"You are the key to unlock his voice"
“I just showed his PT the video and he was so PROUD of himself watching it with her. I think he gets so sad when you leave bc he realizes you are the key to unlock his voice.”
"I thought you just came to play"
“What? I’m your client? Like, my parents pay you to come here? I thought you just came to play.” (Quote from a client after 5 months of therapy)
"The passion and perseverance of Annie Sullivan"
“At the risk of sounding dramatic – Rachael has the passion and perseverance of Annie Sullivan. She is truly invested in her ‘kids’ and their progress in speech. It has been slow going for our son, and Rachael has consistently being able to challenge him without frustrating him. She had advocated for him and is open to collaborating with other therapists. In addition She has been an empathic listener and support to me as a parent. She shares with equal excitement when our son has breakthroughs.”
"Skilled at feeding and speech"
“We are so grateful to Siena for her work with our two-year-old son. Siena is skilled at both speech and feeding therapy. From the first moment we met, Siena taught us to interpret our son’s body language during feedings (apparently he presented as defensive at times – who knew?!) and gave us valuable advice to engage him without distracting him from the task at hand. Siena helped our son learn to combine words, skillfully engaging him in a variety of fun and interactive activities. She also guided him to develop some new self-help skills, which he carried over to our home. She worked collaboratively with the rest of our team and offered detailed, thoughtful feedback about our son’s progress and goals. Thank you, Siena!”
"Above & beyond in offering support"
“Siena is such a special therapist. She exuded warmth every time she walked through our door and demonstrated incredible knowledge and expertise in delivering speech therapy to my 2 year old son. She was creative and patient in her approach – constantly finding ways to engage him through play and meal time. She went above and beyond in offering support to me, as a parent figuring out how to navigate my son’s speech delays. She is a true gem and any family would be lucky to work with her and benefit from her caring approach and expertise.”
"Worked closely with our other providers"
“Siena worked with my son for over 2 years. I cannot emphasize enough how lucky we are to be working with her! I was immediately impressed with her knowledge and ability to implement feeding and oral-motor therapy. I’ve always trusted and relied upon her incredible therapeutic insights. Not only did she support our son but she supported us as a family. She truly understands him and quickly found a way to engage him in treatment. Siena’s sessions are both fun and targeted to our son’s goals. Siena is always professional, gentle and enthusiastic. She is thoughtful in her explanations of how and why she is doing a certain task, and she teaches us exercises so that we can support the sessions throughout the week. Siena is extremely passionate and dedicated to her work. In addition, she worked closely with our other providers to create a cohesive plan and discuss crossover opportunities. Due to her patience and guidance our son has made dramatic strides which he will continue to benefit from for many years.”
"Dedicated, resourceful, knowledgeable"
“Our daughter has had speech therapy for more than 3 years now. We have worked with 7 different speech therapists for our daughter’s complicated speech issues. We started working with Rachael less than a year ago and I can’t even begin to describe the remarkable progress our daughter has since made.
The school our daughter attends is amazed at how much language she is now using and how much more articulate she has become. Everyone that knows our daughter is astonished at the incredible strides she has made since working with Rachael. My daughter doesn’t even realize she is working when she goes to speech therapy because Rachael makes it really interesting, challenging and fun. Rachael is very dedicated, resourceful and knowledgeable. She gives us thoughtful feedback as well as homework to practice what she’s working on outside of therapy. Rachael is really the best speech therapist and we are extremely grateful and fortunate to have found her. We would be remiss to not recommend this incredibly talented professional.”
"My daughter had an advocate, I had a partner"
“Siena came into our lives and made all the difference. Siena took away the stress of feeding for both myself and my daughter. Step by step, she devised an oral program that would work. She patiently trained me and my nanny. For our daughter, she always brought smiles, music, and fun. Because of Siena, she learned to love food and all its various flavor and textures. Our daughter would light up every time Siena walked into the room, excited for more fun times with Siena.
What my daughter never saw is all the hard work and dedication Siena put into her case. Behind the scenes, Siena worked hard at collaborating with myself and other therapists to provide exceptional and thorough care. She would spend countless hours researching new foods, pertinent studies, interesting toys for my daughter. Always humble enough to know that she wants to learn more, Siena would go to continuing education seminars and come back excited to tell me what she learned as pertinent to how she can better help us. She tirelessly created visuals for her to get started with picture communication. I still don’t know if Siena sleeps at night because I know she provides this level of care to all her kiddos. With Siena, we did not just have a therapist- my daughter had an advocate, I had a partner.”
