The Heart and Soul of Balanced Speech Therapy

Specialties:

• Pediatric therapy (ages 5-young adult)

• Autism (mild through severe)

• Language-based learning differences

• Social pragmatic therapy

• Executive functioning coaching

• Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy

 I am a licensed and accredited Speech-Language Pathologist with over a decade of experience who resides in Boston, Massachusetts with my husband and two young daughters. I specialize in teletherapy and absolutely love seeing the individualized progress that clients are able to make through their virtual speech therapy sessions by excitedly interacting with treatment activities and being able to clearly visualize their progress. Additionally, the ease of sharing resources and materials in a virtual setting with family members, caregivers, and teachers is vital in promoting the transfer and generalization of learned skills - a definite added benefit!

I began my career in 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital, in which I humbly worked with both adult and pediatric populations with cognitive-linguistic acquired and/or developmental disorders. During my years at MGH, I learned vital skills that provided a strong foundation for my continued growth as a clinician, including diagnostic-treatment skills, multidisciplinary collaboration, and evidence-based practices. While practicing in this hospital-based setting, I was able to gain a deep understanding of the importance of building therapeutic, mutually collaborative relationships in treatment sessions with both patients and their families - invaluable skills that I have taken with me as I continue my years of practice.

In 2014, I took my next career step within a school-based setting, another great passion of mine. I learned that establishing a positive, compassionate, and genuine connection is the first and essential step to making any kind of progress with children. I take into account each child's interests, motivators, and unique personality traits in order to connect and engage with them, always creating an open pathway for communication, mutual goal setting, and progress monitoring. Additionally, I am specialized in executive functioning coaching, in which I work collaboratively with children, adolescents, and adults on functional planning, organizational, and task management activities so that they can better manage their daily lives.

I look forward to connecting with many more clients and their families near or far, and I will undoubtedly bring forth my genuine care, passion for helping others, and love for my role as an SLP to all those that I encounter. I truly believe that communication is the essence of human life, and that each individual's growth in these skills is both fluid and limitless!

Erica is an experienced Speech Language Pathologist with a B.S. and M.S. degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders and over 10 years of diverse clinical experience. She has successfully treated patients ranging from 6 months to 108 years old in various settings such as school systems, private practice, hospitals/acute care, and long-term and skilled nursing facilities. Erica’s expertise extends to treating a wide range of speech and language disorders and diseases, but she loves treating Aphasia, Dysphagia, a variety of voice disorders and motor disorders, such as Apraxia. Erica is also certified in LSVT to address voice concerns in Parkinson’s patients. In her free time, she enjoys taking long walks with her dog, spending time in the mountains, traveling, reading, and trying new restaurants.

Amy holds a Master’s Degree in Communicative Disorders from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is licensed in Wisconsin and California as a speech-language pathologist and holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) from the American Speech Language Hearing Association. She has over 25 years of clinical experience as an SLP and has provided speech-language therapy services to individuals ages 2 to adult in a variety of settings, including school , community, and home-based programs, as well as online speech-language therapy. She has provided evaluation and intervention to individuals who exhibit a wide range of disorders including articulation/phonology, receptive and expressive language, social/pragmatic, voice, fluency/stuttering, autism spectrum disorders, learning disabilities, Down syndrome, and ADD/ADHD. Amy has particular special interest and extensive experience in fluency/stuttering intervention, language disorders, and in working with children and adults on the autism spectrum (including those who are non-verbal) to help them develop their social language skills, as well as assisting with the selection and implementation of most appropriate augmentative and alternate communication systems. Another strong interest area of Amy’s is working with teens and adults to help improve their presentation/public speaking skills, interviewing skills, and overall speech intelligibility in their professional, educational, and/or social communities

Sarah is a licensed Speech/Language Pathologist (MA, ME, FL, & CA) who worked for over 30 years in a variety of on-site pediatric settings, including hospitals/clinics, early intervention, and public schools. Since moving to Florida with her husband in 2020, Sarah has been providing Teletherapy, remote Supervision, and online College Education. She has always enjoyed sharing her clinical knowledge with SLPs, parents, and educators, and thus has created and taught multiple on-site and virtual courses on topics including Social/Pragmatic Skills, Vocabulary Instruction, Evidence-Based Practices, Childhood Apraxia of Speech, Language Disorders and Literacy, Sentence Combining, and Story Grammar Marker. Sarah is particularly interested in the oral/written language connections, and holds certification in EmPOWER (writing approach), Unlocking Sentences, and Story Grammar Marker. Teaching strategies and skills to children, and collaborating with their teachers, parents, and educational team, are Sarah’s favorite aspects of being an SLP. She loves giving children the tools to communicate effectively and successfully across settings, whether it be via improved articulation, social/pragmatic skills, or receptive/expressive language!  

