Our Speech Therapy Services

Typical evaluations will include:

• Case history
• Parent interview
• Play observation
• Oral motor examination
• Standardized assessment if applicable
• Clinical observations
• Language sample of their current speech and language skills
• Referral and/or recommendations

Once the evaluation is complete, we will set up a treatment plan going forward to discuss results and provide recommendation for services. Give us a call with any questions you may have.

Speech therapy is not about "fixing" a child. It's about supporting their unique voice and helping them communicate in ways that work best for them at home, at school, and in the world around them.

Using a neurodiversity affirming lens, we build a child's communication skills by honoring their special interests and play styles while supporting their sensory needs.

You may see us moving around engaging in motor movements through an obstacle course, participating in regulating sensory activities like blowing bubbles or playing with playdough, supporting special interests using letters and numbers, or taking turns playing various games or using toys.

At First Connect, PLLC, we are trained to diagnose and treat a wide range of communication differences and disorders including:

• Receptive and expressive language delay
• Articulation and phonological disorders
• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
• Gestalt Language Processing
• Autism
• Childhood apraxia of speech
• Fluency disorders
• Feeding and oral motor delays
• Picky eating
• Literacy

Is your child struggling to pronounce certain sounds or be understood when they speak? We support children with speech sound challenges including articulation and phonology using personalized, play-based therapy approaches. Through articulation and phonological intervention, your child will learn to:

• Develop accurate use of age-expected speech sounds in words and connected speech
• Communicate more clearly with peers and adults
• Experience less frustration during everyday conversations
• Build confidence and feel more comfortable using their voice

Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) often benefit from targeted support to plan and sequence the movements needed for clear speech. We incorporate a motor-based treatment approach known as DTTC (Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing) and techniques from PROMPT within engaging, child-directed activities to strengthen motor speech skills in a fun and supportive way. Speech therapy can help your child:

• Expand their speech sound repertoire by developing new consonants and vowels
• Produce meaningful words with greater consistency and accuracy
• Improve overall speech clarity so they can be better understood by others
• Communicate their thoughts, needs, and wants with growing confidence

When a child has difficulty expressing themselves through speech, it can lead to frustration and limit participation in everyday life. We support communication by introducing Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to create a dependable way for your child to share their message—through gestures, signs, or a communication device. AAC therapy helps your child:

• Use purposeful and functional vocabulary
• Effectively communicate their wants, needs, thoughts, and questions
• Take an active role in daily routines, choices, and social interactions
• Grow in confidence as a self-directed communicator

We also guide families through the process of choosing the right AAC system, securing funding, and supporting consistent use across home, school, and community settings.

We have experience supporting children who communicate using echolalia and scripted language. Through engaging, child-directed play, we validate and respect these scripts while gently modeling flexible language to support progress through the Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) framework—from echoed phrases toward self-generated speech. Speech therapy can help your child:

• Feel seen, supported, and connected during communication
• Share thoughts and ideas using their own unique words
• Communicate in ways that are clearer and more easily understood by others

Family participation plays an essential role in gestalt language therapy. Caregivers are welcomed and encouraged to be active partners in sessions, learning strategies to support communication every day.

Is your child struggling to expand their diet from chicken nuggets and pizza? Are mealtimes feeling stressful and overwhelming? Feeding therapy supports children who struggle with picky or restrictive eating by helping them feel safe, confident, and comfortable around food. Through play-based, child-centered strategies, we gently expand food variety while building positive mealtime experiences, oral motor skills and sensory tolerance—without pressure or force. We also address myofunctional deficits such as mouth breathing, tongue thrust, or difficulty moving their muscles which may affect swallowing solids or multi-textured foods.