Tala J. Hershey, M.S. CCC-SLP
Tala worked with my twins for nearly a year through the Early Intervention Toddler Development Group at the Alcott School, starting when they were almost 2 Y/O. She was not the first speech therapist we had worked with, but she was by far the best and most impactful. Through her calm, engaging and nurturing demeanor, Tala was able to immediately build a rapport with both my son and daughter, which was key. Not only were my twins taken by her, but so was my whole family. She was extremely communicative with us by providing daily progress updates, as well as guidance on how to practice the speech techniques she was using in the classroom at home. When our twins first met Tala, my son was non-verbal and my daughter had a very limited vocabulary. However, I can now proudly say that I am the parent of two toddler chatterboxes! They are both able to clearly and purposefully articulate their wants and needs, which was the biggest goal we set out to achieve with Tala. We are forever grateful to her and all of her dedicated efforts.
Lauren C.
Tala is hands down the best speech therapist we have worked with for children. My daughter ran in to every session with Tala with a smile on her face and didn’t want to leave. The progress Tala and my daughter made session-to-session was remarkable, and Tala made the “work” fun with every sort of game and contest one can imagine. I cannot say enough good things about Tala or the impact she has on my daughter’s confidence and ability.
Katie B.
My husband & I (first time parents) were having difficulty finding the right help for our 3 year old son who was diagnosed with a speech delay. We were thrilled when we finally found Tala. Upon meeting we had no doubt she was thoroughly knowledgeable about her field. She very receptive to our concerns and questions and most notably she has the right temperament. Our son adores her and still talks about her. We knew instantly that our child was in good hands but we could not have anticipated his growth & progress - he just took off and never looked back. We feel Tala is largely responsible for setting our child on this path and we are very grateful for all her help. His new teacher has only great things to say about how well he communicates.
Michael and Gema O.
My daughter was 18 months old when she started with Tala and usually has a hard time transitioning with new people. Tala's energetic, happy disposition had my daughter warming up to her immediately. Tala is amazing at engaging my daughter in "hidden therapy" through play and music. She is very knowledgeable about the various issues concerning speech and is one of the few therapists around that is able to provide PROMPT therapy for my daughter who struggles with the motor planning of speech. My daughter has slowly but surely made progress with Tala's help and Tala has remained patient and invested in her throughout this past year and a half. Tala has always been available to provide feedback on my daughter's progress and regularly gives suggestions on how we can incorporate therapies at home. I would definitely recommend Tala to any parent who has concerns about their child's speech.
Parent
Tala was an amazing speech therapist for our son. He had articulation issues and she worked with him to help him learn how to properly articulate his words. She is so patient, kind, creative & made speech fun! Joe always looked forward to seeing Tala each week! He would run into her office, excited for whatever lesson she had planned for him. She gave us great feedback and allowed us to be an active part in helping him with his speech. I would highly recommend Tala to anyone whose child needs speech therapy. She is professional, accountable & very dedicated to her work. We are so grateful that we found Tala and that she was able to make such a lasting impression on our son & our family!
Jackie L.
I stumbled across Tala's information one day on Facebook. I had been grappling with our son's speech delay for some time and wasn't sure what to do. At the time, he had just turned 2 and was barely saying more than a handful of words. It made communicating with him extremely difficult, and he would get frustrated that people couldn't understand what he wanted. I was desperate to help him verbalize more, and thankfully, that is where Tala came in. In just a few months, even after the first few sessions, my son's speech grew exponentially. It really is like night and day. He is able to communicate not just with us, but our family, and seems so much happier. Even my parents noticed he's engaging more and has a bigger smile on his face when playing with his cousins. Tala's patience and demeanor with Ollie keeps him engaged (which is extremely hard to do with a 2 year old over Zoom) and he is always asks to "Talk Tala" whenever he sees my computer around. She has also given us so many pointers of how to help him develop his words and sentences in between sessions. Ollie LOVES his time with her, and we could not be more thankful for all she has done for our family. i could not recommend her more to anyone looking to boost their child's verbal skills and then some!
Jenn B.
My husband and I have been thrilled with the tools and skills we learned during our time working with Tala. We both now have a framework for how to best communicate with our daughter to foster more speaking and she's really improved in such a short time. Tala is patient and enthusiastic and has been a pleasure to work with from day one. We're so grateful for our time with her.
Elyssa H.
I cannot say enough good things about Tala's speech therapy. She is knowledgeable, talented, innovative, persistent, engaging, and creative. Our son went from being a nearly non-verbal two year old to happily telling stories in one year. Now that people understand him when he talks, his confidence has improved so much that we kept speech therapy going even after he hit his developmental benchmarks. Being able to communicate has quite literally changed his life and we owe it all to Tala. She has a gift for identifying kids' needs and interests and utilizing them in sessions. Every week Tala adapted to whatever would engage my kids and kept them glued to the zoom screen, learning and practicing. My son loved "Tuesdays with Tala" so much that my daughter was always jealous and insisted on joining. Of course, Tala didn't miss a beat and worked with both of my young toddlers simultaneously. She kept them so engaged that I didn't have to participate or redirect them except on rare occasion. Even on their worst days, Tala had unfailing patience and found ways to keep them working. In between sessions, Tala gave us tips and exercises to work on throughout the week so that our son's speech would continue to grow. He would happily practice his "big boy sounds" in anticipation of his sessions with Tala. In fact, what my kids learned in speech therapy goes far beyond language skills and word pronunciation-- Tala taught my kids about delayed gratification, working hard towards a long-term goal, persistence, sharing, taking turns, and (obviously) communicating their wants and needs. Sessions with Tala are absolutely invaluable.
Parent
Annie is absolutely fantastic. I can't even begin to express how much of a difference I see with my 3 year old daughter since she's been working with Annie. Annie has such a fun/playful way she works on articulation and speech that every session feels like a fun playdate. My daughter looks forward to Annie coming every week and absolutely loves the sessions. She is fantastic!