Testimonials
“We have a son with Down Syndrome and at the age of four, after two years of speech therapy, we were handed a book of sign language and told our son would be non-verbal. We were stunned. Luckily, we heard about Leigh McCarthy from a neighbor, who referred to her as a “miracle worker”- we had Leigh evaluate our son and within the first hour of our appointment heard him say his first word “open”. Leigh is kind, smart, patient, determined and thinks outside the box. She is always available to work alongside his teachers as part of his team and is committed to making his future as successful as possible. While I agree with our friends that she is a “miracle worker” our family calls her the “speech whisperer”. She is simply the best!”
— Dell and Sophiann N.
“Leigh McCarthy is so much more than a speech therapist. When our son was younger, his schedule included a variety of therapies of all sorts. But as the years went by, we realized that all he really needed was Leigh. He made more progress from the hour he spent with her each week than the other therapies combined. When Victor started high school, he got his heart set on being part of the school’s swim team. Leigh has worked with him each step of the way on achieving this goal. She’s met with the team to explain Victor’s strength and weaknesses and coach them on what inclusion really looks like. She even brainstormed an ingenious method for teaching him proper breathing techniques to improve his speed. In many ways, Leigh is more like a “life therapist”. She accompanies Victor into real world situations to discover where his communication breaks down, and then problem solves how to fix it. Over the summer she met with his youth group each week and was able to coach them on ways to draw him into the conversation and allow him to contribute. We’re so thankful for all she has done to help him reach his full potential”
— Melissa N.
“Because of Asperger’s, I found it difficult to transition from college to work in my field. Leigh helped me prepare for interviews by learning non-verbal language like handshaking and better understanding social language such as how to talk about myself and how to start and end a conversation. Leigh is a joy to work with. She is professional and friendly and listens to what you have to say. You don’t feel like just a client, you feel like a friend and I’d recommend her for anyone who needs a person who really cares and understands.”
— Michael C. age 22
“We have worked with other therapists for our sons feeding difficulties over the past four years. Leigh’s approach is a night and day difference in comparison to our other experiences. Her first priority was to establish and maintain my son’s trust. My son went from crying and pleading to not go to his feeding therapy appointments with others, to eagerly waiting for Leigh at the front door, and even wanting to face time her when we were away on vacation. Leigh’s style is laid back, reassuring and calming which is very important for a child and parents when there is severe anxiety around food. I am so very happy we found Leigh.”
— Cammela B.
“As parents of a child with autism, we continuously searched for a way to make things better for our son. Leigh McCarthy did just that. It is hard to explain what she is able to achieve in her therapy sessions. It was obvious right from the start that she truly understood our child and was able to communicate with him in a way that no one else had. Because of that she helped him to communicate back and brought him out for the rest of the world too.”
— Sara C
“I’ve come to the end of my IEP days and you were a big help through the tough times. Thank you for helping me with my speech early in life and for being one of my first friends.”
— Jake B- 13yo
“After adopting our daughter from China, we became concerned that she was not developing as expected. We were referred to Leigh McCarthy and immediately knew we had found the right person. Leigh quickly helped our daughter’s language to improve and worked on her difficulty eating new foods. Most importantly, Leigh helped us form a team, and then worked closely with the occupational therapist and play based therapist to address all areas of need. Our daughter has now graduated from therapy and is a happy, healthy second grader. We still stay in touch with Leigh and are grateful for the time we worked with her.”
— Janet W.
“I don’t know how to write the words that would convey my deepest gratitude for the role Leigh McCarthy played in helping my child to be able to speak. His voice is something I wasn’t sure I was ever going to hear, listening to him say “Mom I Love you” is a true gift.”
— Cindy L.
“When Leigh began working with our son, he was three years old and not speaking. We had heard several frightening prognoses, such as, he may never read or write. Leigh was the only one who diagnosed him correctly with severe auditory processing disorder. It was obvious that she spent hours planning each session, and the activities were very individualized for our son’s interests. Through her brilliant care our son not only began to speak in a few months but went on to be valedictorian of his class. Leigh was the godsend who “cracked” the code of Jonathan and gave us and him a lifetime of blessings.”
— Bonnie S
“My daughter was born at 25 weeks and was given a 5% chance to live. it wasn’t a question of when she would learn to talk, it was a question of “if” she would learn to talk; but you would never know that now in part because of the therapy services provided by Leigh. Leigh went above and beyond my expectations and worked not only on Katelyn’s speech disorder, but her feeding, respiration, attention and focus, and one by one all areas improved. Katelyn made incredible progress with Leigh and I will forever be grateful for the time she worked with our family.”
— Ashley H
“Thanks to Leigh McCarthy our son overcame severe food refusal and a diagnosis of failure to thrive. Before Leigh began working with our son we had tried several years of occupational therapy and had worked with another feeding therapist, with little to no progress. Leigh worked wonders with our son. With her approach he moved from not only tolerating a multitude of foods near him but progressed to being able to touch foods and even take small bites. From there it was a fast transition to accepting a variety of foods in quantities we could have previously not imagined. The four years of having a child who was failing to thrive were behind us and we’ve never looked back. Leigh is a very talented, caring and professional therapist who changed our family’s life when we were pessimistic about the odds of overcoming our situation. Her flexible thinking and empathy played a big part in her success. She definitely does not have a one size fits all method of working with children who struggle; she is patient, dedicated and persistent; these qualities were key to helping her determine what would work best for our son. We are forever grateful to her and highly recommend her to anyone struggling with similar issues.”
— Catherine G
“Our son Zach was born with a seizure disorder which affected his ability to speak and communicate. He has made incredible progress working with Leigh, due to not only her knowledge and understanding, but because she goes above and beyond her role as a speech pathologist, and truly wants to make a difference in all areas of his life. Their therapy sessions have evolved into friends having a conversation. Zach looks forward to sharing what’s been going on in his life, while Leigh respectfully gives prompts and guidance to help him improve. She has given him the skills, and in turn the confidence to now have conversations with family and friends, as well as strangers. He no longer avoids speaking with people, and at times can be quite persistent to make sure he is understood! She has been with our family through quite a journey, and I often tell her she is my “second set of eyes”, seeing changes in Zach’s health or behavior before I even mention them. I cannot say enough about how caring, kind, patient and supportive she has been not only to Zach, but our entire family.”
— Nancy A
“We cannot imagine where our son would be without Leigh McCarthy’s influence. At two years of age, he had such a speech disorder that even his family could not understand most of what he tried to say. Needless to say, his frustration was very high, as was our worry. Leigh’s knowledge, wisdom, patience and kindness are unmatched. The therapy that our son received from Leigh changed the course of his life and we are forever grateful.”
— Travis and Tara G.
“I have had a lot of speech therapists and I think Leigh is the best. She has a great connection with kids, and parents can talk with her about what is going on in the family, and Leigh is able to make a therapy session around that. She does more than just speech, when my attention deficit was making it hard for me to get my driver’s license, she found ways to help me, and now I can drive. She is like another member of my family and if I could give her a rating it would be 5/5.”
— Michael P- 18yo