I'm so thankful that MST was recommended to us. My 5-year-old son has sensory issues and severe feeding difficulties. For the longest time he would only eat one type of cracker and drink milk. We truly thought we had tried everything , we even did feeding therapy at home and drove all the way to New York for therapy, but nothing seemed to work. At first, our son started with once-a-week feeding therapy with Miss Nicole, who is very kind. She was the one who recommended that we try the intensive feeding program they offer, and we're so grateful that we followed her advice. Since starting the program, everything began to change. Within just a few weeks, they were able to help him start tasting juices, and in less than a month he began eating purées with a variety of flavors. The progress has already exceeded our expectations, and he continues to improve. We are incredibly grateful to Miss Shuba, who is always on top of everything for our son, and to Miss Lori, who is very approachable and supportive. Both of them monitor our son closely and respond to concerns right away, even at night or on weekends. Thank you also to Mr. Jorge, an incredible BT whom our son really likes. He is very kind and spends so much time teaching, guiding, and feeding our son while Miss Shuba closely monitors the process. And to Miss Sammy, a wonderful OT, our son is always excited for his sessions with her. All the staff are very welcoming and supportive. To the entire MST team, thank you so much for everything you do. We truly appreciate all of your hard work. This place truly deserves an award -- it's a 10/10! Highly recommended! read more

Tanvi does it... AGAIN! Tanvi helped me several years ago to correct a lisp as an adult, which completely changed my life. My daughter (age 7) recently started seeing Tanvi for a similar focus (after not seeing much progress with support through the school system) and in matter of just a few months her speech has completely transformed. There are no words to describe the feeling as a parent when you see your kid light up with confidence and feel the real power of their voice.. and for that, I am forever grateful for Tanvi and Montclair Speech Therapy. read more

Finally getting around to this review. For starters the feeding therapist we saw regularly was nice and always sweet to our child. But we did not feel the feeding therapy sessions were beneficial. We did not expect a magic instant fix but did however want to see slow progress & leave feeling equipped with tools & knowledge from someone who's an expert field. We got neither. Also did not like that after filling out the credit card form on day 1, the lady from the front desk walks in & interrupts one of our later sessions to hand us the form & broadcast that we need to fill it out to have a credit card on file. In the middle of our session! I explained that we already did this & she proceeded to take back the form and leave. Tacky. But back to the actual session. Felt there were many missed opportunities here. And the only moment that really made us feel like we were in the presence of someone who knew what she was doing was when the owner stepped into our initial session for a few mins. In our ongoing sessions our toddler was given much smaller sizes of food than she was used to eating at home. So that felt like a regression which we explained to the therapist. Also, although I asked her a couple of times, we were not given guidance on what foods to bring to next sessions or given homework/tools to practice at home. As confused parents we were seeking more actionable direction. The most frustrating part for me was that the gloves she wore made her miss many opportunities to actually get the food into my baby's mouth when she was receptive to trying it, because the gloves got in the way & the food kept dropping repeatedly & missing by baby's mouth. Would have preferred bare & thoroughly washed hands for a more natural experience. I get their intent to be sanitary but it didn't work, plus gloves are ill fitting at the finger tips making it hard to pinch food & put into little mouths &, they have a texture & smell that is unnatural and not helpful to the cause. Still out of desperation we kept coming. We were offered a sensory oral stimulation kit to use at home for about $80 and I thought to myself "what am I paying for if this stuff isn't incorporated into our sessions for free??" Wasn't this why we were here? For them to incorporate all their strategies during the session? All in all the only beneficial take away was her suggesting the straw bear bottle because we'd mentioned our toddler likes straw bottles. Didn't feel the sessions were worth the time spent or money & ended up discontinuing with her when we started daycare, and the instructor couldn't accommodate weekends. On the positive side there's parking in the back, rooms are comfortable for both parents to be seated during sessions & the facility is clean. read more

Wish I would of found this place sooner! Yet, as the saying goes, "better late then never". Upon calling to find out more information, my first experience began with Lori. Let's just say one word describes her....AMAZING! She asked me questions to get a better feel of what/why I was calling. Our conversation gave me a warmth feeling that I had made a great decision picking them for my child. The day my child was evaluated, we had the pleasure of meeting with Erin. She was great explaining each of her steps and findings. Foremost, she had an abundance of patience dealing with my child and that meant a lot! She was also able to communicate with my child's school therapist. My child's school has been incorporating the objectives that Erin has implemented. Talk about Team Work! Scheduling sessions at a time that is convenient for me was a breeze. I also love how one can see and hear their child's sessions through individual tablets! Overall, my child's diagnosis is Down's Syndrome. This genetic disorder causes multiple delays and speech is truly one huge factor. Since my child has started these sessions, we have seen a great progress in her daily communication with everyone. I can't thank Erin and Lori enough for all they do! I look forward to continuously watching my child's speech flourish! read more

