Clinicians at A Sound Beginning

with a Master of Science degree in speech language pathology in May of 1999 and began working on a cochlear implant team at the Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center.  There for two years, Margaret worked in the deaf/hard of hearing preschool classroom to support children learning to listen and speak with hearing technology.  She also worked as a member of the cochlear implant team, providing both evaluation and listening therapy for children in the cochlear implant candidacy and follow-up program.  Following her passion for helping deaf children learn to hear and talk, she accepted a clinical position at Johns Hopkins Hospital at The Listening Center in the Spring of 2001 and moved to the Baltimore, MD area.  Margaret pursued further specialization by earning her Listening and Spoken Language Professional certification from the Academy within the AG Bell Association for the Deaf.  This is a three-year certification process that requires 400 clock hours of direct therapy; coursework in all of eight domains of the field, mentorship by a certified LSL professional, and successful completion of a competency skills examination.  Margaret became LSL LSL-certified Auditory Verbal Therapist in the Spring of 2007.

While working towards this certification, Margaret’s career path included a year of working in the Howard County Public Schools to gain experience firsthand from within the local school system. 

At the end of the school year of 2005, Margaret left the Howard County Schools to work full-time in private practice from a home clinical office. In addition to working with children individually, Margaret established a preschool program for deaf/hard-of-hearing children who were learning to listen and speak.  This program met three mornings a week, and served six to eight children per year, for four years.  The program was licensed through the Howard County Office of Childcare, which required Margaret to earn her certificate in Daycare Management from Howard County Community College.  This experience provided children an environment where they were able to receive intensive LSL therapy within a language-based classroom incorporating early educational skills, including literacy and social skills. 

In 2017, the practice had outgrown its current office space, and Margaret restructured to become an S-corp, to begin using the name A Sound Beginning, LLC, and to lease office space in Ellicott City, MD. This office space allowed the hiring of two additional speech language pathologists, one who was already certified in LSL therapy, and one who Margaret began to mentor towards certification. The practice has been thriving in this space and has continued to add speech language pathologists and serve a wide variety of children with communication disorders including Down Syndrome, Apraxia, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Stuttering, Cleft Palate, etc.

As an appointed member to the Early Identification of Hearing and Intervention Program Advisory Board through the Maryland State Health Department, Margaret worked to address the challenges found within the program.  Seeing gaps in services within our state has motivated Margaret to expand our services to include comprehensive audiological diagnostic evaluations for infants. In July 2025, an experienced pediatric audiologist was hired to develop this critically necessary program.

When Margaret isn’t working, she enjoys spending time with her husband, five children and three grandchildren! Margaret enjoys hiking, playing frisbee golf and pickle ball!