Speech & Language
Pals
About Us
Here at Speech and Language Pals, we are a family centered service that believes in assisting children of all ages in developing their communication and academic skills through Speech Therapy. We strive to help your child in every possible way and offer the highest quality service with individualized attention.
Director &
Mary Grace Rivera-Ruiz is a co-founder and director of Speech & Language Pals with 20 years of clinical expertise in early intervention and school settings. She is a board certified Speech Pathologist with extensive experience evaluating, programming, implementing, and monitoring therapy programs for children of a variety of speech, language, and learning difficulties.
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Mary Grace is particularly passionate about collaborating with family members to successfully achieve your child's specific communication needs.
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She has worked with a variety of children diagnosed with Autism, Apraxia of Speech, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, cognitive impairments, stuttering, articulation delays, and language impairments.
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She is a certified Orton-Gillingham instructor that provides a tailored and evidence based multi-sensory approach to target literacy skills.
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She is a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and New Jersey Speech and Hearing Association. She is also a NJ licensed Speech Therapist: 41YS00512600
Speech Therapist
Mary Grace believes that all children have the right to read, communicate, and develop into social and confident adults.
Director &
Speech Therapist
John Daco is a co-founder and director of Speech and Language Pals. He is a board certified Speech Therapist with 13 years of clinical expertise with a variety of childhood language impairments and developmental delays in a school setting ranging from pre-school to high school.
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He has a passion for working with children utilizing a play-based approach that is both educational and functional.
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John has Oral-Placement Training that focuses on jaw stability and grading, which can enhance clarity for speech and improve feeding.
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He has worked with children with a variety of diagnoses, such as: Down Syndrome, Autism, Non-Verbal, selective mutism, Auditory Processing Disorder, and language delays.
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He is a NJ licensed Speech-Language Pathologist: 41YS00698800.
John genuinely feels that each child is unique in their own special way and providing treatment should be approached with the same mentality.