"Constant resource"
“Rachael has the most positive, can-do attitude that a parent could ask for! When we were trying to find high-calorie foods to add into our son’s diet, she was a constant resource, providing new ideas and ways to add healthy fats to his diet. Rachael knows when and how to push our son and stretch what he’s capable of in terms of his chewing and drinking capabilities. I love her openness and willingness to try new things – whether that’s a new cup, a new spoon, she has an open mindset which has benefited our son tremendously. “
"Confidence"
“Our son was on stage for a school spelling bee yesterday morning and he sounded GREAT!!! I wish I had a video. I know he’s still working on those last sounds, but really – you have made such a difference. Thank you!! It really made me feel like the time and effort spent on speech has been worthwhile. He can get up there with confidence and articulate himself clearly. It’s a big deal!!”
"Knowledge and dedication"
“I am a Mom of a 4 year old boy with a speech delay who is also a picky eater. Before meeting Rachael, my son was in therapy for about 11 months. He not only hated going to therapy, but I also was very frustrated because I didn’t see much progress in his speech.
When he started working with Rachael, not only did he enjoy spending time with her, but in only 6 months he made more progress than we predicted and expected. Thanks to her dedication and passion for her profession and children, she does and outstanding job with them using many techniques, tools and toys to make the time more productive and also enjoyable. She truly cares about her students, both during therapy and also when you need her. After therapy at any time, even when you are on vacation, she supports you by giving homework, following up on progress, and helping to elaborate progress reports for schools, etc). Thanks to Rachael’s help, knowledge, dedication, tactics and interaction with my son, he currently has been admitted to a very competitive, upper east private school in NYC . I would highly recommend Rachael not only because she is patient, dedicated, polite, responsible, sincere, and an all-around well thought-of person but also because she possess the qualities, background and expertise to help you and your child with his/her speech delay and the subsequent emotional effects.”
"Adapts to each child"
“We are so lucky we found Rachael! Her sessions are built around play and her techniques are very effective. She took the time to connect with my daughter and understand her interests so that my daughter is eager for Rachael’s visits, which makes all the difference. Rachael is very creative and adapts/tailors her approach to your child. My daughter expressed a dislike for “winning games” so Rachael offered to play cooperative games instead.
A few months in, my daughter (who adores make believe) became a little resistant to correction and made up a story about a “distracting bird” that distracts her which is why she forgets to pronounce certain sounds correctly. Rachael came back the following week equipped with a magic wand, a little jar, and a plan to capture the “distracting bird”. She really gets my kid! I also really appreciate the detailed progress updates Rachael shares with me verbally after each session.”
"An absolute treasure"
“We feel extremely fortunate to have found Rachael this fall. She is the best speech therapist we have had since starting over four years ago! She is extremely patient, kind and an absolute pleasure. Not only does Rachael give us fun weekly homework assignments, but she also provides videos of the techniques and strategies she uses during her sessions. My daughter is always so excited to see Rachael each week and has made so much progress in the seven months we have been working together. We cannot possibly recommend Rachael more highly!”
"Passionate"
“Finding a therapist for our daughter who is talented in both speech therapy and feeding therapy was a challenge. Thus, when we met Rachael, our quest was beyond fulfilled. Rachael comes to our home every week with a whole toolbox full of ideas (and tools!) along with a kind, nurturing and patient demeanor. Her skill set has helped my daughter tremendously, and her thoughtful, individualized treatment plans allow for me to carry over her magnificent work throughout the week. It is very obvious that Rachael is extremely passionate about her work, which is shown through her thoroughness, dedication and devotion towards our daughter’s therapy. We are so lucky to be working with Rachael!”
"Asked for her on days off"
“She has helped my 2 year old so much and I am so grateful to her. My daughter took to her immediately and is excited whenever she walks through our door – she has even asked for her on days off! We are so lucky to have her on this journey and I highly recommend her!”
"It amazes me to hear him talking so much now"
“It is hard to imagine our son not seeing Rachael anymore. He achieved so much with her and we know we cannot keep her forever when there are other babies who need Rachael. Thank you for all you’ve done with him. He has come so far with you. When I think about his drooling and strange back of the throat sounds when we first started, it amazes and amuses me to hear him talking so much now!”