Our 20-month-old son, August, began with Ms Ali about a month or two ago, and I have been blown away by his progress. When he started, he didn't babble much and had 0 words in his vocabulary. I constantly was frazzled and overwhelmed about how to help him and help his progress, and would stay awake at night thinking on it. Within weeks, my son has a confidence in speaking and babbling that awes me. He can now say about 4-5 words, and I see him attempting many others. Ms. Ali could not be kinder or more patient -- she is a gem, who always asks if I have questions and offers great ideas for improvement. You can tell she loves what she does, and cares for her clients. Lori is so sweet, too--she always congratulates me if there has been progress in a session and checks in to see how I am feeling about things. I could not recommend MST more highly! :) read more

I needed help for my 93 year young father, the recent recipient of a cochlear implant. I found Montclair Speech Therapy (MST) and after speaking with Lori I was comfortable enough to schedule my Dad for an evaluation and recommendation from the therapist. We're thrilled with the people-oriented approach and warmth of the team. Ali as a therapist for my Dad - off the charts!!! I can say that I recommend the MST team in New Jersey (I'm in NYC) read more

My 5 year old daughter had her last speech therapy session yesterday. She had lisp and trouble pronouncing other sounds like "j, ch, th, sh." If I could give 1 million stars I would. From the first call to the last visit we have always been treated we the highest level of respect, care, dedication and service. There isn't one complaint I could come up even if I wanted to. They are professional and know what they are doing and it works! My daughter's therapist, Becky, was amazing. She never lost patience and was always very kind, polite and respectful. I absolutely loved the methods she used to make sure my girl was engaged. It is truly amazing that whatever speech issues my child used to have are now gone. Thank You Becky, Lori, Joanne, Francesca and everyone else from Montclair Speech Therapy for being a part of my child's journey. read more

I have known Lori for many years and she is extremely professional. She truly cares about her patients/families and does whatever it takes to assist in their progression. She is very knowledgeable and down to earth with her clients. She understands their frustrations and provides various techniques to help them succeed. I would definitely recommend Lori without question...Don't look any further, if you require these services Lori is the professional you want... read more

"As my mother's speech therapist, Lori provides therapy twice a week to help with Aphasia after a stroke. The experience has been amazing. Lori is the ultimate professional; she really knows her stuff and she has worked magic with my mom. She taught my mom techniques to help her communicate when she can't find the right word and has helped build her confidence. What she has done for my mother is amazing! She also taught our family how to help my mom get the meaning out and taught us how to practice with her to strengthen her speaking abilities on a daily basis. " read more

Today we had a major breakthrough with our almost 3 year old in regards to his speech delay and I wanted to share this story in case it resonates with any other parent out there who may be feeling frustrated or at a loss. Please keep in mind that I am not seeking out to malign any therapist or organization but only sharing this story, our personal experience, in hopes that it may help someone out there in the same predicament. Our son has been receiving services from EI for over a year now for his speech delay. Throughout this time, he's received evaluations by various practitioners, often people he'd never met. He always scored poorly. We would watch in frustration because we KNEW his capabilities, but for some reason he never felt comfortable complying during these pivotal moments. It's not that we're perfectionists, we truly never felt they were getting an accurate picture of who he was. He's a shy, soft spoken little boy. We asked for a new therapist at one point and we were still disappointed as the new one wasn't really successful at eliciting communication with him. This is where we made our mistake. We were too embarrassed to ask for yet another one. We felt perhaps we were in some sort of denial and just kept things the way they were. Fast forward several months: here we are again getting various evaluations, this time from therapists from the DLC. Yet again, our son wouldn't comply and the test scores reflected that. Meanwhile, when we are alone with him, it's a completely different story. He knows nearly everything they were asking of him. Can you see how this would drive any parent insane? So today we went, finally, to a private therapist and attempted an evaluation. Within minutes, Lori Colon, was able to see what made my son tick. She engaged with him, made eye contact, showed genuine affection, and made this shy boy feel safe. (Like some kind of "toddler whisperer" lol) And for the first time, I believe, he was accurately evaluated. Not surprisingly, he tested enormously better than what the state was determining. In huge contrast, also, was her advice on how we can support him. It was based more on positive reinforcement, whereas we had been constantly hearing that we weren't disciplining him enough. Again, I know SO many people who have had a great experience with EI. I think this was truly a unique scenario and more a lesson in following our gut. I think perhaps had we been persistent in asking for the right therapist, things would have been vastly different. This is also a thank you letter to Lori Colon at Montclair Speech Therapy. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that you changed our lives today. read more

Absolutely incredible! I received speech therapy for a few months at this organization and I have truly seen a difference in my voice. I was taught various techniques and, though there was a curriculum for the general issues I was having, we went at my own pace and even off-book at times. I would recommend Lori's office to anyone. read more