Cheerful Chatter’s Testimonials

If you want your child to make INCREDIBLE progress, look no further than Cheerful Chatter! Ellen is an exceptional speech therapist. As a speech therapist myself, I am very particular when it comes to finding the right service provider. Before finding Ellen, I had taken my son to a few other practices. I was left disappointed and frustrated. It is difficult to find a provider who is both extremely knowledgeable in their field AND as welcoming and warm as Ellen. She creates a treatment plan, explains it clearly, and implements it with fidelity.

We have been seeing Ellen since 2021. My son is AuDHD, communication impaired with apraxia, ODD and can be extremely rude and difficult to work with. When we first started seeing her no one but immediately 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.

When my son started with Ellen, he was virtually unintelligible. Now, he gets compliments from friends, family, teachers, and strangers on his clarity of speech. All thanks to Ellen. We are forever grateful to have found Cheerful Chatter.

My son has been working with Ellen at Cheerful Chatter for almost a year now. Ellen is a wonderful speech language pathologist who is an absolute pleasure to work with. She is a very kind, warm, and caring individual who always has a smile on her face and a positive attitude. She always greets my son with lots of enthusiasm to help him have a successful session. Ellen is one of the most engaged providers we have ever worked with.

This past summer I enrolled both my sons in classes with Ellen. Ellen is amazing with the kids. She is very engaging and the kids like her a lot! As a parent, I got to watch what they are learning, without them seeing me, and I can reinforce this at home. My sons learned valuable life skills that are priceless and so worth every ounce of time and money. It's very uplifting to know that I gave my boys that gift because they will sure use that way more than they will ever use calculus!

I had the good fortune of working under Ellen McSpadden of Cheerful Chatter as a graduate student this summer. Ellen is an extremely passionate and skilled speech-language pathologist. Therapy is tailored to each individual client and is client-driven. This makes her clients interested and engaged in sessions. Also Ellen, herself, is engaging. She’s tough but kind; she has high expectations for her clients and I believe this is a large reason why her clients have the success they do. I saw phenomenal progress in her clients in the less than two months I worked with Ellen.

My son has been with Ellen for a little over 2 years now. We didn’t begin therapy until he was 4 years old. We heard all the standard excuses and assurances from ourselves, as well as other people (including our pediatrician), for over 2 years before getting an evaluation. “He’s just a late talker.” “He’ll catch up, don’t worry.” “He’ll grow out of it.” “He’s a boy, it’s normal for them to talk later.” That’s just a few of them. If you’ve said or heard any of those, your child needs to be evaluated!

So happy that we came to Cheerful Chatter and Ellen McSpadden. My daughter has shown marked improvement over the last year and a half. Ellen provides a positive environment for her to work on her stutter. Ellen explains things in such a way that it clicks for my daughter. Ellen expects that she is working on her homework and holds my daughter accountable. My daughter likes coming to speech therapy.

Our 4 year old daughter has made unbelievable progress in the 9 months we have worked with Ms Ellen; we have seen major improvement not only in speech but also positive behavioral changes. Also, our daughter LOVES coming to her sessions plus the evening hours are ideal for working parents like us and so it is easy to get us all there during the week!

This place is the best that there could be when it comes to speech therapy! Ellen is so wonderful, has a wealth of experience and knowledge and so many fun apps and games and learning tools which she incorporates into her therapy with the kiddos! I am so happy that I found her. She also allows parents to observe without being in the room too if you want.

Ellen is the best speech therapist we have been to. My 9 year old son has made tremendous progress and really enjoys seeing her. We have been to four other speech therapists and no one can compare to the services we receive while at cheerful chatter. She truly cares about her clients and has helped us more than anyone else. I will never seek another speech therapist as long as reside in the area.

My elementary school child has been seeing Ms. McSpadden for a year now. She is wonderful with him and always takes the time to listen to both of our questions and work those into the sessions. She has a great talent of mixing speech work into play activities. He loves going every week. I feel that her services are flexible and geared towards my son’s best interests. Her new therapy office is clean, comfortable and very professional. I enjoy watching the sessions from the waiting area on the tv. We will definitely continue to see Ms. McSpadden until he no longer needs help.

My 13 year old son (with autism) had been struggling with Social Skills and making friends. After his course, my son turned to me and said "mom, I wish I had this last year." It changed his life! He has friends now and engages people so much more! My 12 year old daughter (also with autism) took her course. She is lower functioning than my son and always had to be coached to talk to people. When she meets new people, she introduces herself all on her own and strikes up a very appropriate conversation. If I try to coach her at all she will even say "let me do it, I got this." Bottom line is Ellen changes lives. I could not imagine where we would be without her!

She is extremely knowledgeable about the PEERS program and also respects the family's privacy. My children are on the road to achieving the social goals set for them. How do you ever thank someone for giving that kind of a gift to your child(ren). You want results, than go see Ellen.