I was told they had availability for speech and went through the whole process for over a month,…read morecalling them, texting them, emailing them, calling my insurance because they referred me, calling to find out if we got accepted after the consultation all to be told they were full. That was the first question I asked and have very limited locations I can go to. They wasted over a month of my time and never got back with me throughout the process. I contacted them every time. I asked to be transferred to billing, to a manager, to anyone other than Juan and was not allowed to. This is my first review I have ever made online. That's how bad this experience was. So frustrating!!

Eva was inflexible and held firm that there was a 10minute late policy. I called at 11:08am,…read morestating I was running late but will be there in a few minutes. I had pulled into the parking lot at 11:11am while still on the phone with her. She stated that since we were over 10minutes late, the late policy applies. I explained that I signed documents that stated a 15minute grace policy. She stated maybe I had signed the documents before they updated  the policy & I explained that I am a new client, who just signed the documents, I don't remember the 10 minute policy but remember signing a 15 minute policy. She rudely stated the 10 minute policy is "posted all over the office" and at the bottom of the confirmation emails & they will NOT be seeing my son today. As I new client, I have not seen/noticed these notices posted "all over the office". I texted a screenshot while in the parking lot of the 15 minute policy I signed. I then called again. And explained I was late due to a toddler blowout; not wanting to drive my son in a poopy diaper/pants and bring him on time in such a state, I spent extra time cleaning him up. No understanding or care from Eva, stating that she will bring the concern to management. I could have shown up on time, and spent that time cleaning him up in the changing room. I do not understand how there is no grace or accommodation considering they are the ones with conflicting policies. According to the policy I signed 13 days prior, I was within the grace period. If they had me sign "outdated" forms, it should at least be accommodated. Also, my son is a toddler. The therapist Jackie made it clear the therapy time will usually be only about 30minutes instead of 45 minutes due to a toddler's attention span. I would have walked in with my son at 11:13 the latest (we had parked by 11:12am as I explained to Eva), had a full 30 minute session & still have left before 11:45am, giving the therapist the allotted 15 minute clean up time. They take their lunch at 12:00pm (as posted on the front door-NOT posted though? This 10 late minute policy) so there were no other appointments after me, they could have accommodated my son and I for our appointment no problem without interfering with their lunch or other clients. I am floored they wouldn't have let us come in for our appointment when I followed the policy I signed with them. Due to her unapologetic attitude, rudeness and inflexibility with an inaccurate policy, I let Eva I will most likely be cancelling future appointments and will be looking for another provider. No concern or apology.

Kaiser Permanente referred my child here. I was provided an appointment and canceled on time. This…read moreoffice is clearly money hungry. They are sending me to collections for $65. Why couldn't they bill the kaiser insurance if they wanted to get paid so bad. My son was seen at kaiser panorama city instead and this place is still trying to collect money. I called the place right now too, it's Friday and it's closed. What kind of community facility closes on Fridays. I'm going to consult with an attorney. Horrible experience at this place! This is clearly fraud. Update: I filed a complaint with Kaiser for referring me to a place that commits fraud and they reimbursed me for the $60 this place ended up charging me for a legitimate cancelation excuse. Kaiser apologized and told me they will make sure not to contract with this place anymore! If you were referred to this place by your medical doctor, file a grievance or complaint with them and they might be able to pay the fees, reimburse you or stop contracting with small talk therapy so they can stop charging people illegally. Life happens people need to cancel and the least that can be done, is to give people an opportunity to reschedule once without charging them any fees! I'm happy Kaiser listens and they will follow up and file appropriate complaints with the state licensing board.

Taking my child to Small Talk Therapy is Santa Clarita has been a wonderful experience. Summer, the…read moreowner does the intake evaluation and creates your child's goals. Cassandra at the front desk always greets us with the warmest smile and is extremely helpful with answering any questions or concerns we have. Malissa, the speech therapist is friendly, warm, caring, and patient. I couldn't ask for a better a better group of people to help my child. Keep up the great work!!

