a play-based approach to speech, language & occupational therapy

Making therapy fun for kids

Parents often tell us how much their kiddos love coming to the clinic because we use play-based activities that naturally support their strengths to make therapy fun for them.

We take the time to get to know every child we work with, and then we customize our treatment in order to draw on their child’s innate strengths, supporting their developmental progress.

Interactive Games

Movement + Mindfulness

Music + Songs

Empowering Conversations

Obstacle Courses

Arts and Crafts

Dress Up Play

Board Games

Blocks and Construction Toys

Supporting the whole family, because you are your child’s greatest teachers.

Our treatment is designed to not only treat your little one, but also to support your whole family. If you’re the type of parent that wants to be involved and create communication opportunities at home, we’re here to ensure you have the skills and resources to do so.

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We started our journey with Valued Voices when my son was 18 months and not even saying “mama”. He only had a handful of words and struggled to communicate his basic needs to us. I highly recommend Valued Voices to any family who is looking for a supportive, knowledgeable and encouraging team that will partner with on your child’s unique development journey.

– Ashley H

How We Focus on Treating Your Child

STEP 1
Screenings

In a 30-minute screening we assess your child’s strengths and development. Together we will establish goals and a treatment plan, if it is needed.

STEP 2
Assessments

Next, we go deeper and establish a detailed baseline of your child’s skills. You will be provided with a comprehensive written report documenting strengths, goals and recommendations for our treatment plan for therapy, as well as opportunities to help your child at home. These assessments are conducted frequently throughout our treatment plans and formally done annually when treatment continues.

STEP 3
Therapy

Our treatment packages are purposefully designed so that we can get your little one back on track as soon as possible. Our approach is designed to support your child and you.

Treating your child, not the label
they’ve been given.

We believe your child simply sees the world differently and we see that unique perspective as a gift. Our neuro-diversity affirming team and philosophies strive to empower and celebrate your child’s unique gifts

What We Support?

Apraxia

When your little one speaks, their brain sends messages to their mouth, guiding the mouth muscles what to do and how to do it. If your child has Apraxia of speech, you will notice that the messages are not coming through clearly. Your child might have difficulty moving their lips in the right way or placing their tongue in the right position to make sounds. Although the muscles are not weak and your child knows what they want to say, the brain is not telling their mouth how to move all the muscles necessary for speech production. Depending on your child’s needs we may use a variety of therapies such as articulation therapy, expressive language therapy, and fluency therapy or more. If you suspect your child may have Apraxia, reach out to us for a complimentary parent consultation. It’s never too early to support your child’s development.
Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder. Children with autism present with differences in social communication, social interactions, and language skills. Depending on your child’s needs we may use a variety of therapies such as receptive/expressive language therapy, articulation therapy, social skills therapy, occupational therapy and more. If you suspect your child may have speech, language and or motor delays due to Autism, reach out to us for a complimentary parent consultation. It’s never too early to support your child’s development.
Feeding Delays

Feeding developmental delays refer to conditions that affect a child’s ability to eat or drink in an age-appropriate and safe manner. These delays include avoidant or restrictive food intake, sensory food aversions, chewing or swallowing disorders. If you suspect your child may have a feeding delay, reach out to us for a complimentary parent consultation. It’s never too early to support your child’s development.
Language Delay

A language delay involves understanding and communicating, both verbally and nonverbally. If your child has a language delay they may make the correct sounds and pronounce some words, but they can’t form phrases or sentences that make sense in an age appropriate manner or they may have difficulty understanding language. They may have difficulty understanding and interacting with others. If you suspect your child may have a language delay, reach out to us for a complimentary parent consultation. It’s never too early to support your child’s development.
Motor Skill Delays

Motor Skill Delays are when your child is showing slow development of fine-motor or gross-motor abilities. Fine motor abilities include things like grasping a pencil, handling a spoon or buttoning up a shirt. Gross-motor abilities include things like walking, hopping, climbing stairs and getting dressed. If you suspect your child may have a motor skill delay, reach out to us for a complimentary parent consultation. It’s never too early to support your child’s development.
Sensory Processing

