Weeks before our son's final early-intervention meeting with Regional Center, our speech therapist…read moretold us during a session that "if children aren't making progress at this stage, they may never improve and it may be other things." After discussing it further, she stated, "I'm just gonna say it--autism!" This came as a shock given our son's documented progress and increasing vocabulary. During that same session, the therapist began pushing to reduce our son's therapy frequency due to alleged lack of progress, even though her own reports showed he had made significantly more gains during that period than the previous one, when services remained unchanged. Naturally, we were confused. No evidence or clinical reasoning was provided to explain how reducing therapy would be in his best interest. So we asked how fewer sessions could support his progress better without ever having received fewer services. And we were dismissively told, "It doesn't matter." After this interaction, the tone of care changed. Sessions felt increasingly pressured and focused on whether our son was "improving enough," rather than meeting him where he was developmentally. Thankfully, our Regional Center coordinator allowed therapy frequency to remain in place pending an ABA evaluation. Despite this, the therapist continued advocating for a reduction in services. We were then told that if we did not agree to reduce services, our son would be discharged. The therapist then abruptly left the session 20 minutes early and dropped our son 10 minutes before his next scheduled session while we were considering our options. After providing services for a year, he was discharged without a proper transition plan, and without sharing reports with his next provider, resulting in a lapse in services and disruption to his care. When the Regional Center months later requested mediation with an administrative law judge, the therapist submitted a report stating the justification for reducing services was that our son was "meeting and exceeding goals" -- the opposite of what we had previously been told when services were being reduced due to alleged lack of progress. For a family navigating complex medical and developmental needs, this lack of transparency, professionalism, and collaboration was deeply disappointing. As parents, we rely on the professionals working with our son and expected guidance grounded in evidence and compassion. Instead, we experienced pressure, contradictory communication, and an abrupt termination that disrupted our son's continuity of care and made an already complex Regional Center process even more difficult for our family to navigate. We hope this feedback encourages Connected Speech to strengthen communication practices, uphold ethical standards, and ensure proper transition planning so other families do not experience similar disruptions.

Emily is fantastic! She helped both of my boys learn to speak and with their articulation. Before…read moreEmily's arrival, my boys were non-verbal but now they are able to speak in complete, coherent sentences. I absolutely recommend Connected Speech Therapy if you are looking for someone to help your child learn to communicate. I especially recommend requesting Emily!

My son absolutely loves Mrs. Moddy! She is such a great teacher. She always keeps the kids excited…read moreabout learning. One of his favorite subjects in her class is sign language. It's nice to find a teacher that truly loves kids and loves what she does. I think she is a genius because she knows multiple languages and is super talented. My son is excited and looks forward to going to her class, and that means so much to me.

Miss Moddy has a special gift for teaching and interacting with children, specifically when it…read morecomes to science and other subjects I'm not equipped to handle! I expected to pick my little guy up and hear something like "baking soda and vinegar fizz if you mix them together". Instead he explained to me what a hypothesis is and why it's important. She is passionate about teaching and it shows, the kids love her and so do the parents! Do yourself and your children a favor and utilize her program, you won't regret it.

Dr. Shannon and I started weekly public speaking sessions mid-year 2023 and continued until 2024. I…read morelearned not just speech confidence but also speech production and gained invaluable business advice. As a language learner, I appreciate Dr. Shannon's sensitivity and passive knowledge of Chinese. As someone who reads a lot, she is also well read and can follow my ideas. Since working with Dr. Shannon I have improved a lot and my clients have noticed. I recommend Dr. Shannon to anyone who is a leader, manager, or business owner for her.

