Therapy & Evaluations

Child working on language skills during speech therapy for kids in Scotch Plains, NJ

Building skills to help your child thrive at home, in the community, and at school.

Speech Playhouse is a private pediatric practice that provides speech therapy for children ages 0-10 in Scotch Plains, NJ, and surrounding areas.

Our speech therapist meets you wherever is most convenient for you—at your home, your child’s school or daycare, or out in the community.

Language & Play Skills

Late Talkers • Language Delays & Disorders • Literacy

Using a DIRFloortime® model, your child will feel like they are playing as they develop new cognitive skills and use language to interact with others— talking about their day, having conversations, and sharing their authentic thoughts about the world. Through a combination of play and storytelling activities, your child will gain the skills they need to:

  • Use spoken language and/or AAC to express their needs, thoughts, experiences, and feelings

  • Comprehend what they hear and understand stories

  • Engage in play scenarios to build flexibility, problem-solving, resilience, and emotional regulation

  • Practice storytelling to improve syntax, semantics, vocabulary, and sequencing skills

Gestalt Language Processing

Delayed Echolalia • Autism • Neurodiversity-Affirming Supports

We use neurodiversity-affirming practices to support gestalt language processors or children who communicate using echolalia. Following the Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) framework, we will follow your child’s lead and model phrases that are meaningful to them during play. Our sessions will focus on helping them:

  • Use gestalts and spontaneous language in a way that aligns with their unique language development journey

  • Express themselves authentically and confidently

  • Engage in meaningful back-and-forth interactions, building conversational skills in a supportive and joyful environment

  • Develop language during activities they love, without using compliance-based approaches or withholding preferred objects

If your child is non-speaking or minimally speaking, we will also integrate AAC and program gestalts into their communication device.

Speech Therapy

Childhood Apraxia of Speech • Phonological Disorders • Articulation

We weave play into speech trials to make speech therapy fun! Using fast-paced games, pop-it toys, and other engaging activities, we will give your child hundreds of opportunities to practice words that are important and meaningful to them. We also use evidence-based approaches in our speech therapy, like DTTC, PROMPT, and the Cycles Approach. Whether your child has trouble with one specific sound or struggles to put sounds together to form words, our speech therapy sessions will help them:

  • Produce sounds, words, and word combinations correctly

  • Reshape their motor plans to produce tricky syllables and words

  • Gain phonological skills that are essential for speech, reading, and spelling

  • Become a confident and clear communicator

Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC)

Evaluations • Device Procurement & Programming • AAC Therapy

We believe every child can have a voice, regardless of whether they are speaking, minimally speaking, or non-speaking— and that’s where AAC comes in! We take a total communication approach to speech therapy, honoring signs, gestures, spoken words, and AAC as valid forms of language. We will help your child use AAC to:

  • Communicate using words and phrases

  • Express everything in their own unique way, from excitement and preferences to protests and sensory requests

  • Socially connect with others

There are no prerequisites for getting started with AAC! If your child will benefit from an AAC device, we will work with you to secure funding and program the device to reflect their personality, preferences, and needs. Our sessions are always child-led, filled with play, and designed to encourage exploration of their AAC vocabulary without pressure or expectation.