Neurodiversity affirming, Child-led Services for Children in Western New Haven and Litchfield Counties, CT
Our Approach
At Little Bridges Speech and Occupational Therapy, we offer individualized, child-centered services designed to support each child’s unique developmental journey. Every therapy plan begins with a thorough evaluation to build a comprehensive understanding of your child’s strengths, challenges, and preferences. We take the time to learn about your family’s goals and values so that our therapy is not only meaningful but truly aligned with your needs.
Our services are neurodiversity-affirming, child-led, and strengths-based. We integrate each child’s sensory profile, interests, and communication style into playful, engaging sessions. Therapy is conducted through play and guided by the principles of Natural Language Acquisition (NLA), allowing us to model language in a way that supports authentic, self-generated communication.
Our therapy sessions—whether for speech, feeding, or occupational needs— blend evidence-based methods with hands-on, engaging activities tailored to your child. We believe that family involvement is essential to lasting progress, so we dedicate part of every session to sharing strategies, providing parent coaching, and offering practical tools for supporting your child’s development at home.
SPEECH THERAPY addresses communication delays and disorders to support children in:
Increasing functional communication skills
Improving speech intelligibility
Developing accurate production of age-appropriate speech sounds and sound combinations
Addressing motor planning challenges for accurate speech production
Implementing strategies for fluent speech
Parent coaching to support speech development at home
Together we will address your child's individualized speech goals to not only develop age-appropriate communication skills but to also build their confidence in their communication abilities.
LANGUAGE THERAPY addresses receptive and expressive language delays and disorders to help your child:
Develop an effective means to communicate wants and needs
Expand phrase length and vocabulary
Follow directions
Ask and answer questions
Improve their grammar and sentence structure
Use descriptive language for story retell
Address reading, writing, and spelling challenges
During the evaluation process, we will work together to determine your child’s language strengths and weaknesses. A determination will be made regarding your child’s language processing style (i.e gestalt language processing, analytic processing) and a plan of care will be created implementing therapy approaches that best meet your child’s needs.
For children who are nonspeaking or inconsistent with their ability to use or access speech to effectively communicate their wants and needs, Augmentative Alternative Communication systems will be explored and therapy will be provided utilizing a total language approach.
FEEDING THERAPY focuses on building the skills needed for safe chewing and swallowing. We will work alongside your family to help your child:
Improve their oral motor skills
Transition from milk to solids
Eat a greater variety of foods
Overcome sensory and emotional feeding challenges
Together, we'll empower your child to be a confident eater and enjoy mealtimes!
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY will help your child play and learn better in daily life. We will design fun and challenging activities to help you child:
Develop fine and gross motor skills
Integrate sensory information
Regulate their emotions and behavior
Gain independence and self help skills
Play and socialize with others
Our services are play-based, neurodiversity-affirming and honor each child's sensory needs, interests, and preferences.
An Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) is a comprehensive assessment conducted by a qualified professional that is not employed by the school district.
By offering an independent perspective, IEEs aim to ensure that educational decisions—such as the development of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or the provision of special education services—are made based on comprehensive and unbiased information. This information assists in identifying the most effective strategies and supports necessary for a child to succeed in their educational environment.
The therapists at Little Bridges, are skilled at providing comprehensive and neutral evaluations. Both Lisa Baldelli and Sarah Hogrefe have extensive experience practicing within the public school setting and meet the Connecticut Bureau of Special Education requirements to conduct Independent Educational Evaluations for Speech and Language as well as Occupational Therapy.
For more information, please contact: Lisa Baldelli: 203-404-3903