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Bilingual Speech Therapy in Brooklyn

Being bilingual is a gift, but many professionals don’t understand how to best support bilingual children with their speech and language development. 

As a bilingual speech language pathologist, I have read the research and know how the bilingual brain works. Let’s talk about some common myths related to bilingual speech development. 

Bilingual children speak later

False. 

  • Bilingual children learn to speak at the same time as their monolingual peers. Because they are developing vocabulary across 2 languages, a vocabulary count in one language may be lower than monolingual peers.
Being bilingual confuses kids

False. 

  • A child’s brain is designed to learn new information and bridge new connections, so teaching another language early on will not cause confusion.
  • Research shows that babies can start hearing differences in intonation patterns and sounds in their home languages while in the womb, so take advantage of this time to teach a new language.
Teaching two languages causes learning disabilities

False.

  • Bilingualism has many learning advantages for children. 
  • Children who learn two languages can achieve better category recognition early on because they have been practicing separating multiple vocabularies.
  • Bilingualism also helps boost socio-emotional learning because children need to learn to identify speakers of target languages for code switching. 
My child can't be bilingual because I don't speak the language

False.

  • Everyone is able to learn another language.
  • If parents do not speak the target language at home, it is necessary to get creative. Dual language programs, activities in the target language, books, and music are great supports for your child’s language development in a new language.
learn more about bilingualism

I have specialized therapy training in:

Apraxia

PROMPT, DTTC

nationally recognized programs to assist with apraxia of speech and motor planning deficits

Reading

Visualizing + Verbalizing, Read Write, Inc.

step-by-step protocol for organizing letters, sounds and ideas for reading, writing and speaking

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Writing

Writing Revolution

evidence based structured approach for teaching sentence writing and paragraph creation

We went through many speech therapists and I can say with great confidence, Jocelyn is absolutely the best one we ever had. He absolutely thrived working with her. To me it seems she can fix all our problems.

– Nicole, mom of W. age 11

When Jocelyn started working with our family, we had an 18 month old that seemed to understand it all, but was barely speaking. Within months, our little guy was expressing himself freely- singing songs and telling stories with a vocabulary that exceeded his age level.

– Lee, Mom of M. age 5

When our 4 year old son started working with Jocelyn, he was predominantly talking out of one side of his mouth in addition to other speech pronunciation challenges. 3 months after working with her, he was consistently using both sides of his mouth and smile.

– Leslie, Mom of W., age 4

Frequently Asked Questions

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When should I contact a speech therapist?

You can contact us for a free 15 minute phone consultation at any time.  I know it is stressful to worry about your child, so together we can figure out what next steps are.

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Where do you offer sessions?

Typically, all sessions are home-based. A speech therapist from our team will come to your home to provide all services.  When indicated, teletherapy services can also be offered. 

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Do you accept insurance?

We do not accept insurance for speech and language therapy. However, I will provide you with a superbill, and any necessary documentation at the end of each month that can be submitted to your insurance company for out-of-network reimbursement. 

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How long are sessions? How often?

At our initial consultation, we will discuss your child’s individual treatment plan.   Usually, sessions for young children are 30 minutes 1-2x per week, while sessions for  older children are 45 minutes 1-2x per week. All  myofunctional therapy visits are 30 Minutes.