Maureen Niklaus, MS Ccc-Slp Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist

Maureen Niklaus, MS Ccc-Slp Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist A Private Practice for Children with Speech and Language Impairments Maureen Niklaus, M.S.

CCC-SLP is a Speech-Language Pathologist in private practice in Williamsport, PA. Maureen specializes in pediatrics and is dedicated to providing thorough diagnostic evaluations and personalized therapy for children in the Williamsport area. In addition to private practice, previous work experience at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and at UPMC Susquehanna Health. Areas of specialty include: pre

school language disorders, Autism spectrum disorder, articulation and phonological disorders, childhood apraxia of speech, and stuttering. Licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Tip #1 To Get Toddlers Talking?Offer Two Choices!So your little one has pulled you into the kitchen and is pointing to ...
07/31/2026

Tip #1 To Get Toddlers Talking?
Offer Two Choices!

So your little one has pulled you into the kitchen and is pointing to the cupcakes, grunting "Uh! Uh!." If you ask him, "What do you want, honey? Tell me what you want," he is most likely NOT going to say anything... because he is smart enough to recognize that you ALREADY KNOW EXACTLY what he wants!

But... if you grab the cupcakes and an apple, and offer him a choice, "Do you want cake or an apple?" now your child has a dilemma.

Now he has to do a little bit more to let you know what he wants.

Giving choices between two objects is a great way to help little ones try to say words, as you will have just said both words for him and he only has to try to imitate them after you. (Bonus? It is also a nice way to teach children that Mommy and Daddy don't always read minds and know just what they want! 😊)

Try holding the items up by your face/mouth, showing and naming each for your child. At first your little one will probably just again point to the one he wants. Slowly give it to him, but say it's name a few times ("Oh, cake! Cake. You want cake").

As he gets more used to such scenarios, he may soon start to point AND naturally try to imitate the word. Choices can easily be incorporated into play, such as offering choices between animals, puzzle pieces, or pieces of Potato Head.

But PLEASE! Never, never withhold items or "force" your child to say a word. Simply saying it a few times often results in little ones trying to imitate the word on their own, without all the pressure and frustration of being told to!

Questions about your little one? Reach out any time!

Anticipating his/her needs before your child has tried to communicate them to you?Interpreting your child's speech for o...
07/29/2026

Anticipating his/her needs before your child has tried to communicate them to you?

Interpreting your child's speech for other's before letting him try to repair the breakdown in communication himself?

Adding gestures and pointing when giving your child a direction instead of letting her try to process your request based on spoken language alone?

Please stop. Wait. Before you jump in... provide them with the chance of their own victory!

I will be out of the office this week and in my happy place with my family. Be back soon! ❤️🤗
07/19/2026

I will be out of the office this week and in my happy place with my family. Be back soon! ❤️🤗

Slicing a hot dog into coin sized pieces might seem like a good idea, but it is a HUGE choking hazard to children under ...
07/10/2026

Slicing a hot dog into coin sized pieces might seem like a good idea, but it is a HUGE choking hazard to children under the age of 5.

Like grapes, sliced hot dogs are the exact same size as a young child's esophagus, easily able to lodge, block the child's airway and cause choking.

So PLEASE! Cut such foods LENGTHWISE when cutting them into smaller pieces for young children. Then everyone can safely enjoy the next summer barbecue!

Happy 4th of July weekend to my families and devoted followers! Stay cool out there!!! 😊
07/02/2026

Happy 4th of July weekend to my families and devoted followers! Stay cool out there!!! 😊

My First Case of Onomatophobia.Part III.The girls’ second group session went very well today, and with lots of help thro...
06/24/2026

My First Case of Onomatophobia.
Part III.

The girls’ second group session went very well today, and with lots of help through breathing, spelling and support from her new friend, my client was able to say and share her pets’ names! But before she even got to her brother’s name, her friend spontaneously asked her a new question-

“What’s your favorite movie?”

She looked at me and I knew it was happening again. My heart dropped.

But she asked if we could all do our breathing together and before I could start another round, she stated, “My favorite movie is… Beauty and the Beast.” I was beyond pleasantly surprised!

She had been able to spontaneously do this in the moment, with the only help being our holding hands all together and the breathing, as we certainly hadn’t talked about letters or writing it!

So what do I think is behind this fascinating phobia?

In social communication with others, when we are having conversations, we are either asking questions of another, commenting on something they have said, or sharing new information to add to the conversation. In getting to know someone, the latter often involves sharing something about OURSELVES.

This little girl appears to be fearful of saying words that are personal to herself; intimate pieces of information. It’s a bit chicken or the egg though; is the fear what has caused her to retreat from others socially, or has her lack of social interactions meant that she hasn’t experienced anyone asking such, and thereby hasn’t experienced sharing such information with others?

