gestures, sounds, and first words
- Improve understanding and use of language during daily routines
- Build social interaction and play skills
- Learn to express needs, wants, and emotions effectively
Articulation and Phonology
Articulation refers to how a child physically produces speech sounds. An articulation difficulty occurs when a child has trouble making certain sounds clearly, such as saying w for r or th for s.
Phonology refers to how a child understands and organizes sound patterns in language. A phonological disorder occurs when a child uses patterns of sound errors, such as leaving sounds off the ends of words or replacing multiple sounds, which can make speech difficult to understand.
Children with articulation or phonological challenges may feel frustrated when others cannot understand them. Some may begin avoiding speaking altogether.
How Speech Therapy Can Help
In therapy, I focus on improving speech clarity by addressing both sound production and sound patterns using engaging, child-centered activities.
Therapy may focus on:
- Teaching correct placement and movement of the lips, tongue, and mouth
- Increasing awareness of speech sounds and patterns
- Reducing speech errors to improve overall intelligibility
- Building confidence when speaking with others
My goal is not just clearer speech, but confident communication.
Receptive and Expressive Language
Receptive language is your child’s ability to understand words, directions, and questions. This includes following instructions, understanding vocabulary, and making sense of what others are saying.
Expressive language is your child’s ability to use words, gestures, and sentences to share thoughts, needs, and ideas. This might include naming objects, answering questions, forming sentences, or telling stories.
When a child struggles with receptive or expressive language, communication can feel frustrating for everyone involved.
How Speech Therapy Can Help
I support both receptive and expressive language development through play-based activities tailored to your child’s individual needs and interests.
Therapy may focus on:
- Expanding vocabulary and sentence structure
- Improving understanding of directions and questions
- Encouraging clear expression of needs, thoughts, and emotions
- Building confidence in communication during play and daily routines
My aim is to make communication feel successful and empowering.
Autism and Gestalt Language Processing
Autism is a neurodevelopmental difference that can impact communication, social interaction, sensory processing, and learning. Every autistic child is unique, with individual strengths and ways of connecting with the world.
Some autistic children are Gestalt Language Processors. This means they learn language in larger chunks or phrases rather than starting with single words. They may repeat familiar scripts from people, shows, or experiences. These scripts, sometimes referred to as echolalia, are meaningful and often serve an important communicative purpose.
I honor and support each child’s natural language development style.
How Speech Therapy Can Help
In therapy, I focus on building functional communication and flexibility in ways that feel supportive and respectful.
Therapy may help your child:
- Develop more flexible, self-generated language
- Strengthen social and emotional communication skills
- Build language naturally through playful, everyday interactions
I work closely with families to support language growth at home and in daily routines.
Evaluations
All services at Wonder Ears begin with a comprehensive evaluation. This helps me understand your child’s strengths, challenges, and communication profile so we can create meaningful, targeted goals.
Evaluations may include:
- Parent interviews
- Speech and language samples
- Observations
- Standardized assessments
- Dynamic assessments
After the evaluation, I review the results with you in detail. Together, we collaborate on a customized treatment plan with individualized goals designed to support your child’s growth and long-term success.