I have been working with Dr. Shannon Wong Lerner since November of 2019--present of February 17,…read more2020 on accent reduction, and I want to give my full and unreserved recommendation. When I came to Dr. Wong Lerner, I needed help with my speech for the purpose of my work, and to develop my career. But I gained so much more. Dr. Wong Lerner conducted a very thorough evaluation of my speech to start, and then a couple of weeks later went over an "Accent spectrum" report that had all of the areas of speech that needed attention. What impressed and still impresses me about Dr. WL's expertise of speech, working with ESL people, and language (she has a passive knowledge of Chinese and some other languages) is that she knows so much in so many different areas. But also, it's the way she makes me feel safe and comfortable with this process of re-learning English for my job and my personal growth that would have otherwise been very difficult for me. And was difficult. I have already shifted my speech from a very closed mouth and not being able to pronounce many different consonants and vowels and words, to now where I have moved past much of that and I am learning speech patterns, and more complicated aspects of speech. I have learned not only how to speak better, but I've become more confident at my job and in my life. Shannon taught me how to speak more clearly but also how to speak up for myself! I do not hesitate to recommend her to any ESL speaker for these same accent reduction services (or I heard she works with UK speakers). This will be a lifelong set of lessons for me! Thank you, Dr. Shannon Wong Lerner!

We started working with Michelle in early 2024 to support our 4-year-old's interest in learning to…read moreread. He had a good grasp of letter sounds but was eager to start reading full words. Since I wasn't sure how to guide him myself, I sought out a professional--and we're incredibly grateful to have found Michelle. She met with him twice a week for about an hour, and now, just over a year later, he's reading at a 4th-grade level while still in transitional kindergarten! His growth has been amazing to watch. Michelle is not only a talented educator but also has a wonderful way with children. I wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone looking for academic help for their child.

We are so grateful that our son has been at LMP for the last 3 years. The staff is simply…read moreincredible. They are caring, invested, and communicate very well. We experienced a lot of turnover at a previous school while our son was on the LMP waitlist, but now we know exactly who will be there and that he'll be well cared for and loved each day. It's not uncommon during a weekend adventure for our son to ask to share something he's doing with a teacher. He looks at his teachers like family and is always excited to get back to school each Monday. The activities and curriculum are great as well. Weekly themes tie the art, science, and dramatic play together. The activities are creative and exciting for the kids, and he always comes home wanting to learn more. Covid has presented many childcare challenges, and LMP has navigated the pandemic incredibly well. They have been clear on protocols, communicated well, and we've always felt that our son will be as safe as he possibly could be at a preschool. We appreciate how seriously they have handled the health and safety of our child over the past 2 years. We can't recommend LMP enough and will miss it when he moves to Kindergarten this summer. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Haley and her wonderful staff!

My wife and I absolutely love LMP! Ms. Haley and all of the teachers are wonderful with the…read morechildren. Great for learning, development, healthy atmosphere, outdoor activities, etc. We have our second child at LMP and 100% recommend!

I really want to recommend Yvonne to everyone that ho is in need of a speech therapy. She is very…read moreknowledgeable, patient , and experienced in her field. My daughter benefits from her lessons a lot.

Outstanding experience! Yvonne Katsuyama is a true angel. This review is long overdue as my son…read moreworked with Yvonne from October 2021- October 2022. Back when my son was at his 5 y/o annual well check-up, I mentioned to his Kaiser pediatrician that I had concerns my son's speech was not where it should be. The doctor referred us to their Speech and Language Dept. where, after a formal assessment, it was determined that my son could benefit from Speech Therapy. Kaiser then gave us a long (and I mean long) list of vendors to reach out to. After calling multiple vendors in the area, only to have them tell me that they had waitlists upwards of 40, I was both desperate and hopeful that Yvonne would be available. I did not want to have to wait weeks, if not months, to get my son started. He was just starting kindergarten, and I did not want him to struggle socially or emotionally due to his speech. I left Yvonne a voicemail and she called me back soon after to inform me that she was able to take us on. Since both of our schedules were very busy and it was still somewhat during the pandemic (2021), we ended up booking Zoom sessions. I was skeptical at first about how practical and effective Zoom would be, but our first session quickly proved that it was going to work. Yvonne is super fun, patient, and efficient. She uses engaging and colorful games that my son immediately took to. He always looked forward to his weekly speech sessions because Yvonne always had something new and exciting to work on. I enjoyed watching her interact with my son as she was often genuinely enthused by his recap of his school day or weekend plans. She leads with positive reinforcement and gives a very helpful summary to the parents at the end of each session. We were given realistic tasks each week of what we (as a family) could be helping our son with daily. Nothing ever seemed too far reaching. Yvonne was very communicative and accessible via phone and email. There were times we had to reschedule, and she was always so kind in helping to find another time that worked in our busy schedules. Yvonne also worked collaboratively with my son's school Speech-Language Pathologist. In the weekly Zoom sessions, Yvonne worked on both her own goals as well as those summarized from his school. It was very comforting to know that our son was getting the best of the best. I cannot say enough great things about Yvonne without making her sound too good to be true. My son was so sad to learn that he was graduating from speech therapy after one year with Yvonne. He felt so empowered after each 30-minute session. My husband and I noticed that our son eventually self-corrected his speech, and would proudly announce to us that he was doing so. Yvonne is incredibly hardworking and cares deeply about her profession. It is amazing how quickly our son's speech improved within just one year. Yvonne will always hold a special place in our hearts. THANK YOU, YVONNE!

