First time patients

Once I receive a referral from your doctor, you’ll be asked to fill out a questionnaire. From there, I will assess your strengths, weaknesses, and needs through a thorough speech-language evaluation and diagnosis. This will take 60-120 minutes. Based on this evaluation, we will develop a personalized plan for sessions and get started right away.

Schedule an Evaluation

Services

Offering outpatient speech therapy in home, in office, or through teletherapy

Disorders Treated

Aphasia

TRAUMAtic brain injury (TBI)

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)

Aphasia usually occurs as a result of brain damage. It may occur suddenly after stroke or head injury, or develop slowly from a brain tumor or dementia. Aphasia affects a person's ability to understand others and/or express themself through spoken or written language. It often affects a person's ability to find words or complete sentences. A speech therapist can help by providing cueing, along with appropriate tasks for receptive and expressive language including spoken language, reading and writing.   

Traumatic brain injury often results from falls, vehicle-related collisions, violence, sports injuries, or explosive blows. A person who has had head injury requires ongoing support. Speech, language, and communication problems are common following traumatic brain injury, as well as difficulty with cognition. Speech therapy often involves providing exercises and strategies for word finding, processing, memory, reasoning, attention, and problem solving. The main goal of the speech therapist is to help the patient achieve the most autonomous level of functioning possible.  

ApRaxia

Parkinson's

Stuttering

Apraxia of speech is a motor-speech disorder that results in difficulty controlling the muscles used for speech. Although the muscles themselves may be fine, it is the motor strip of the brain that is affected, which makes it harder for a person to voluntarily produce sounds, words, or sentences. This is different than dysarthria, where weakness in the muscles is the problem. Apraxia may be very mild, causing one to have only occasional difficulty with a word or sentence or severe enough that all sounds and words are difficult. A speech therapist can help with both diagnosing apraxia and providing treatment and strategies to get muscles working again. In severe cases, alternative communication systems can be set up for effective communication.  

Parkinsons disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. Slurred speech with decreased volume and intelligibility is often one of the symptoms of Parkinsons disease, and it is common for swallowing to be affected. A speech therapist can help by teaching strategies to improve speech intelligibility and by recommending appropriate communication technologies that will help with daily living. A swallowing evaluation, as well as oral motor exercises, swallowing strategies, and diet texture changes, are also provided by the speech therapist when necessary.  

Stuttering can make it harder to talk to people. This may include repeating words (repetitions), stretching out a sound for a long time (prolongations) or having a hard time getting a word out (block). It may also include negative feelings and tension along with gestures such as eye blinking. The cause of stuttering is unknown, but it may be due to family history or differences in the brain. A speech therapist can help by providing strategies to manage stuttering.

Dysarthria

Dementia

dysphagia

Dysarthria is a speech disorder caused by muscle weakness. It often results from stroke, Parkinsons disease, and other neurological disorders. A person with dysarthria may present with slurred speech and have difficulty speaking clearly so that others understand. A speech therapist can help by teaching specific strategies (decreasing rate of speech, moving lips and mouth more, and over-exaggeration). In some cases, it is important to use writing and gestures along with speech.

Dementia is a general term that describes impaired cognitive abilities. Dementia affects the ability to remember, think, or make decisions in a way that interferes with everyday activities. Alzheimers is a common type of dementia but there are many types and stages. Although a speech therapist can not cure dementia, they have the expertise to help this population at all stages. Help may include providing a thorough assessment of current functioning, as well as providing a customized treatment plan focused on quality of life and independence.  

Dysphagia is a term used to describe swallowing difficulty. Dysphagia may result from stroke, brain injury, problems affecting the head and neck, or other nervous system disorders. Speech therapists can help by providing swallowing exercises, compensatory swallowing strategies, bolus consistency modification, and caregiver/patient education.  

brain tumor

high school language deficits

Brain tumors can cause a variety of symptoms including memory loss, language and speech difficulty, cognitive deficits and swallowing problems. Speech therapists address all of these issues and can provide a thorough evaluation and treatment. Some people with brain tumors experience long term language impairments even after medical treatment Speech Language Pathologists can help by providing language exercises and communication strategies to help people with ongoing communication difficulties.  

Research indicates that speech and language disorders in adolescents can lead to social, behavioral, and emotional issues. Language disorders may present in various ways and may include taking a long time to respond, being reluctant to speak, overuse of cliches, certain words, and phrases, problems answering questions, or not being able to pick up non-verbal cues. If a student has receptive language difficulties in high school, they may miss subtle meanings that are part of communication. Speech therapy with this age group is important, but surveys indicate that adolescents with speech and language disorders are not adequately served in the schools. Speech therapists can help by providing individual therapy to address the above issues. Social skills groups can also be helpful.