Sheryl Heidt is the best speech pathologist I have had worked with. She does an amazing job with…read morechildren and adults. I worked in the public school system for 23 years and observed numerous speech pathologists in a school setting. Often times, students were put in small groups with an aide to do the therapy. At Effective Speech Therapy, Sheryl works one on one with her client. Our granddaughter had severe apraxia of speech which is a motor planning deficit. She was 85% unintelligible throughout kindergarten. She desperately wanted to play with other children, but was unable to even speak her name and had to have it written on a paper to introduce herself. Sheryl worked tirelessly with our granddaughter. We had scheduled appointments and she notified us immediately if there was a cancellation so that we could get additional treatments. Therapy started and finished on time; no time was wasted in a waiting room. Sheryl is a phenomenal diagnostician and treatment was adjusted throughout our granddaughter's therapy sessions to help her meet her full potential. Sheryl worked on motor skills with her regarding mouth and tongue formation, air movement in the mouth and nose, and the pitch and volume she used when speaking. Sheryl also worked on social cues and the ability to read body language and interact with other children and adults. Sheryl has a wealth of knowledge and a variety of interventions to use. I was able to talk with her about the previous week's challenges and she was able to weave that information into the therapy session. As a result, our granddaughter has finished fourth grade and is one of the top readers in her class. She had read the series of books titled "A Series of Unfortunate Events;" books rich in vocabulary. She even earned the first place reading ribbon in her class. Our granddaughter is social and loves to talk and interact with other children. Without Sheryl's intervention our granddaughter would have been lost in a public school setting. Sheryl has also worked with my husband who has an atypical parkinsonism; a diagnosis that leads to speech, language, and cognitive difficulties. My husband's physician at UCLA has been extremely pleased with the progress he has made with Sheryl. She has helped him to be able to access his prior language skills using theories of neuroplasticity and the creation of new neural pathways. She has helped us, as a family, to find ways to communicate with my husband to reduce the stress on him. She has given him tools to help deal with public situations. Sheryl is not the type of speech pathologist who will open a book to page 33 and next week, you will go to page 34. She is constantly listening and interacting with you, reassessing and encouraging you. With her help, my husband's quality of life has been greatly improved. There are not enough words to describe what a phenomenal speech pathologist Sheryl Heidt is and the lasting impact she has had on our family. We would highly recommend her for all your speech and language problems.

From the owner: Effective Speech Therapy is a private practice specializing in young children who have significant…read morecommunication and/or behavior problems. I treat children who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and/or other developmental delays. Therapy is intensive, behavioral, and effective. My clients are highly motivated families who believe that their children are capable of big changes. I support and encourage high expectations for your child. With treatment, your child learns to be an attentive, enthusiastic learner who self corrects and "figures things out." In addition to treating articulation, language, learning, and fluency (stuttering) disorders, I also address auditory/visual processing, social problem solving, and attention deficits. As necessary, I replace or extinguish problem behaviors (non compliance, tantrums, physical aggression, whining, etc.). Additionally, I provide effective solutions to normal developmental challenges such as feeding, bedtime, separation, and toilet training. **Office hours are by appointment only.** Due to the scope of behaviors I address, and the current shortage of speech pathologists, my schedule is generally full. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. **Please call to find the status of the schedule and our current location**

Susan Kasdorf is an extremely knowledgeable SLP. Her evaluations were thorough and her approach was…read morevery effective. We saw real progress thanks to her expertise.

After two years of beating our heads against the wall with multiple speech therapists, we finally…read moreare seeing progress with our son, thanks to Susan. Susan diagnosed him with straight speech Apraxia roughly four+ months ago and has tailored the therapy sessions to fit his specific needs. While he still has a long way to go, we are very encouraged. He is beginning to speak in short sentences and his confidence is building weekly. As you've read from other reviews, Susan is a direct person and can be blunt. However, she's clearly invested in her clients and garners better results than most, which is what really matters.

My daughter Sydney just completed her speech therapy at Family First, and we had an AMAZING…read moreexperience. Brittney, Cheryl, Marcy and the rest of the team were so helpful from the start. Marcy (who works in the front desk) is very knowledgeable about the regional center and has contacts to help expedite the process. We've worked with Brittney for about a year and a half, and she has been instrumental in helping my daughter gain the confidence and skills to work on her expression. The therapy is play based and she makes it fun! We consider her more than our therapist, but a friend. Cheryl is amazing as well. She is sweet and is great at getting shy kids to open up. If you're looking for a speech therapy center in the Pasadena/La Canada area look no further!!