Either way, she has made wonderful progress in making a new friend, and appears to be experiencing the joy that can come with sharing ourselves with others we feel safe with!

I am blessed to work with some of the best! I hope you are all pampered with extra love today!
06/21/2026

I am blessed to work with some of the best! I hope you are all pampered with extra love today!

My First Case of Onomatophobia.Part II.Knowing this was my first case addressing this phobia, I was a little nervous, an...
06/19/2026

My First Case of Onomatophobia.
Part II.

Knowing this was my first case addressing this phobia, I was a little nervous, and very cognizant of the fact that I had to address both desensitization as well as anxiety.

Yesterday, alone with me, she openly discussed that she had been unable to share her pets’ names with her new friend in our group session. However, she couldn’t articulate WHY. But I think she felt bad about it, so I jumped right into my plan.

“Hey,” I said, “Do you know MY dog’s name?” She replied “no.”

“Well,” I said, “his name starts with an ‘R.’ Do you feel comfortable telling me the first letter in your dog’s name?”

She said yes, and promptly did so. “The second letter of my dog’s name is an E,” I stated, and likewise, she did the same.

“Do you feel comfortable writing down your pets’ names?” I asked, and she calmly tried her best to do so.

But when I asked if she could now read them aloud, the panic became quickly visible.

“Maybe you could say this first one after me?” I asked, but she became extremely agitated and much more panicked. Her breathing became almost erratic.

I quickly told her I wanted to show her a “trick,” and taught her a deep breathing technique for helping with panic attacks, whereby you breathe in through your nose deeply for 4 seconds, hold it for about 4 seconds, and slowly let it out for a count of 8.

At first she couldn’t, and I was genuinely in fear that she might hyperventilate.

But she slowly figured it out and seemed to calm a little. And after a bit of deep breathing together, was then actually able to SAY the first name after me! Needless to say, I was beyond thrilled!

After deep breathing together again, I went to approach the next name she had written when she said, “Mo, I think I want to say those 2 by myself.”

I was absolutely astonished. She promptly said both. She was so happy and proud of herself, as she should be!

Thinking my goal was accomplished, at least for now, I moved on to work on something else when she turned my notes back to her writings and said, “I want to keep working on these, Mo.”

And all by herself, completely unprompted, she wrote down another word that she said she was fearful to share with her new friend- her little brother’s name. Just wow!

She decided on her own that she wanted to use her new breathing technique and her writings to share all the names with her new friend next week at our joint session!! I couldn’t believe it, and actually got teary telling her Mom all of this after the session.

In part 3, I’ll explain what I suspect might be behind this fascinating phobia of hers!

My First Case Of Onomatophobia.Part I.Like selective mutism, onomatophobia is primarily an anxiety disorder. This one, h...
06/19/2026

My First Case Of Onomatophobia.
Part I.

Like selective mutism, onomatophobia is primarily an anxiety disorder. This one, however, manifests itself as a true fear and panic of saying certain words out loud. (For some, they can't even hear it spoken by others or even written on paper.)

She is 8 years old and only recently diagnosed as mildly on the autism spectrum. Like many girls with ASD, she masked her symptoms that well up until now. Difficulties with self-regulation and social communication have become much more evident in recent years.

Her fear of speaking certain words only appeared with me last week. And it appeared again on Tuesday, the first day I had her paired with another very similar little girl, both of whom need to work on social communication skills. They ended up being a wonderful match for each other and, thankfully, really liked each other!

But this issue was a sticking point, as the words she feared and refused to say were the names of her pets... and her favorite shows... and both were questions her new friend had asked her.

When I saw her tonight for her individual session, I had meticulously planned out my treatment approach after researching onomatophobia in children. I'll explain next time, as it was stressful for both of us, but it seems (for this moment) that it was successful.

And I am hoping (given the plan she and I made) that it will be successful with her next session Tuesday with her new friend!

The Importance Of Early Detection...From The Mouth of a 4-Year Old.One of my first cases as a young SLP working at a Chi...
06/17/2026

The Importance Of Early Detection...
From The Mouth of a 4-Year Old.

One of my first cases as a young SLP working at a Children's Hospital was an extremely bright and nonverbal 2 1/2 year old. Diagnosed with a severe case of Childhood Apraxia of Speech, he and I methodically "lay down" the groundwork for him to learn the movements necessary for speech production. In addition, I taught him sign language to bridge the gap so he could communicate with his family.

When he was an older 4-year old, and speaking, he randomly noticed some popcorn in a picture I had.

"Hey!" he said to me, "I remember when I used to say that with my hands, like this!" He promptly showed me the sign for "popcorn," and the memory of him showing me the sign was forever seared into my heart.

Early detection and early treatment? Yes indeed! It's so important, because it works.

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59 East 4th Street
Williamsport, PA
17701

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+15703603413

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