Best choice I have ever made for my child! The structure and format of READ helped my child make…read moretremendous gains in reading, writing, and organizing that wasn't possible in the red-taped environment of public schools.

After years of advocating for my son and searching for a school that could meet his unique learning…read moreneeds, we had high hopes for READ. My son made meaningful progress in reading, and I am grateful for the school's evidence-based dyslexia instruction. However, our experience also revealed important limitations for students with co-occurring autism, ADHD, and executive functioning challenges. As both a parent and an LCSW specializing in autism, I approached READ as a partner. I expected early collaboration around my son's strengths, challenges, and the strategies that had helped him succeed elsewhere. Before significant behavioral concerns emerged, I requested simple accommodations such as movement breaks and fidget tools but was told they would be disruptive to other students. To my knowledge, my son never had a proactive support plan. My experience was that my son's behaviors were addressed primarily through discipline rather than understanding their function or teaching replacement skills. As behavior logs became increasingly detailed, it became harder to distinguish meaningful concerns from age-appropriate immaturity or autism-related social differences. It was difficult to watch my son become increasingly discouraged, isolated, and unsure of how to be successful at school. Despite repeated efforts to collaborate, I saw little emphasis on proactive intervention, positive reinforcement, or identifying the function of behavior. My concern was never that READ had limits to the support it could provide, but that those limits did not become clear until the end of our experience. During our final meeting, READ told me they could no longer support my son unless he first attended a behavior program. That recommendation differed from those of the public school district and the professionals involved in his care. I was also told READ does not have a behaviorist, therapist, or behavioral specialist on staff. The end of our time at READ was especially disappointing. The focus was almost entirely on my son's challenges, with little acknowledgment of his strengths or growth. He was also excluded from the school's end-of-year BBQ as his placement ended. For autistic children, thoughtful transitions matter, and I wish his departure had reflected that he was a valued member of the community. READ can be an excellent fit for many students with dyslexia. I share my experience so families of children with additional developmental or behavioral needs can ask informed questions before enrolling, including: * How are autism- and ADHD-related needs supported? * What proactive accommodations and interventions are available? * What behavioral or mental health expertise is available on campus? * At what point does the school determine that a student's needs exceed the supports it can provide?

My son just finished almost two years with Diamante and his progress has been a blessing. He is now…read morein kindergarten and already ahead of his class. Each teacher here is firm, yet loving and explained to my boys how and why they should do certain tasks. This has helped us at home as well as helped my boys in social settings. Their motor skills have also improved. I found this to be so important for real world/grade school experiences. Our first experience with a daycare before Diamante, was not pleasant and affected my son in many negative ways. But after enrolling him in Diamante, he has been able to thrive in many ways, thanks to all of teachers that have loved him and helped him prepare for kindergarten! Highly suggest this school! Thank you Diamante! My son misses you all already!

My child started at Diamanté as soon as he turned two years old. He's now entering into…read morekindergarten. These woman have been pivotal in my child's development, learning, and helping shape the amazing human being he is becoming. The staff felt more like family to us. My child is going into kindergarten knowing how to read, do math, and is unbelievably well behaved! I truly wish that he could continue learning from these superior educators with massive hearts, and people who truly care about my child. Our son got home cooked meals for lunch every single day as well! We will miss this school so much!