Now accepting new clients!
Our Services
At our practice, we offer several payment options to accommodate your needs. We contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield* and Harvard Pilgrim to help make our services more accessible. Additionally, we sometimes contract with schools to provide support for students as part of the IEP process. For those who prefer, we also have a private pay option.
*Please note: If your BCBS plan is not from MA or a federal plan, it will be subject to the rules of the issuing state.
What We
Offer
Social Communication
At CTA, we celebrate and embrace the diverse ways people communicate and interact with the world. Our approach is grounded in respect for each individual’s unique communication style and strengths. We provide tailored support to foster authentic social interactions, focusing on building confidence, understanding, and meaningful connections. Our services are designed to empower individuals by honoring their neurodivergent identities while promoting effective communication skills in a safe, inclusive environment. Our goal is not to teach neurodivergent people how to conform to the social communication standards of the neurotypical world. Rather, we aim to increase understanding of social norms, particularly why these norms are followed in our society. With this understanding, individuals will learn how to adapt these expectations to their own set of values and morals. Pragmatic language describes the use of language in social situations; however, social communication is a complex process involving verbal and nonverbal communication. Each person’s verbal and nonverbal skills are an integral part of their self-expression. In addition to strengthening the ability to observe and interpret these cues, we strive to support each person in developing a social communication style that reflects their sense of self. Our group and individual services integrate a variety of approaches. -Being With: Fostering connection through co-regulation underlies all of our social interactions. We strive to remain curious about the reason behind one’s behavior, adhering strongly to Robyn Gobbel’s tenet, “No behavior is maladaptive. All behavior makes sense.” -Collaborative and Proactive Solutions by Dr. Ross Greene advocates for establishing a collaborative connection between communication partners, with an aim to identify unmet needs and establish a mutually agreeable plan for addressing those needs. -The Social Thinking curriculum, designed by Michelle Garcia Winner, may be utilized for teaching perspective taking skills for increasing understanding between people of different communication styles. -Use of the Zones of Regulation may target understanding of emotions, how they impact behavior, and building tools for managing feelings, while considering each person’s sensory needs. Assessment: New clients participate in a combination of formal and informal assessment measures, including input from clients and family members. It may be recommended that clients participate in group or individual social communication sessions. If group social communication sessions are recommended, groups are developed based on the age, personality, language, cognitive, and social understanding abilities of participants. Groups meet weekly for one hour sessions throughout the year. Enrollment is on a running basis, ranging from a few months to several years. The complexity of the social world is ever increasing throughout life, accounting for ongoing participation in this work. If individual social communications are recommended, students will work weekly for 45 minutes with an SLP on goals developed for that person’s communication strengths and weaknesses. Enrollment will continue until all goals have been met.
Literacy & Summer Literacy
The term dyslexia refers to a specific learning disability that affects reading and spelling. Since spoken and written language are closely related, individuals with dyslexia often have some difficulties with spoken language as well. Conversely, young children with speech and language difficulties often later have difficulty developing literacy skills. Children, and adults, who have difficulty with reading often have poor phonological awareness. That means that they have difficulty hearing the subtle differences between certain speech sounds, especially the short vowel sounds. They may also have difficulty blending the sounds to decode (read) unfamiliar words and separating the sounds to encode (spell) words. Sound-symbol associations may also be weak. We work with the Lindamood-Bell LiPS program and Wilson Language Program methods to help clients improve their skills in these areas, which are the foundation skills needed for literacy. As students progress in their reading skills, and more words become familiar, oral reading fluency becomes increasingly important. We work with parents to develop individualized home programs to improve reading fluency. Some students are very skilled at decoding but have difficulty comprehending what they read. We use the Lindamood-Bell Visualizing-Verbalizing program to help these students develop richer mental imagery as they read, which in turn facilitates improved comprehension. We also work with students who are good readers but struggle with writing. Our approach focuses on the writing process, and helping the student learn a how to break down what seems to be a daunting task into a series of smaller, more manageable steps. We often incorporate training in the use of computer software that facilitates writing into therapy sessions.
Articulation
School aged children sometimes have persistent problems with some of the later developing sounds, such as /r/ or /s/. We use an approach that begins with exercises to improve tongue muscle tone and movement patterns, before focusing on repetitive speech drills to work on the target sound. We also work with children who have more severe and complex speech disorders. Dysarthria is caused by weakness in the muscles used to produce speech sounds, and is often associated with other motor and neurological problems. Childhood Apraxia of Speech is a problem of motor planning, where the messages from the brain to the muscles get “scrambled” and the child has difficulty saying sounds in the correct sequence. Research has shown that many children with speech difficulties go on to have problems with reading and spelling, and early identification and treatment of speech problems can significantly reduce those later learning challenges.
Parent Coaching
Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: A Course for Parents is based on the science of being relationally, socially, and behaviorally human. This course will help your child’s behavior make sense- even the ones that don’t. You’ll become equipped with interventions, tools, and techniques that actually work! And in this no-shame, no-blame approach to parenting, you’ll finally understand why knowing is only half the battle. The course is strategically designed so you don’t just learn a bunch of parenting tools and techniques. By the end, you’ll actually be able to implement the powerful techniques you’ll learn.
Gender-Affirming Voice
For people of all gender identities, the intention of gender-affirming voice therapy is to better align your truest self with your voice. While supports for gender-affirming voice can include a focus on pitch and tone, your voice is so much more than that: Many elements of voice contribute to a more feminine, masculine, or androgynous voice perception. Interventions and supports will help you view voice change as something both individualized and attainable. We will work together to create attainable personalized goals that support your self-expression and authenticity. An assessment will include: a detailed interview and history, qualitative and quantitative measures of voice, and exercises you can take home and practice that day. Please bring any questions you have about voice to your initial assessment and we can incorporate them into your personalized goals. We will then begin collaborating on your plan and goals for therapy that day! Intervention and supports will include an accessible explanation of the physics and anatomy of voice production before delving into the specifics of your own voice change; this quick anatomy lesson will better prepare you to talk about what you both like and dislike about your current voice. After this, each individual’s sessions will vary based upon their individualized treatment plans. Mindfulness and exploration of polyvagal theory will be part of the therapy process, as this work, deeply tied to identity and self-perception, can impact voice production. We will work together to determine how deep you would like to go into these aspects of gendered voice, and can work in collaboration with your mental health therapist when appropriate. Our mission is to support each individual in developing a voice that is a true reflection of their self, allowing everyone to speak with pride and authenticity.
Receptive/Expressive Language
After a comprehensive assessment of a child’s language development that pinpoints both strengths and weaknesses, we work with children and their parents to improve language skills. Problems treated range from mild language delays to the more complex language challenges autistic individuals may face. The term receptive language refers to a child’s ability to understand what he or she hears or reads. Expressive language refers to a child’s ability to formulate thoughts, retrieve needed words from memory and organize those words into sentences for speech or writing. Another way to look at language is to divide it into content(vocabulary), form (grammar or syntax) and use. Content and form can be thought of as the basic foundation level language skills, whereas language use involves higher level skills where one “puts it all together” during social conversations and when telling or writing a story. These higher level language skills are also referred to as pragmatic language.
Assessments & IEEs
Our assessments and independent educational evaluations (IEEs) are designed to deliver a thorough and complex examination of various aspects of a child's development, including receptive and expressive language skills, literacy, social communication, and articulation. We pride ourselves on conducting an in-depth assessment process that is tailored to each individual, ensuring that we provide personalized insights and recommendations. Quotes are customized to the testing necessary for each person. As such, we do not accept state rates for IEEs. We aim to achieve the highest standard of evaluation for every client.