Join the 1,000+ children who’ve grown more confident connecting, requesting, and sharing what they have to say.
What is Speech Therapy?
Speech therapy supports the way children understand and use language, produce speech sounds, and connect with the people around them. Rather than “fixing” a child, our work helps each child become more confident in their own voice – however they communicate.
You might be wondering about support if your child…
- Is developing language on their own timeline, and you’d like guidance along the way
- Communicates more through gestures, actions, or sounds than words right now
- Is building back-and-forth connection and shared moments with others
- Finds transitions or changes to routine harder, and could use support navigating them
- Experiences big emotions and is building ways to move through them
- Is working to be understood when producing speech sounds
- Is finding ways to express needs, wants, feelings, and ideas (to request, greet, comment, ask and answer, and more)
- Is exploring play in their own way and may enjoy new ways to expand it
How does Speech Therapy help?
- Provides better understanding into your child’s processing and development of language (analytic vs. gestalt language processing)
- Develops and increases the understanding and use of nonverbal and verbal communication skills
- Improves how your child is using words to communicate thoughts, needs, wants, feelings and ideas
- Provides multiple modalities for communication and expression so that your child feels heard and understood in the world
- Provides opportunities for generalization of skills with peers and in a variety of settings
- Increases focus and attention to tasks
- Develops and increases play skills
Seeing your child, not a label
Autistic children often experience the world through a rich sensory and perceptual lens. We get to know each child as an individual – their strengths, their interests, and the ways they already communicate – and build from there.
Creating a treatment plan that draws on your child’s strengths
Before starting treatment, we conduct a comprehensive assessment so that we can deeply understand your child’s strengths and what areas require some more love, support, guidance and empowerment from us. Then we create functional and meaningful goals with you in order to help you and your child connect and communicate in ways that feel just right.
Supporting the whole family, because you are your child’s greatest teacher.
Our work supports not just your child but your whole family, so the connection and communication you build together continues at home.
Sholeh and the team at Valued Voices have been amazing. Kind, compassionate, supportive and incredibly organized. We have seen immense growth in our daughter’s speech and conversational abilities in the last six months with Valued Voices and would recommend the program to anyone and everyone.
– Katie O
Frequently Asked Questions
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It’s not always easy to tell when a child might benefit from speech therapy. Some children start therapy early, around age 18 months or 2 years of age, while others don’t begin until they’re school-aged. Many factors can influence the decision of when to start speech therapy, including the severity of the child’s speech delay, the presence of other developmental delays, and family preferences. Ultimately, the decision of when to begin speech therapy should be made by a speech-language pathologist in consultation with parents and other professionals. Early intervention is often ideal, the sooner you and your team are able to support your child, the better. Working with a qualified speech therapist can help you make the best decision for your child.
