What is Speech Therapy?
First Leap Offers a Free 30 Minute Consultation
Pediatric speech therapy is the treatment for children with speech and/or language disorders. A speech disorder refers to difficulty with the actual production of sounds used in a child’s speech, whereas a language disorder refers to a difficulty understanding or putting words together to communicate wants, needs, thoughts, and ideas.
Our speech therapists will meet with the child, their parents, family members, and other involved caregivers in order to assess their strengths and areas of concern. After an evaluation has been conducted, the Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) will recommend objectives tailored to your child’s needs. Our goal during speech therapy is to provide our clients with a challenging, interactive, and fun learning experience that promotes their development of language and speech. Some social skills can be addressed during the speech therapy session as well. If you are interested in enrolling your child in a social skills program, please checkout our Saturday Social Skills Programs.
We have extensive experience with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, such as Proloquo2Go or Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS), that can facilitate communication between your child and others. If your child benefits from using a device or system, we may recommend using one during speech therapy or in their daily living.
We are able to treat kids of all abilities! For example, we can treat children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, Social Communication Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, receptive language delay, expressive language delay, Articulation Disorder, speech delay, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Apraxia, Echolalia, Symbolic Dysfunction, or children that need social skills goals, feeding therapy, early intervention. We may also treat any other speech disturbances or speech delay among the recognized pervasive developmental disorders. Lastly, we can also treat children without specific diagnoses/disorders. Please contact us to find out more.
Our Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) & Speech Language Pathologist Assistants (SLP-As) are recognized by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and the Texas State Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.
Where do I start?
The first appointment is an evaluation to assess your child’s current skill level and need for speech therapy. The speech therapist will review your child’s history information with you and discuss your concerns. Based on that information, all necessary testing will be completed. Upon completion of the assessment, the speech therapist will discuss any areas of suspected delay with you, and make recommendations for speech therapy. On-going speech therapy sessions may be scheduled at this time. We strongly encourage all parents/care-givers to share with us personal goals you would like to see your child achieve as well so that these may be included in the evaluation report.
What will individual services look like for my child?
A typical speech therapy session will be 55 minutes long. The SLP or SLP-A will use a variety of treatment methods to improve a child’s ability to effectively communicate wants and needs, understand others, associate and socialize with peers, improve fluency of language, improve articulation skills, and improve memory and retention. Parents and children can always expect a warm, playful, fun, family-oriented environment during the speech therapy session. Treatment may also be provided for those with feeding and swallowing concerns to establish safe eating habits and address any concerns regarding oral aversion to foods and other oral-motor related tasks.
Why should you choose ABA Therapy & Speech Therapy together for your child?
One major focus for any child’s ABA program is speech and language acquisition as well. You can provide your child with a the best practices from both types of therapy by having an SLP or SLPa specifically focus on your child’s speech during a joint speech-ABA session. Ultimately, this can enhance their progress with language! It’s never too early or too late to begin speech-language services!
What kind of Speech and Language Therapy is available at First Leap?
Speech therapy includes intervention programs for the treatment of speech, language, behavior, feeding, cognitive, fluency, and social disorders at all levels of severity. Please refer to the table below for a comprehensive list of services during speech therapy.
| First Leap offers services for the following behaviors | |
|---|---|
| Pre-Language Skills | Fluency & Stuttering |
| Language Delays & Disorders | Vocabulary & Literacy Skills |
| Oral Motor Skills | Articulation |
| Phonological Disorders | Pragmatics |
| Cognition | Feeding & Swallowing |
| Early Intervention | Cognition |
| Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Devices | |
Why Choose Us
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A collaborative and behavioral-based team approached creates the optimal learning environment.
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Programs designed to meet your child’s individuals needs and your family’s needs.
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We aim to be your child’s biggest reinforcer during therapy time. As we say, “We are the M&M!”
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Highly qualified staff receive ongoing training both on therapy skills and your child’s specific program.
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Transparency and strong data collection allow you to feel confident in your child’s program.
- Our two locations in Austin, Texas makes our services readily available to the greater Austin autism community.
What Clients Said
We just completed nearly 11 months of services at First Leap’s north location and we could not be more impressed. They consistently went above and beyond my every expectation. My son has progressed by leaps and bounds! The staff are all absolutely professional at all times and will do everything to assist their clients in every realm of their lives. They are truly committed to the success of their kids. They will even accompany you to an ARD and advocate in the classroom setting if need be! Who does that?! We would not leave if we weren’t moving away.We would give 10 stars if we could! They have made such a tremendous difference in my son’s life!!!
excellent parent support! they came to my son’s pre-IEP meeting and IEP meeting.. and provided feedback and i didnt realize it was such a big deal until i moved cities! Speech therapists here simple said ‘no’ for attending IEPs..
