Our Philosophy
Transitions Speech Therapy is a speech therapy clinic that specializes in the complex language and social communication* needs of adolescents and young adults. While the needs for this population are great, the services are lacking. This is due to a variety of reasons, termed the "cycle of neglect" (Reed, 2002). To name a few, many students are dismissed from speech/language services within the school system by the middle or high school level. If they are not dismissed, services may be tapered down to increase time within the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) and to avoid stigmatization. Maybe standardized test results showed average abilities, even though the student had a diagnosed Developmental Language Disorder from a young age. Sometimes services providers feel a student is no longer making progress, or not motivated to participate. More importantly, after high school, college- and transition-aged youth are left with no IEP or multidisciplinary team to help them navigate college courses, vocational training, and more.
While access to service dwindles as students age, language needs only grow. For students who always lagged behind their peers with language-based skills such as vocabulary, comprehension, and writing skills, high school and college level curriculum may seem all but impossible. Moreover, navigating social dynamics becomes immeasurably more difficult as settings change, and service providers don't always adapt to the complex needs of adolescents and young adults. At Transitions Speech Therapy, we use an evidence-based, client-centered approach. We feel it is crucial to begin with rapport building and establishing a trusting relationship between clinician and client, as improvement stems from internal motivation. We rely on client-assessment to lead treatment; we work on skills that YOU need in order to reach your fullest potential.
*A note on social communication: Transitions Speech Therapy provides neurodiversity affirming support. We do not "train" social skills for Autistic individuals. Instead, we focus on skills such as exploring different communication styles, teaching perspective taking skills, and improving self-advocacy.
Anna Lambert (she/her)
MA, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Founder, Transitions Speech Therapy
I'm Anna Lambert, a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist in the Massachusetts area. After finishing undergraduate at the University of Virginia, I worked as a paraprofessional special educator in a high school and decided I wanted to pursue the field of speech-language pathology. During and after attending graduate school at George Washington University, I have had a wide range of clinical experiences. I found my passion within the field while working in a high school in Massachusetts.
I am inspired by the unique intersection of receptive and expressive language, social communication, and adolescent brain development. After seeing so many students lose school-based services both during and after high school, I felt compelled to develop a private practice to provide specialized support to these students. I use rapport-building to form a cooperative relationship with my clients, so we can focus on building self-awareness, meta-linguistic, and meta-pragmatic skills necessary to achieve independence.