Speech Therapy

Communication is the foundation of everything else — asking for what you need, making a friend, telling someone you’re hurt or scared or happy. At Brighter Journeys, our speech-language services help children find their voice, whatever form that voice takes. And because our speech therapists work alongside our behavior analysts under one roof, your child’s communication goals don’t stop when the session ends.

Speech Therapy at Brighter Journeys

Our speech-language pathologist is licensed by the State of Florida and certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), and is supported by a speech-language pathology assistant working under her supervision. Every child begins with a comprehensive evaluation, and every treatment plan is built specifically for that child — their strengths, their challenges, and what matters most to your family right now.

Speech services are available at both our Dr. Phillips and Clermont locations, and can be scheduled alongside your child’s existing ABA sessions.

What We Address

Expressive language — using words, sentences, and gestures to communicate
Receptive language — understanding and following what others say
Articulation and speech sound production — being understood by family, teachers, and peers
Social and pragmatic language — conversation, turn-taking, reading social cues
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) — picture systems, speech-generating devices, and sign, for children who need another path to communication
Fluency and voice

Where Speech and ABA Work Together

Most families end up coordinating care across separate offices – a speech clinic on one side of town, ABA on the other, each with its own goals, its own paperwork, and no real conversation between them. Progress in one room rarely follows the child into the other.

That’s not how we do it.

One team, one plan. Your child’s speech-language pathologist and Board Certified Behavior Analyst build goals together and meet regularly to review progress. Assessment findings are shared, not siloed — the language data from your child’s ABA assessment informs the speech evaluation, and the reverse is just as true.

Practice all day, not once a week. A goal introduced in a speech session doesn’t sit idle until the next one. Our SLP trains the Registered Behavior Technicians who work with your child daily, so the same targets are prompted and reinforced throughout the therapy day, in the classroom, and during play — dozens of natural opportunities instead of a handful.

Communication as the answer to difficult behavior. Many challenging behaviors are communication in disguise — a child who can’t tell you what’s wrong will find another way to say it. This is where the two disciplines overlap most: our behavior analysts identify what a behavior is accomplishing for your child, and our speech therapist helps build a functional, effective way to communicate that same need. Behaviors decrease because the child finally has a better option, not because they were suppressed.

AAC that actually gets used. When a child needs a device or picture system, both teams support it — programming, modeling, and daily use across every setting, so the system becomes a real voice rather than something that stays in a backpack.

Carryover to home. Parent training is built into both services, so the strategies working here work at the dinner table too.

Getting Started

Speech therapy requires a referral from your child’s physician. Once you have one, the next step is an evaluation — we’ll walk you through the results, recommend a treatment schedule, and answer every question you have before anything begins.

We currently accept Medicaid and Aetna for speech services. If you have a different plan, call us and we’ll let you know where things stand — we’re actively working to add coverage.

Call our office at 407-730-5969 or complete our intake form to get started.

Why Choose Us

We are committed to providing quality Applied Behavior Analysis services to children and families throughout Central Florida. Our goal is to support you through every step of your journey from diagnosis to treatment.