Our Approach

About

Founding Vision and Expertise

A Sound Beginning was founded on the belief that every child deserves the ability to express themselves and parents are their child’s most important teacher.  By partnering with parents, we are able to teach effective strategies for speech and language development and work alongside parents to build their children’s communication skills.  Our mission is to provide families in Maryland with professional and effective auditory, speech and language services to help children reach their full potential!

A Sound Beginning was established from Margaret’s home office more than twenty years ago, and has evolved into a private practice located in Ellicott City, MD, with four Speech-Language Pathologists and one Audiologist. We offer a wide-range of speech and language services, including evaluations, treatment, and individual and groups sessions.

Our approach is family-centered with a strong emphasis on parent involvement. Parents are partners and are empowered to practice strategies for speech and language development within our sessions and then to incorporate them into daily activities at home and continue the progress we see in the clinic.

Children and Families Served

  • Preschoolers, children, and teens, with articulation, phonological, and language disorders.
  • Children with fluency challenges, apraxia, and autism spectrum disorder.
  • Deaf and hard of hearing infants, preschoolers and children whose parents choose to teach their child to learn to listen and speak.
  • Adults who chose to maximize their auditory skills following cochlear implantation.
Teacher leading group activity with children.

Specialized Programs Offered

Listening and Spoken Language Therapy

Individualized Speech and Language Therapy

Board certified clinicians providing diagnostic and therapeutic interventions

Head with speech bubbles and ear icon.

Listening and Spoken Language Therapy

For children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Chat icon with speech bubble and figures.

Preschool Language Groups

Small, interactive settings.

Mask group (3)

Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) Devices

Experienced clinicians assess and trial devices with clients, assist with securing the device, and then provide parent training to use the device at home.

Music note icon on black background.

Baby Beats Music Classes

To promote early language development through an engaging parent-child music class.

Graduation-themed icons reading books together.

Parent Education Programs

Supporting families to reinforce therapy at home.

Child and teacher with emotion cards.

Reasons Parents Choose Us

  • Proven Results
  • Active Parental Involvement
  • Experienced Team
  • Comprehensive Support

Connect for Personalized Support

Contact us today to connect with our board certified speech language pathologists and audiologist.

Connect With Our Experts

This is a membership program. I want parents to know that for $79/month, they can join our parent education programs. They will attend weekly online workshops to learn the skills they need to improve their child’s language development skills at home. They will also have access to the private Facebook Group to interact with and learn from other parents with young children. They will receive resources to put strategies into action that day with their child. They can also purchase through this program toys proven to provide meaningful interactions with their child to foster language development. These classes are for any parent with a child from birth through five who wants to provide a solid foundation in language skills for their child to enter Kindergarten ready to learn!

AAC devices help children with speech or language challenges communicate more effectively. Our clinicians assess each child’s needs, provide a trial of the right device, and train parents to use it in everyday settings. We also assist with insurance coverage so families can access these essential tools.