A small collective of speech and feeding therapists, serving Brooklyn and Manhattan neighborhoods
Lera Yavich is a multilingual (English, Spanish, Russian) speech-language pathologist (SLP) and founder of Speech in Bloom. Her path to becoming an SLP began as a child, observing her brother with Down Syndrome receive speech therapy and the transformative impact of a caring, passionate SLP. She credits her brother as her inspiration for pursuing a career as an SLP with a whole-family focus.
Today, Lera is deeply passionate about helping your child learn to communicate and express themselves authentically. She has experience working in schools, homes, clinics, and private practices focused on a variety of speech and feeding delays, disorders, and diagnoses. Before becoming an SLP, Lera was a preschool teacher in both Denver, Colorado, and Israel.
Lera holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Colorado-Boulder and a Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After completing her graduate studies, Lera pursued Early Intervention with Spanish-speaking families in North Carolina before relocating to Brooklyn.
As a speech-language pathologist, Lera believes in continuing education and professional development to best serve patients. Lera holds certifications in PROMPT Level I, Feed the Peds, Pediatric Feeding coursework with Melanie Potock, Pediatric Feeding training with Krisi Brackett of the UNC Feeding Team, and Social Thinking Coursework with Michelle Garcia Winner for children on the Autism Spectrum. Lera is also certified by the Institute of Language and Phonology in accent reduction.
She is certified to teach yoga to children with special needs, and has begun coursework to become an orofacial myologist.
Leigh McCarty, is a pediatric speech-language pathologist originally from Georgia, now living in Brooklyn. Over the past five years, Leigh has worked in both suburban and urban settings as an Early Intervention SLP as well as in schools serving preschool through 8th grade students.
Leigh is passionate about neurodiversity and inclusion. She completed the Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) training through Meaningful Speech to help support gestalt language processors (GLP and is also in the process of becoming PROMPT trained to help support children with speech production disorders as well.
Leigh graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Science in Education in Communication Sciences and Disorders and a certificate in Disability Studies. She holds a Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology with Early Intervention certification from Northeastern University.
Gina Mortensen is a bilingual speech-language pathologist passionate about supporting children and families. Her specialties include augmentative and alternative communication, pediatric feeding disorders, and bilingual language acquisition.
Gina is a graduate of George Washington University and has received specialized training in the SOS Approach to Feeding, Language Acquisition through Motor Planning (LAMP), Beckman Oral Motor Assessment & Intervention, and Hanen More Than Words. She also received a Certificate in Early Intervention through Georgetown University. Gina is also currently pursuing her Certificate in Lactation Counseling.
Julia Cohen is a speech-language pathologist with experience working with preschool and school-aged children with a variety of communication needs, including articulation, expressive/receptive language, social skills, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), and feeding. She currently works in a private special education school with children with complex communication needs.
Julia strives to provide each client with the tools and strategies they need to be successful communicators across settings. She believes in collaborating with families, school staff, and other professionals to help clients achieve their individualized goals.
Julia graduated from William Paterson University with a Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology and the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) from the American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association and a Teacher of Students with Speech and Language Disabilities (TSSLD) certificate. Furthermore, Julia is PROMPT trained and has completed Social Thinking workshops.
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