Speech Clarity for Kids & Teens in South Jersey
For bright children whose speech is still hard to understand.
Who We Help
We work with little kids, but excel with big kids and teens who are still difficult to understand clearly — they may have stopped raising their hand in class due to requests for repetition or occasional teasing.
Individuals of all ages with childhood apraxia of speech and other complex speech sound disorders are a cornerstone of our practice.
What We Do
Our speech therapy focuses on improving speech sound accuracy, motor planning, coordination, timing, endurance, clarity — and most importantly — confidence.
✓ Articulation errors (R, S, TH, L, blends)
✓ Residual speech sound disorders
✓ Childhood apraxia of speech & dysarthria
✓ Other motor speech disorders
✓ Confidence issues
The First Step
Start with a free, in-person speech therapy consultation so we can discuss your concerns and goals.
Why Families Choose Us
✓ 20+ years in speech therapy
✓ Evidence-based DTTC and PROMPT proramming
✓ Parent room with live video feed for transparency
✓ Clear instruction and measurable progress
Why Families Stay With Us
“When we first started seeing her, no one but immediate family could understand my son. His speech has improved so much since we started working with her that he's able to communicate with everyone easily.” — Parent in Woodbury, NJ
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Our DTTC and PROMPT-trained speech-language pathologist, Ellen McSpadden, MA, CCC-SLP, CAS, has over two decades of experience providing specialized speech therapy for children with childhood apraxia of speech, dysarthria and other motor-speech disorders. She is proud to be recognized for her accomplishments and listed in Apraxia Kids’ SLP Directory.
Using a fun, jungle-themed approach, she engages children and tens, celebrates their successes, and gives them the skills to finally be understood by family, friends and teachers.
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Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a neurological, motor-speech disorder that impacts a person’s ability to plan and program the motor movements needed to produce speech. In other words, despite the person knowing what they want to say, the brain can’t tell the mouth what to do, when to do it, or the order to do it in.
Symptoms include difficulty with vowel sounds, an inconsistent ability to say a word clearly, awkward pauses in the middle of words and sentences, unusual patterns of intonation or choppy-sounding speech, and increasing difficulty as sentences get longer.
The prognosis for children with CAS varies. But, early and well-planned services are critical to achieving maximum success.
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DTTC — Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing — is an evidence-based approach designed specifically for children with CAS. Using the principles of motor learning, it helps the brain learn how to plan, program, and refine the motor movements needed for clear speech.
Therapy focuses on movement, not sounds. This approach has allowed countless children and teens to experience overwhelming success. And, with the help of a few jungle animals that illustrate the process, children are able to celebrate how far they’ve come each and every session.
PROMPT — Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets — is a therapy approach for children with CAS and other speech sound disorders. Speech skills are supported using physical touch and varying amounts of pressure to guide the lips, tongue and jaw into correct movement patterns.
At Cheerful Chatter, we prefer to use DTTC as our primary approach due to its larger body of evidence and more person-friendly strategies. If interested in PROMPT, we can discuss the pros and cons of both approaches and proceed with the one best suited for your child.
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Also specializing in early literacy, therapy includes embedded support to prevent the consequential delays often seen in reading and spelling. Ellen doesn’t wait for new problems to come up… she understands the patterns of development seen in those with CAS and prevents potential weaknesses from ever laying down roots.
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Many automatically think speech teletherapy will not work for children with apraxia, but they couldn’t be more wrong! The only thing that can’t be done remotely is touch… luckily, that’s not the most effective way to help anyway!
DTTC methods work beautifully over the computer, as we’re able to get up close and personal with the camera… which actually helps kids focus on what matters most. Additionally, coaching parents in key therapeutic techniques is easily done remotely.
It’s a win for their services, a win for your parent coaching skills & a win for your schedule!
Speech Therapy for Childhood Apraxia of Speech in South Jersey — Near Philadelphia
Speech Therapy for Older Children & Teens in South Jersey
Many families are surprised to learn that speech clarity challenges don’t always resolve in the early years.
We frequently work with elementary-aged students, middle schoolers, and teens who are bright, capable, and academically strong — but whose speech is still difficult to understand in conversation, presentations, or fast-paced classroom settings.
Older children often need a different approach than preschoolers. Therapy becomes more structured, more precise, and more collaborative. We focus on speech sound accuracy, motor coordination, and carryover into real-world speaking situations — so progress feels meaningful and age-appropriate.
Whether your child is in kindergarten or preparing for high school, our goal is the same: clear, confident communication that supports independence.
Questions About Speech Therapy and Speech Sound Disorders, Answered
Reach out anytime if you have questions and when you’re ready to get started.
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Yes! We will determine why they’re having difficulty expressing themselves and create a plan to improve their speech clarity so they can say what’s on their mind.
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A variety of things can cause poor speech clarity or intelligibility. Read about the different causes in our blog.
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Yes, we specialize in complex speech-sound disorders like Childhood Apraxia of Speech. We have formal, in-person training in the evidence-based approaches DTTC & PROMPT.
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Every child is different. It’s impossible for anyone to tell you how long it will take.
But, our goal is to identify the root of the problem, create an efficient and effective treatment plan to resolve it, and then celebrate their graduation.
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To be honest, after over 20 years in the field, we have the skills to work with just about anyone.
We love working with little kids and offer the expertise needed to work with big kids and teens who have experienced limited success elsewhere.