The Speech Tree Helps Kids with Speech and Feeding Disorders

is a Manalapan private practice that assesses and treats various language, speech, and feeding disorders. Speech Language Pathologist Harla Rudolph, MS, CCC-SLP founded The Speech Tree fifteen years ago in Morganville and just moved the practice to a Manalapan last July. 

The Speech Tree services all age groups from infants to adulthood. Every child and their individual needs varies, so The Speech Tree develops an individualized schedule for each client and even makes home visits on request.

Each therapist is assigned a client based on their schedule and their area of expertise, Rudolph said. Besides Rudolph, there are four other certified speech therapists at The Speech Tree: Nicole Gasparo, Michelle Cieslak, Jenna Tesoriero, and Tracy Vegvari.

Some children come in and out of The Speech Tree in several months, while others stay in therapy for years based on how bad their issue is and the amount of treatment they need.

Parents are encouraged to participate in the child’s treatment and are invited to sit in on the sessions.  “The reason we do this is so that we can teach the parent what we’re doing,” Rudolph explained. “Our goal is that they’ll carry over the skills at home. A lot of the parents need to see hands-on, so we show them the techniques and strategies.” The children who work on the therapy with their parents at home progress faster and get out of therapy quicker, according to Rudolph.

One of the main specialties of The Speech Tree is feeding therapy; they are a major provider in helping children suffering from feeding disorders and delays, something which most therapists do not have the expertise to address.

“It goes beyond the picky eater - I mean everyone has a kid that’s a picky eater, but it’s those resistant eaters that really only eat five foods in their repertoire,” Rudolph said. “So, we work with those kids to help them learn how to manage the foods, a lot of the kids have anxiety around foods, to help them expand their ability to interact and have a relationship with foods.”

Some children, Rudolph said, have oral motor weakness and cannot chew food, so their therapists work with these children on chewing and teaching them how to manage harder foods.

The private practice receives referrals from, and makes referrals to, pediatricians, developmental pediatricians, gastroenterologists, otolaryngologists, neurologists, and occupational therapists as needed.

“A lot of kids that we see here also receive services in the school, so we work with the child’s school therapist because it is important that we work as a team,” Rudolph said. “We have to stay connected to make sure we’re all on the same page. It’s really a team approach in that we work with doctors and teachers and whoever is involved with the child.”

The Speech Tree works with a lot of the local schools to do screenings, including Yellow Duck Preparatory and the local Goddard Schools, according to Rudolph.

If a parent has a concern about their child and wants a screening, The Speech Tree will do that for free. If the therapists see an issue they will recommend an evaluation, which is much more involved. The evaluation takes at least an hour and the therapists are examining the child’s skills and compose a report, which can be sent to the child’s pediatrician or school upon request. Most insurance plans will cover the evaluation.

Recently, The Speech Tree has launched their first ever Social Skills Group which is designed for school age children who have difficulty functionally using communication with their peers, Rudolph said. The group meets weekly to deal with basic pragmatic language issues that the children struggle with, so that they can learn to communicate with their peers.

The idea of creating a social skills group stemmed from parental and therapist observation. As a therapist, Rudolph said she has observed social issues among her clients for a while, but there is only so much a therapist can do within a one-on-one relationship with a child.

“Parents would always say to us, ‘They do this with you in the therapy room, but they don’t do it with their friends.’ So, what we did is we initiated a peer socialization skills group to help carry over those skills, so not only would they do it in the therapy room, but those skills that we had taught them they would actually use functionally with their peers.”

According to Rudolph, the children within the Social Skills Group are improving and learning to forge relationships, which in turn is helping the families as a whole.

For more information please visit The Speech Tree Web site at www.speechtreecenter.com or call 732-407-3458. Or, if you have a specific question for Harla Rudolph, e-mail her at harla@speechtreecenter.com.