Testimonials
Hear from parents like you
“Our son’s speech improved by leaps and bounds”
When we first met Arefa we were very concerned about our son’s speech delay. Arefa put us at ease with her warm manner and expert knowledge. She worked with our son for a year during which we enjoyed close, clear communication and saw leaps and bounds in our son’s speech. Arefa also gave us wonderful insights into his behavior and went above and beyond in working with his teacher and OT. We still talk about Arefa at home and miss having her in our lives. While our son continues to have speech therapy now offered in his school, we miss the consistent communication and how much Arefa enjoyed celebrating and unpacking our wins and advances. She is so engaged and good at what she does that we strongly recommend her for any age child, for any speech therapy needs. Arefa is an absolute gem.
- Amy Lipkin
“Unlocked part of our son’s brain—and changed his life”
Arefa changed our son's life. At 2.5 our otherwise healthy, intelligent, happy child only said a handful of words and single consonant sounds and used made up signs to communicate. After a couple months of visits several times a week, he was putting multiple words together. It's like she unlocked that part of his brain. She opened the floodgates and months later he is speaking normally in full sentences. We had tried two other speech practices beforehand with no success and with one of them, a lot of frustration and fear. She came to our home for each visit, and our son would run to the door so excited when he heard her voice. To him it was an hour playdate with his toys and this fantastic, outgoing, warm friend. I cannot recommend her enough.
- Katie T
“Immediately impressed with how easily and quickly she related to our son”
We couldn't recommend Arefa more highly! Our son was delayed in speaking, and we started working with Arefa when he was 20 months (introduced through referral from our pediatrician). We were immediately so impressed with how easily and quickly she related to our son. She is able to engage with him so well, keeping his attention and encouraging him to verbalize with her within the first session. She also partnered with us on how we could best support his learning and development between therapy sessions. We've now "graduated" out of needing Arefa's services, as my son is now speaking/verbalizing right on track for his development. We're so grateful to Arefa for her help and guidance, and my son is still so excited to see "his friend Arefa" when we're out in the neighborhood. Also worth mentioning, all of my son's grandparents overlapped with one of Arefa's sessions in our home at some point. Every single one of them was so impressed by how well she worked with our son and how much they learned by observing her!
- Jessica Prager
“Within no time, my daughter was saying words and communicating”
Arefa worked with my daughter starting at under 2 years old, as she was not speaking at all. First thing to know about Arefa is that she is wonderful at helping a child feel comfortable. My daughter did not separate from me at that time except for a select few trusted adults, Arefa being one. Regarding her therapy, Arefa learned quickly what games my daughter responded best to and adjusted on the fly to keep her attention. From there, Arefa’s actual techniques to teach my daughter her sounds were, in short, effective. Within no time, my daughter was saying sounds and communicating. That was the beginning of a wonderful experience for my daughter facing and overcoming a challenge because of the right support. I am indebted to Arefa and highly recommend her services.
- Shara Mendelson
“Our son made great progress in catching up to his age cohort”
We’ve had a wonderful experience with Key to Growth. Our son has made great progress with Arefa over the past several years in terms of catching up to his age cohort for speech and comprehension. She goes above and beyond to be communicative with us as well as our son’s teachers in terms of how we can all support him. She developed a treatment plan for our son to determine which areas of his speech and comprehension most needed attention/ development and she discussed the game plan with us and keeps us in the loop on his progress after every session. Lastly and most importantly, our son really connects with her and is excited to see her. She has a really strong ability to meet him at his level and she is warm and inviting. She makes the sessions fun for him while making sure to teach the topics that are key to our son’s development. I’d highly recommend her to any families looking for speech therapy.
- Katherine Rollag
“Quickly adapted her strategies to suit my son’s individual needs and challenges”
Arefa was my son's speech-language therapist for over two years. She worked with him at our home and was absolutely incredible with him. I was present for most of my son's sessions and Arefa always took the time to speak with me about both what was working and ways that I could better support him. She really made it about our whole family, which was very helpful and important to me. Arefa was in frequent contact with my son's teachers and other therapists. Thankfully, because of this open communication she was able to understand that while he was making progress at home, he was really struggling with language at school and in other social settings. Arefa was able to quickly adapt her strategies to suit my son's individual needs and evolving challenges. Arefa is a gifted therapist who is engaging, smart and kind. We feel very fortunate to have had her as our son's therapist and could not recommend her more highly.
- Melissa Friedman
“Continues to grow her vocabulary at a rapid clip”
We feel so lucky that we found Arefa and are beyond grateful for all the help she has given us. Our daughter has continued to grow her vocabulary at a rapid clip! Arefa has a gift — we are so amazed by the work that she does.
- Seanna Brown
“So much compassion for
each child she works with”
Arefa is truly a wonderful human being who has so much compassion for each child she works with. I had the joy of working alongside Arefa in a school setting. Arefa was consistent in her approach and her creativity to meet each student where they were at. Her deep understanding of pragmatic language made her super effective working with our students on the autism spectrum. Her positive demeanor and fun affect truly allow her to connect with students of all ages. She is really a gem and I miss working with her all the time!
- Barbara Finnegan
“Wealth of knowledge in the
field of Speech and Language”
As an occupational therapist, I've worked side by side with Arefa and shared clients with her for several years working in a school setting as well as running a Sensory/Social Skills group together. She has a wealth of knowledge in the field of Speech and Language. I've witnessed her be an amazing advocate for the families she works with and will continue to refer and recommend Arefa to anyone looking for an experienced Speech and Language Therapist.
“Fantastic approach to children with a kind and patient demeanor”
I worked with Arefa at The Churchill School and Center in Manhattan which is a school for speech and language disabilities. Arefa was the head speech and language pathologist in the lower elementary school and proved to be very experienced and knowledgeable in this field. I can't say enough good things about Arefa. She has a fantastic approach to children with a very kind and patient demeanor, my kindergarteners and first graders always looked forward to their speech time with her as she always made her speech sessions fun and engaging. Arefa has a great awareness and understanding of each child's individual needs and I saw a lot of growth within each of my students after she worked with them. I could always rely on Arefa for support as she would go above and beyond to make sure she could help each child in the best possible way. I highly recommend her and I promise you will be very pleased if you choose to have her work with your child!
- Dominika McCauley
“Her ability to connect is truly impressive”
Arefa is such a talented professional and I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with her for several years at LearningSpring School. Her knowledge and ability to connect with students of all ages is truly impressive, and she approaches her practice through a developmental lens that’s centered around the child. She’s wonderful to work with and has so much to share!
- Julia Tchoi