An Integrated Speech and Occupational Therapy School
25 years of experience – Built for children with no time to waste and that other programs can’t reach.
Every child here arrived because somewhere else could not meet their needs. The Talk School exists for exactly this kind of complexity: speech, language, sensory, and academic needs that require more than one kind of support at once, delivered by one team, in a specially designed building, using child-centered methods that have been developed and refined over the past 25 years.
The Only School for Complex Communication Needs in the Region
Therapy is not a period on the schedule. Its woven through the whole day.
Every teacher, therapist, and lesson plan here starts from the same premise: your child’s needs are not an exception to work around, they are the reason this program exists. Speech and occupational therapists work in the classroom, as well as individually in therapies, so nothing about how your child communicates has to be re-explained from scratch.
25 years, one purpose
A calm start, a communication check-in, and a classroom that already knows your child.
Real academics
Reading, math, science, and social studies happen alongside therapy, not after it, so nothing gets traded away.
Built for complexity
Math, science, and social studies, taught at each student’s pace, alongside peers.
Talk is not only a game changer, its a life changer
A Day In a Speech and Occupational Therapy Classroom
Every sound, every word, introduced one careful step at a time.
Therapeutic Interventions
Real-world skills building towards greater independence
Our therapeutic interventions target the specific skills a child needs to move through their day with more ease, whether that's regulating emotions, planning movement, or simply feeling settled enough to learn.
DIR/Floortime
Learning through connection and play
We meet each child where they are, following their lead through purposeful, therapist/teacher-guided play to build connection, communication, and confidence. This relationship-based approach is often known as DIR/Floortime.
Sensory Integration
Helping the world feel a little calmer
For many of our students, sounds, textures, and movement can feel like too much at once. Our sensory integration therapy helps children process the world around them so they can feel calm, focused, and ready to engage.
Comprehensive Therapy
Every therapy, working together
Speech, occupational therapy, and academics don't happen in separate rooms here. Our comprehensive therapy model weaves them together throughout the day, so nothing is left to chance and nothing is left out.
Learn more about the Therapies offered at The Talk School
Association Method and SPIRE: How We Teach Language
A full academic day, taught in a way your child can actually access.
We teach language the way you'd teach anything of urgency: moving as quickly as your child can, but as carefully as they need, never skipping ahead before they're ready.
Our language curriculum is called the Association Method, a structured approach that moves from single sounds to words, sentences, and stories. Reading is taught through SPIRE, a multisensory reading program built on the same step-by-step philosophy. Together, they help your child speak, read, and write, all growing from the same foundation.
Individualized Academics for Language and Speech Differences
How we teach changes. What we teach doesn’t.
Reading, math, science, and social studies all happen here too, across our 11-month school year. For a student with childhood apraxia of speech or another motor speech disorder, the difficulty was never the thinking. It was getting it out. So we teach the full curriculum and build the means to express it, in the same lesson and across every activity.
More Than Therapy
Room to laugh, create, and be a kid
Music therapy, art, gardening, and time with our beloved therapy dog give every student new ways to express themselves and connect with the people around them. As one of our staff members put it, at Talk there is no right or wrong way to learn.
From Our Families
Hear more from the families who found their way here.
The Talk School has been a true blessing for our family.
The support and progress I have seen over the years for my son Aiden, has been nothing short of remarkable. They have a special way of approaching my son’s struggle in communicating verbally. The staff does it with such patience, expertise, and compassion. It’s incredible to see how much my son has grown over the years! I’m so grateful for the caring environment they provide. I couldn’t recommend them more highly.
Beyond the numbers, there is hope!
When we found The Talk School, we found hope. Before we found The Talk School, we were lost. Statistics work against the non-speaking community, but Talk takes those numbers out of the equation. Our kiddo has a hard time showing how much he knows and understands. But having him at The Talk School, we finally have a place that not only sees our son's potential, but recognizes his natural intelligence.
For our family, Talk was a game changer and a life changer.
They figure out what he and the other kids need and they build around them. And when things are hard, they don’t make you feel like you’re on your own. They work through it with you because we’re all on the same team. And I really don’t know what our lives would look like if we hadn’t found Talk. It’s his school. It’s his place. And as his dad, that’s everything.
Talk has been the best decision we have made for Emmet, by far.
He continues to learn, be challenged, and grow in so many ways at this school. The curriculum, staff, and teachers go above and beyond and are truly invested in what they do. They bring out the best in Emmet, encourage him every day, and genuinely listen to him and understand what he needs to succeed. Thank you, Talk, for all you do every day and for your amazing team of dedicated superheroes who fight for our guy endlessly!
Want to know what life after Talk is like? See for yourself.
Take the First Step
See if this is the right fit, and learn how to begin
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about a day at The Talk School
Is therapy pulled out of the classroom?
Most speech and occupational therapy happens right in the classroom, alongside academics, so a child never loses learning time to get the support they need. Students also receive individual therapy sessions to address their own unique needs.
Does my child still get a real academic education at The Talk School?
Yes. Students study reading, math, science, and social studies across an 11-month school year, taught in a way built for how each child actually learns.
What is the Association Method?
It is our core language curriculum, a structured, step-by-step approach that builds from individual sounds your child can say while learning others, to words, sentences, and stories. It is one part of our Association Method and SPIRE approach to language and literacy.
How much therapy does a student receive each week?
Most students receive about 9.5 to 10.5 hours of speech and language therapy and 3 to 4 hours of occupational therapy each week, both in individual sessions and woven through the school day.
What ages does The Talk School serve?
While licensed for ages 3–21, student readiness for a full school day usually begins at ages 4–5. Families looking for placement in our youngest class are encouraged to begin the admissions process prior to the student turning 5 years old.
Invest In What's Next
Every child here has a world inside them locked behind the barriers of their individual challenges.
The Talk School breaks down those barriers and opens doors to brighter futures. But we can’t do it alone, we need your help. Investing in The Talk School doesn't just fund a program. It funds the therapies, the classrooms, and the years of work it takes for one child to find their voice. As we look toward our 25th anniversary, we're growing what's possible: more seats, more research, more proof that this approach changes lives.