Sarah is a speech-language pathologist licensed in Wisconsin and California with a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) from the American Speech Language Hearing Association. She holds a Master’s Degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Grand Valley State University, where she worked with children and adults in a variety of settings, including schools, hospitals, and skilled nursing facilities. Since moving back to Wisconsin, Sarah worked extensively with school age students and specialized in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), social language, articulation, expressive and receptive language. She has a passion for helping children and adolescents to enjoy learning. She shares this love of learning and has additional training in AAC, Gestalt Language Acquisition, PROMPT, and Talkies. Her personal goal is to foster authentic connections in order to positively impact others' learning and success.

Macia is a licensed Speech Language Pathologist based out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She holds a Master’s Degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Emerson College, where she worked with children and adults in a variety of settings, including schools, private practices, hospitals, and teletherapy. She has over a decade of experience working with children and young adults with disabilities, and specializes in gender-affirming voice therapy, social/pragmatics, autism spectrum disorder, augmentative-alternative communication (AAC), acquired brain injury, and executive functioning. In addition to working in specialized schools for students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in grades kindergarten-12, Macia provides home and community-based therapy to children and adults with traumatic brain injuries, with the goal of community reintegration and returning to interest-specific tasks. 

Macia is a big believer in putting the FUN in functional communication, and loves taking therapy tasks to the natural environment! She takes a person-centered therapy approach, and she values interprofessional collaboration, and consistent family communication. In her spare time, you can find Macia teaching spin classes, singing in a band, cuddling her dog, or exploring the great outdoors! She could not be more excited to join the team at Balanced Speech Therapy.

I am Licensed Speech Language Pathologist with a Clinical Certificate of Competence (CCC) from the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) and I am based just north of Boston in Boxford, MA. I grew up in Maine where I obtained my Master’s degree from the University of Maine in 2001. My husband and I are the parents of three young adults; a freshman in college, a freshman in high school, and a graduating high school senior. I have worked as an SLP for over twenty years, primarily in the public schools of MA.  I currently work with adolescent students, which I have done for the last 11 years in both traditional and vocational high school settings. This varied high school experience has taught me a tremendous amount about all the ways in which students learn and demonstrate their intelligence.  I have also worked for many years in Middle and Elementary school settings. I truly enjoy students of all ages.  

I specialize in using evidence-based practice strategies working with students who need support for receptive and expressive skills in all areas of language; phonology, syntax, semantics, morphology and pragmatics. In the area of social pragmatics, I use a neurodiverse affirming approach, with students focusing on perspective taking and being your authentic self. I also specialize in working with students with ADD/ADHD and/or ASD who need support for executive function challenges including the organization of time, materials, self, and information; both receptively and expressively.  I am a huge proponent of teaching strategies in the context of a student’s own curriculum to immediately increase their skills and engagement in the school environment.  I love to spark curiosity in my students and support them to gain the language to support the critical thinking skills that make them wonder and question the world around them.  

Truly connecting with students to help them to each discover and understand their own unique learning profile and how to build on their strengths is what I love to do.   Working with older students and watching them gain confidence and explore their many options until they can truly see there is a place where they can and will shine, is my passion.  I also have high value for the evaluation process and strive to conduct thoughtful evaluations that I can share with a student’s whole team to make a true difference for each student, family and team that I serve. 

Sarah has been an educator for almost twenty years within the Massachusetts public school setting and resides in New Hampshire with her family. She holds a Master’s Degree in Moderate Special Needs from Boston College and holds licenses in elementary education, special education, and reading. In addition, Sarah is certified in Orton Gillingham at the Certified Level. She has experience working with elementary-aged students as well as middle school-aged students diagnosed with learning disabilities and ADD/ADHD. Her specialty is providing intervention in the area of decoding, encoding, fluency, morphology, and comprehension. Sarah also has experience with administering standardized evaluations, progress monitoring, and writing Individual Education Plans. Sarah believes that communication with school, community, and family is key when working with students and providing the most appropriate intervention to ensure success for student growth, confidence, and mindset.

Mary holds a master’s degree in Speech Pathology from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. She is currently licensed in Georgia and California and has earned her Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) from the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA). With over 30 years of experience, Mary has worked with both the pediatric and adult populations in a variety of settings such as pre-schools, public schools, hospitals, outpatient rehab facilities and private practice. Mary began working with clients remotely in the small communities of Alaska in 2005 and has since worked remotely with clients in Oregon, Georgia, and California. In addition to providing speech therapy services, Mary supervises speech language pathology assistants in California.

Mary’s areas of expertise include articulation/phonological disorders, expressive and receptive language disorders, communication skills for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, childhood apraxia of speech, auditory rehabilitation for hearing aid users, apraxia, dysarthria, dysphagia, cognitive rehabilitation, and executive function disorders/ADHD. Mary believes the therapy process not only includes the client but family, parents, teachers, and care givers. Building a trusting relationship with her clients is Mary’s priority which requires treating all parties with dignity and respect. Mary grew up in Alaska but currently lives in middle Georgia. She has two grown children who are both in the military, one in the Navy and one in the Air Force. While she adjusts to having an “empty nest”, Mary spends her time acting in local theatres and planning trips to far off lands. (She cannot confirm nor deny these trips may or may not include communities in the proximity of the bases in which her kids are stationed.)