The staff at first leap are motivated and excited about what they do. It is wonderful to have these young high energy therapists working with my son. Patricio, Lexi, and Rachel are great. My son has only been able to receive around 10 hours a week of ABA due to our budget, but has still made a lot of progress in past 6 months. He is making eye contact, pointing to request, matching objects, and able to communicate generally without screaming & throwing tantrums which he was doing before we started, although he is still non verbal. I am so thankful to have found First Leap and looking forward to seeing what more my son will learn under their direction.
Great people. Great therapy. They accept insurance, provide in-home as well as at the center. Offer social skills classes and summer sessions.
Our daughter, who is nonverbal and has severe autism, has received ABA & Speech from First Leap over 2 years now. We LOVE First Leap and have been so happy! They taught her to communicate with PECS which has helped greatly! More than just provide services for our daughter, they really care for her and it shows in their effort! They have also facilitated training for those working with autistic children at our church! We would highly recommend them for ABA, Speech, and childcare training!
This review is LONG overdue. Our daughter has been receiving ABA and speech therapy from First Leap for over a year. The dedicated staff has become like family and our little girl has made tremendous progress. Receiving an autism diagnosis at age 2 is hard for any parent but having a support system like the one at First Leap is so important. So thankful for the help they’ve provided (and continue to provide) in getting our little girl on the right track.
We just started coming here so I can’t say I have a long history but what I can say is that first impression is everything and these wonderful people have nailed it. I’m a mom of a special needs boy and a speech delayed little toddler and have sought out First Leap to help my children.The ladies at the front desk are so friendly and attentive, its nice when you go to a place that you know from the start that they like their job. The facility is well kept, open with a lot of space and fun for children.
I am a active duty military wife and what I have come across is a lot of ABA companies not taking our insurance because there aren’t as many military here, plus the payout to providers is not as great. I have been searching for a professional company who has experienced staff, the availability we need and of course works with our insurance. With that, it has been nearly impossible to find that which to me, seems depressing because it delays my children from progressing and on a deeper note, makes me feel like companies don’t truly care for those who serve their country (or their dependents).
First Leap heard my concerns and they pushed everything they had at my insurance, got in with them with just as much urgency as I was pushing at my insurance as well. Normally it takes at least 6 to 8 weeks to get that underway and they had it done in 3 weeks.
First impression, has gone so well just from that experience. Then we have had a few intake appointments for my children and the two ladies who have taken to my children have been so knowledgable, firm, energetic, fun and have the structure that is needed.I really feel that with all we have been through in the months it has taken to get help, my prayers will be answered, my kids will get the help they need, thanks to First Leap!
This staff is simply amazing. Our son emerged from his own world with the help of the ABA provided in their loving care. I cannot imagine our lives had we not found them.
Laura came highly recommended when we were searching for someone to help us find answers to our concerns about the possibility of my daughter’s 2 1/2 yr old son having Autism.She spent 2 hours of her Sunday with him and let me tell you, he does not do well with strangers at all. Laura was with him and in less than 10 mins, he got up and reached out to her, let her pick him up and show him around the playroom.
I’ve never ever seen him take to a complete stranger like that before. He has a speech therapist that he has been seeing twice a week for 2 months, and they spend the first 20 to 30 mins of each session just trying to get him to calm down. This was not the case at First Leap.
We learned more in those two hours than I’ve learned in the 100 of hours I’ve spent researching on the Internet. We actually have a greater understanding of his world and how to interact with him and for this, I will be forever grateful to Laura. This is the first step in our journey and Laura helped make it a profound first step in the right direction. She truly has a passion for Autism education and for the children she works with.
Laura with First Leap has been working with my son for over four years now, since he was 22 months old. I feel so fortunate that our family found such an amazing, capable, compassionate therapist! My son has made tremendous strides in the past 4 years and in large part due to her expertise and commitment to our entire family. We couldn’t ask for more! I highly recommend First Leap to any family looking for an ABA therapist.
Taught and helped integrated son and family behavior so that life is more productive and “fun.” My son looks forward to working with staff. First Leap is top notch in working with children that need behavioral therapy.
Great Staff. Loved the Personal Help. Cant Say Enough!