For some children, it can be difficult to cope with the number of environmental stimuli constantly around. For others, they may require a large amount of environmental input in order to feel grounded or engaged. Understanding how sensory input can be changed, added, or reduced within the environment, can assist your child with self-regulation, frustration tolerance, and overall engagement. If you suspect your child may have sensory processing challenges, reach out to us for a complimentary parent consultation. It’s never too early to support your child’s development.
Speech Sound Disorder

Speech sound disorders (or Articulation Disorders) is the inability to correctly form age appropriate sounds which may be having an impact on your child’s ability to express themselves in a clear way. If you suspect your child may have an articulation delay, reach out to us for a complimentary parent consultation. It’s never too early to support your child’s development.
Stuttering

Stuttering is a normal part of your child learning to talk, however they eventually outgrow this by age 3 ½. If you continue to notice differences in your child’s speech patterns, such as repetitions or prolongations of sounds, words or phrases, as well as secondary behaviors such as facial grimaces or avoiding speaking situations altogether, reach out to us for a complimentary consultation. It’s never too early to support your child’s development.

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How We Support Your Child

Augmentative & Alternative Communication Therapy

Pointing, gestures, writing, exchanging pictures and using a device are all forms of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). AAC includes all the ways we can share our thoughts, feelings, and ideas without using the spoken word.
Feeding & Swallowing Therapy

Feeding and swallowing are involuntary movements developed in the womb, but sometimes they need to be taught or retaught. Feeding challenges can be related to picky eating or sensory aversions or difficulty with swallowing (called dysphagia). Swallowing happens in three stages and your child can have difficulty with one, some, or all of these phases.
Fluency Therapy

Fluency of speech refers to the smoothness, continuity, rate and effort that goes into speech production. Fluency Therapy is all about learning how the air moves between each sound to make language clear and easy to understand. One of the strategies we use is breath work to help raise awareness of how speech and breath is connected.
Language Therapy

There are three main aspects to language: receptive, expressive and pragmatic language. Your child could present with delays in one, some or all of these area of language development. This type of therapy is often used for children with Autism and other communication delays.
Pediatric Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy for children helps your child gain independence while strengthening fine, gross, sensory and visual motor skills. All of these movement skills are necessary for your child to engage in play, daily self-care tasks and classroom activities. This type of therapy is often needed for your child if they’re presenting with Autism, ADD/ADHD and Sensory Processing Disorder.
Ayres Sensory Integration

Sensory processing is the general term for how our body takes in information from the environment (sensory input) through our receptor organs (like our noses, eyes, mouth, skin, etc.), decodes that information, and then uses it to inform our motor reactions. Ayres Sensory integration is a type of therapeutic modality in which a trained clinician presents specific types of sensory input to the child in order to facilitate an adaptive response. What this basically means is looking for increased attention or regulation, improved posture or coordination during the activity. It is the clinicians’ job to present the “just right challenge” using the sensory input to promote a more organized and efficient nervous system processing. This type of intervention has been shown to benefit self-regulation, frustration tolerance, picky eating, fine motor skills. visual motor skills, and overall coordination.
Social Skills Therapy

Social communication is the way we use language in a variety of social contexts. Social communication includes the way we interact with others, pragmatic skills, social language processing and cognition. We often use social skills therapy when treating children with Autism and other language delays.
Speech Sound Therapy

As you may have noticed, some sounds come sooner – and more easily – than others. Vowels as well as P’s, B’s, and M’s tend to develop early on, while R’s come later, and sometimes with more difficulty. Speech Sound Therapy is beneficial for treating all kinds of speech and sound delays in children.

Valued Voices is a Non-Public Agency

We’re approved and certified by the state of California as Non-Public Agency (NPA). What this means is the state has recognized Valued Voices as providing high quality care to children. If your child receives an Individualized Education Program (IEP) through his/her district, and your district is unable to provide you with the care and qualifications that your child needs, you and/or your district can contract with us, an approved NPA, to provide services to your child, making Valued Voices part of your IEP team!

Valued Voices has done wonders with our 4 year-old granddaughter. She has gone from being essentially non-verbal to using short sentences in the brief time she has seen Sholeh. Sholeh is patient but persistent with her so that our granddaughter can succeed in her transition from apraxia to normal speech. We recommend her highly.

– Arthur S.