Specializing In

Early Intervention

Early intervention refers to speech and language therapy provided to infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children who show delays in communication skills. The early years are a critical time for brain development — building speech, language, and social skills during this window can have a lasting impact on learning and confidence.

Therapy may address:

  • First words and vocabulary growth

  • Understanding and following directions

  • Combining words into sentences

  • Early play and social interaction skills

  • Speech sound development

Through play-based, engaging activities, early intervention helps children develop strong communication skills from the start — setting the stage for success in school and everyday life.

Articulation and Phonological Disorders

Articulation and phonological disorders affect how a child produces sounds, which can make speech harder to understand.

  • Articulation disorders happen when a child has trouble forming certain sounds, such as saying “wabbit” instead of “rabbit.”

  • Phonological disorders involve patterns of sound errors, like leaving off ending sounds or replacing all “k” sounds with “t” sounds.

Therapy focuses on helping children produce sounds clearly and consistently through:

  • Teaching correct tongue, lip, and jaw placement

  • Practicing sounds in words and sentences

  • Using fun, interactive activities to encourage practice

  • Building self-awareness to correct errors

The goal is for children to speak clearly, be understood, and communicate with confidence.

Language Based Learning Disorders

Language-based learning disorders involve difficulties understanding or using spoken and written language, which can affect reading, writing, spelling, and grammar.

Children may have trouble with:

  • Following directions

  • Learning new vocabulary

  • Organizing thoughts into sentences

  • Using correct grammar and sentence structure

  • Reading fluently and understanding text

Therapy targets vocabulary, grammar, syntax, reading comprehension, and organization skills to help children communicate clearly and succeed in school.

Pragmatic Language

Pragmatic language refers to the social use of language — how we use words, tone, and body language to connect with others. This includes knowing what to say, how to say it, and when to say it in different situations. Children with pragmatic language difficulties may struggle with starting conversations, taking turns when speaking, staying on topic, understanding social cues, or interpreting humor and figurative language.

In pragmatic therapy, we work on building these important social communication skills in a supportive, engaging way. Sessions may include role-playing, games, and real-life practice to help children learn how to:

  • Greet others and start conversations

  • Maintain eye contact and use appropriate body language

  • Take turns speaking and listening

  • Understand feelings, perspectives, and nonverbal cues

  • Use language appropriately in different social settings

Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness is a critical early literacy skill and serves as the foundation for learning to read and spell. It involves the ability to recognize and work with the sounds of spoken language — from larger sound units like words and syllables to the smallest units of sound, called phonemes.

A key part of this is phonemic awareness, or the ability to isolate and manipulate individual sounds in words. For example, a child with strong phonemic awareness knows the word cat is made up of the sounds /k/ – /a/ – /t/.

These skills help children:

  • Blend sounds to make words

  • Break words apart into sounds

  • Recognize rhymes and sound patterns

  • Play with sounds to make new words

Strong phonological awareness is one of the best predictors of reading success. Using engaging, multi-sensory activities, we make sound-based learning fun and interactive, helping children build the solid foundation they need for fluent reading and confident writing.

Stuttering

Stuttering is more than just a speech pattern — it can impact confidence, communication, and daily interactions. Speech therapy for individuals who stutter addresses both the mechanics of speech and the feelings that may come with stuttering.

Therapy may include:

  • Fluency-enhancing strategies to help make speech smoother and easier

  • Self-advocacy skills for communicating needs and preferences in school, work, or social situations

  • Identifying and working through emotions such as frustration, anxiety, or embarrassment that sometimes accompany stuttering

  • Building communication confidence in real-life speaking situations

Our goal is to support each individual in finding their most confident, authentic voice — not only focusing on fluency, but also on self-acceptance and effective communication.

Book a free consultation!

Schedule a free consultation call by emailing speechwithsarahnyc@gmail.com.

During this call we can discuss you or your child’s specific needs and I can provide more information about the evaluation process.