A Parent-Founded Speech and Language School
A school built by the families who needed it.
For 25 years, we have believed every child has something to say. The Talk School began with a simple, stubborn conviction: that children with significant speech and language differences are not empty of thoughts, only of a way to share them. Everything here, our methods, our specialists, our full day built around communication, grows from that belief. This is who we are, and how we came to be.
Our Mission
The Talk School mission is to serve a unique and worthy community.
Our Values
The belief under everything: we presume competence in every learner.
It means we start from what a child understands and can do, not from a label or a deficit. It shapes how we teach, how we speak to and about our students, and how patiently we wait for a child to show us what they know. It is the difference a family feels the moment they walk in.
A Parent-Founded Special Education School
It started with a method, and a few determined families.
In 2001, a group of parents came together around a new, structured way to teach children with significant language differences to read, write, and speak. There was no school building and no blueprint, only the conviction that their children deserved a school designed for how they learn. Back then, the facilities may have been “make-do”, but the education was anything but.
Twenty-five years later, that idea has grown into the only full-time speech and language school in Pennsylvania, and the surrounding regions. The students who have passed through our doors have gone on to richer, fuller lives. Through them, the founding families have been proven right, their children had a great deal to say.
Our Leadership & Specialists
The dedicated team who makes Talk, talk
Speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, special educators, and teaching assistants and aides work side by side here, all day, every day. This is the team behind every child’s progress.
Kristen Tabun
Head of School
BA, M.Ed., EdD. — Widener University
Amanda Cappelli
Art Teacher
BA — University of Arts
Ashley Liberman, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist
MS — Thomas Jefferson University
Ashley Suydam
Assistant Teacher
BS — West Chester University
Ashley Wingate, CCP
Assistant Teacher
BA — Chestnut Hill College
Daniela Cerullo
Enrollment Manager
BS — Business Administration · MS — Organizational Leadership (in progress), Southern New Hampshire University
Haley Jones, CCC, SLP
Speech Language Pathologist
M.S. — Arizona State University
Charles Hudak
1:1 Aide
AA — Delaware County Community College
Lindsey Keys
Reading Specialist
BA — Penn State · MA — Eastern University · M.Ed. — Cabrini University
Sheri Newmark
Director of Education
Special Education MS — Syracuse University
Lisa Russell, OTR/L
Director of Occupational Therapy
BS — East Carolina University
Ellie O’Kane
Director of SLP & Service Coord.
BS — LaSalle University · MS — Texas Woman’s University
Leona Backus
Special Education Teacher
MS — Pennsylvania Western University
Kim Birdsall
Special Education Teacher
BS — University of Utah
Laura Garson
Special Education Teacher / IEP Coordinator
BS — Chestnut Hill College · M.Ed. Special Ed./Early Child Edu. — Holy Family University · M.Ed. Educational Leadership — St. Joseph’s University
Siani Johnson
Assistant Teacher
BS — Virginia State University
Helen O’Dell
Asst. Teacher/Staff Association Method Trainer
B.S. Ed. — West Chester University
Kevin Keenan
Assistant Teacher
BS — West Chester University
Erin Duffy, SLP
Speech Language Pathologist
B.S. — LaSalle University · M.S. — Loyola University Maryland
Jennifer Flynn
Administrative Assistant
BS — Widener University
Jian Hua Wen, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist
MS — Thomas Jefferson University
Naderia Brower, RN, BSN
School Nurse
DCCC & Wilmington University
Emily Kochanowicz, SLP
Speech Language Pathologist
BLA — Temple University · Post-Baccalaureate in Communication Science and Disorders — LaSalle University · M.S. Speech Language Pathology — Widener University
Meghan Levy, M.A., CCC-SLP
Speech Language Pathologist
B.S. — Pennsylvania State University · M.A. — Temple University
Erin Edwards
Registered Behavioral Technician — In Progress
Lawren Baggio, COTA/L
Occupational Therapist
Harcum College
Dior Lawrence
Staff
Board of Trustees
Melinda A. Kotler
Founder
Talk School
Jason Borrelli
Board Chair
Managing Director, EQT Real Estate
Jose Fernandez
VP of Operations
Savage Services
Suzanne M. Fernandez, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University
Maria Goodine
Federal Employee
Martin A. Kotler
Professor Emeritus
Widener University School of Law
Louise Link Saruk
Co-Founding Parent
Janet Gillespie
Head of School (Retired)
The Janus School
Jena Croxford
Co-Founder
VIM Collaborative
Jonathon Zweifler
Talk School Parent
Founder/CEO, Reed AI
Special Education Jobs at The Talk School
Come work with The Talk School
The people who thrive here collaborate across disciplines, and stay curious about every child. In a field where clinicians are used to moving on, many of ours have built long careers here, because the school invests in its people the way it invests in its students. Take a look at our open roles.