They are amazing!!! I was refered here for my 2 year old girl, after few sessions i saw progress…read moreand after almost a year my girl is talking more. I highly recommend. Excelent therapists we worked with Britney and Jenny im so thankfull for them, is a plus they also offer therapy in spanish, for my girl that's her first language; 2 times a week one session was in spanish the other in english, i am very happy with the results and their professionalism. If you have any questions regardind their services don't hesitate to call them Marci the recepcionist will give you all the necessary information and make you feel that you are in the best place to help your little ones grow.

I have been taking my 3 year old son to speech therapy at the Valencia location for almost a year…read morenow. My husband and I are extremely happy with his progress. He has an excellant speech therapist whom he loves to work with every week. They also have great socialization and early intervention classes with wonderful teachers who are patient but firm with the kids. They have a pleasant staff and great therapists. I would recommend the Valencia office to everyone.

Please don't go there!! You will not like there... some of Staffs are not friendly... and some of…read moretherapists are not doing good job... and they changed everyone's schedules which can impact ... Not Worth it.. Please don't go over there.. they are bad place

Karina entered our lives at one of the most vulnerable times as parents. Our son was 2 years old…read moreand talked a few words. As soon as he started services with her, we noticed the rapid change in his speech. She gave us so many helpful tips with how to help him annunciate phonic sounds, words, and just overall how to meet him at his speech level. They worked very well together and he always looked forward to his sessions with her. It's so nice to be able to have our children learn through play. That's exactly what Karina did - meet him where he was at and initiated play. We did try the in-office speech prior to meeting Karina and that did not go so well. Luckily, we were able to get services with her. She cares so much about every child she works with. She is also a great advocate and gave us and his teachers tools to utilize while in the classroom. Our son has come a VERY long way from when he first started with her. He is now able to engage in conversations, finish his sections (3-4 sentences) and has slowed down A LOT. Thank you, Karina for ALL of the work you've helped us with. We are so grateful for you!

Karina is incredible! We started with Karina when our son was 2 and he was only saying a few words…read moreat the time. He just turned 3 and he says over 50 words now! Karina does an amazing job at teaching helpful strategies and shows you how to implement them into everyday play. If you are looking for a great speech therapist we definitely recommend Karina!

This company is one of the best companies that have ever worked with my autistic grandson. They…read morehave been an asset to his life. The quality of care, the exceptional compassion knowledge is beyond belief.... This is the best ABA services that my grandson has ever had. I recommend this company to anyone looking for this service...

we were with the Nurture and Nature for over 10 yrs. the best! Cecilia is amazing as well as the…read morewhole team. 10 STARS

My son just graduated out of speech and we are over the moon…read more As I'm writing this, I'm reflecting on the mind blowing progress my son has made in just 3 years with the incredible help of Mrs. Teresa. When we first started here, my son was speech delayed and no one understood the few words he did say. Mrs. Teresa was able to target his problem areas and gave my son the tools he needed to communicate clearly and effectively. Mrs. Teresa is kind, gentle, patient, stern when needed, and truly invested in my son's growth and progress. They worked hard together during sessions, and she always rewarded my son with play time at the end which he appreciated. She always pushed and challenged him -- every session the improvement was undeniable. My son is a better speaker, a more confident communicator, and is able to focus and apply himself so much more now. I have a daughter at a different clinic who has now seen several different therapists, and I truly don't think with them all combined they could do what Mrs. Teresa does. She is an expert in the field and my son and I were truly blessed to work with her! Shout out to Miss Rosa who runs a tight ship! She truly keeps everything running smoothly, handles everything from scheduling to billing to whatever else falls on her lap, and she always does it with a welcoming and warm smile. She's the first and last face we see -- the face of the company. It's bitter sweet to say goodbye. Thank you sooooo much to Mrs. Teresa & Miss Rosa for being a part of our lives for the past 3 years.

My son has been going to Ms. Celina for over 2 years and she has been thoughtful, organized, kind,…read moreand the best! My son has progressed so much in a span of a couple years and we're thankful for Ms. Celina. He just finished and we're onto the next chapter of my child's journey and Ms. Celina will be a teacher that Calvin will always remember.