Ana Curtin founded SPEAK, which stands for Serving Parents, Educators, And Kids, in 2002. She saw a need for a specialized and relationship-based option for families. Ana” (as her patients call her) believes collaborating with their caregivers, medical team, and educational communities leads to the best outcomes. Ana brings more than 20 years of experience as a pediatric speech-language pathologis
t to SPEAK. She began working with children during her undergraduate education at Penn State University and throughout her graduate program at Loyola University in Maryland.
Since graduation, she has remained a perpetual student of professional development, having received the ACE Award from American Speech Language Hearing Association for volume and excellence of continuing education many times. Ana became the first PROMPT-certified therapist in Maryland, remains one of the few to be trained by the International Association of Orofacial Myology and she has served as the oral motor specialist for Loyola’s graduate clinic. More recently, she completed several courses in the area of tongue ties, has been a consultant to special school programs, and serves as a featured speaker at local and international SLP workshops like those offered through Talk Tools.
With her dedication and advanced training, SPEAK specializes in motor speech disorders and oral muscular dysfunction in children and teens, with a focus on articulation and complex cases that have not yet found success with traditional speech therapy. Many times, that is because a structural or muscular issue has gone undiagnosed. Sometimes a cognitive, sensory or behavioral condition may exacerbate the issue and require creativity and patience to address.
While motivating kids with fun activities, Ms. Ana uses advanced techniques to get to the core of the communication issue, then builds meaningful abilities and skills in a nurturing way. Family understanding of how to support new skills represents a key component to your child making efficient progress. SPEAK will do everything possible to support your child on his or her journey, including meeting with you regularly and with doctors and other therapists, as appropriate. As a result, SPEAK has been recommended countless times by pediatricians and other therapists to work with complex cases due in part to a reputation for cutting-edge approaches and mastery with sophisticated techniques. Thanks again for your interest, and we look forward to working with you to help empower your child through speech therapy. Contact SPEAK for more information.
