Above and Beyond Speech Therapy, LLC

I am a student at Penn State University, majoring in Biobehavioral Health. I am interested in pursuing a career in Occupational, Physical, or Speech Therapy. As I explored shadowing opportunities in State College to better understand my future path, Emily was the first professional to respond when I reached out to several practices. She was incredibly flexible with my schedule and generously provided multiple opportunities for me to observe her sessions. It was truly inspiring to see how comfortable and excited the children were to work with her. They genuinely looked forward to their time with her. One of the most impressive aspects of her work was how she tailored each activity to align with the children’s individual interests. This approach kept them engaged and having fun while also making meaningful progress. In just a few short sessions, I was amazed by both their enthusiasm and their growth. Emily is patient, compassionate, and deeply passionate about her work. Watching her make such a positive impact on these children’s lives was incredibly inspiring. I hope to create the same kind of supportive and empowering space for my future patients!

Emily has been fantastic with our 10-year -old daughter! I have been very impressed how Emily is able to make their time together playful and fun, and individualize activities based on what my daughter likes to do. In our very first appointment, Emily made a point to establish a relationship with my daughter before beginning any evaluations (this is very different than all of the other speech therapy we have tried). And she was able to gather the information she needed for her evaluation in conversation and game so that it didn't feel like a test at all (also a stark contrast to prior experiences). And, because she is enjoying herself, my daughter is finally making great progress in her speech. I am so grateful we found Emily. I had feared that having to continue speech therapy through elementary school would cause my daughter to be self-conscious and frustrated. But with Emily, I'm pretty sure she just feels lucky that she GETS to do speech.

Melina has been wonderful working with my 6 year old son. She is patient, thoughtful and has adjusted her work to align with our family’s wants and needs while pushing my son to make progress. My son is not always comfortable with other adults, but he warmed up to Melina quickly and they have built a really nice rapport. It’s also great that I can sit just outside of the room and listen to the work. It allows us to keep our approach coordinated so I can continue the work outside of speech. Overall, I highly recommend Melina and the Above & Beyond practice.

Emily has been incredible to work with. She is kind, patient, and very knowledgeable in her field. My son has made so much progress in 9 months. She's very communicative and we always know what was covered in each session/what we can work on at home. I would recommend her to anyone! We are very thankful for her.

We are so grateful for the support Melina provided to my son! He struggled with pragmatic speech and using an appropriate tone of voice and Melina did an excellent job of using social stories, games, videos and more to engage him. He loved spending time with her and visiting her office. I am so grateful for the strategies she taught him for communicating his needs in a kind and respectful way, and also for the ways she taught me to engage him in more helpful ways. We also appreciated the flexible scheduling and responsiveness to my questions. 10/10 recommend!

Melina has been my son’s speech therapist for 2-3 years now. My son is 5, autistic, and non-verbal. Melina is always thinking of new ways to engage him and really knows him well. She is one of the few people that he lets play with him, and he really enjoys going to his speech sessions. He usually does not want to leave at the end and he often wants Melina to come with him when we go.

My son has had an exceptional experience at Above and Beyond Speech Therapy. Each week he was excited to go and Emily was completely prepared with activities catered exactly to the skills he was working on. I watched him progress through his goals, while having fun and gaining confidence all the way. I appreciate all of the weekly updates Emily would provide about where my son was and what would come next. Emily is excellent at assessing what speech needs children have and how to help them meet those needs. As a teacher, I appreciate how the environment is engaging, professional, and very organized. I can’t imagine my son in better hands. I highly recommend Above and Beyond Speech Therapy!