Therapy Spot

As a Case Manager, I refer to Simone Friedman SLS whenever possible. Simone has purposely and thoughtfully developed a team of Speech Language Pathologist's who combine knowledge, skill, creativity, and personality - the perfect recipe for the challenging clients that I support. Furthermore, as a mum, I access Simone Friedman SLS for my son, for assistance with social skills and communication. He's had great service and made great gains through both individual counselling and group sessions. Simone Friedman SLS definitely has my endorsement, both professionally and personally.

If I could give a minus, I would. Unfortunately, I was mislead by a group of parents that contacted this place and they assured us that they had experience working with individuals with autism and other developmental delays. We were told that in order to join the program, we had to pay $180 for an assessment. We would later be given a report (which we never received). I met with one of the speech pathologists that we were told would be running the program. She seemed knowledgable during the assessment but the actual social skills group was a joke. The speech pathologist was constantly rotating between two people (there wasn't consistency). When parents within our group voiced concerns, we met with Simone who said she took all our feedback and would change the program. In the end, none of us received a written report on any progress that was made, nor did I get a copy of the initial assessment. Oh yes, during our parental feedback meeting, we were told that due to the price point we were paying (which they determined), there was a time limitation (presumably they claimed to under charge us for the program), therefore there was a time limit and basically we didn't get much feedback nor could we ask further questions. All in all, I wasted a $600 and it was based on false hope. This was 2 years ago, but I think people need to know the ins and outs of this business. Subsequent follow ups were made to request a copy of the initial assessment and a report at the end of the program and emails were ignored.

We were referred to Simone Friedman SLS by another speech therapist following a stroke which affected my father's communication. Since starting work with Ophelia and Simone at the clinic, we have noticed improvements in my Dad's speech. He has truly enjoyed working with both Ophelia and Simone who have each shown a great deal of patience and compassion in working through the challenges associated with speech loss following a stroke. I would absolutely recommend Simone Friedman SLS to anyone seeking speech language therapy for any type of traumatic brain injury.

I have worked with Simone Friedman and her employees for over 15 years. As a case manager, I have referred multiple clients to this company and have had only positive experiences. Our clients (of all ages - Pediatric to Geriatric) have been treated with care and professionalism, with goals worked toward through their evidence-based practice. Simone personally oversees the brain injury division in her practice and mentors her clinicians on creative treatment approaches that will engage the client. Her team is empathetic, well-equipped to deal with complex issues, accessible, client centered and team players . I would highly recommend Simone Friedman Speech-Language Services to assess and/or treat any Speech-Language and/or Cognitive-Communication needs that you may have.

I would like to thank the wonderful staff at Therapy Spot for their tremendous effort and support shown towards my son and my family. They have provided us with the necessary tools to ensure his success in ventures ahead. My son can now be better prepared for the world in front of him. In the year attending Therapy Spot , we have seen growth and progress in our son in all areas. He is more engaged and social with his family as well as his peers. I would highly recommend Therapy Spot to anyone looking for support and dedication that you can not find elsewhere!

I wanted to take some time to express my family’s sincere gratitude and appreciation for the services that were provided to my father at the Therapy Spot. My father had a severe stroke which left him with severe aphasia and we sought a consultation with the Therapy Spot for adult SLP services for him. First, it was amazing that the clinic is wheelchair accessible. From the very first meeting at the consultation, we were extremely impressed with the level of knowledge and professionalism displayed by our therapist Leanne. It was clear that Leanne knew her stuff and we were cautiously optimistic and excited to pursue services at the clinic after meeting with her. Fast forward to months later, we were not disappointed with our choice to use Therapy Spot. Leanne was absolutely fantastic – my father went from saying no words to full sentences and a having a vocabulary of words. He surprised himself many times as his abilities were manifested during his therapy sessions. He was always treated with patience, dignity and respect. He left sessions feeling empowered and with more confidence to cope with his aphasia and other aspects of his recovery. We also had many opportunities to interact with other staff at the clinic who were very open, friendly and supportive. I can’t say enough good things about Leanne and the clinic. We are extremely grateful for our experience at Therapy Spot and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants top quality SLP services!! Thank you!!

My partner worked with numerous Speech Language Pathologists from Therapy Spot after a severe brain injury. After months of hard work, he went from barely speaking to sounding just like himself again, and his cognition improved immensely. The treatment and support he received was always respectful, yet honest and challenging. His therapists were happy to come to us when he was still unable to walk, which made an invaluable difference in our lives. I can't recommend Therapy Spot and its knowledgable therapists and SLPs enough. Thank you for everything!

First and foremost I'd like to say that the individuals who work at this clinic are very professional. They follow rigorous training techniques that they call "holistic", but in the end, it is pure ABA therapy, which to this day is a controversial therapy for autistic children. They document and chart everything, obsessively. Bar graphs and line graphs expressing where a child is in relation to a goal, week-to-week. Every child is different and will respond differently to various therapeutic styles. You need to find what works best for you. I don't blame the style they employ here, although perhaps they should be more honest and say that they are using behaviour modification techniques that are directly connected to ABA. And it can be pretty harsh stuff and if you're not fully read-up on what it entails, it can be a shock. Which it was to us. The techniques employed by the main therapist we worked with were behaviour modification, full stop. The main point we gleaned as a family was that a child's emotional reaction is ultimately manipulative, and the child is always the problem. There was never a single moment where I felt that my child was treated as a human being, rather than a research project. There was an abundance of blame applied when things went wrong, whether overtly or passive-aggressively. We never felt truly comfortable communicating our concerns over the very long amount of time we spent here. When concerns were communicated, we were told that the clinic's interests come first, and the family's concerns are "ridiculous" and we "don't understand the concept". The conduct was truly shocking. That should have been our first red flag, but we pressed on, fearing that if we didn't, we would lose our one and only support system. We were increasingly disturbed by the conduct of the therapists at this clinic. If a child was ever showing distress, they had two methods of dealing with it: ignoring, or berating (sternly asking a crying child, "What? What is it? Why are you crying?"). From our vantage point, their goal was to intimidate or deprive the child until the behaviour disappeared. And if it wasn't working, the blame would shift to the family. I will give credit where it is due: some of their techniques genuinely changed my child's behaviour. But now, I am forced to wonder at what cost. While some behaviours abated, others mysteriously increased. Self-harm and violence towards others. My child became notably harder on themselves, developed increasingly poor self-esteem, and seemed overall less happy - though our goals were being met, our family struggled. We were repeatedly told things like, "this will feel hard for you, and you will feel like you're doing something wrong, but it's what your child needs right now." We believed that we just needed to soldier through the pain. Eventually, though, we realized that there are many other support systems available. And there are other ways to approach autistic children and their struggles. We have since spoken with numerous other therapists about our experiences, and they have thankfully empathized and made sense of what we went through as a family. We have learned techniques that employ compassion, gentle parenting, and proactivity. We have seen immense changes and gained stability that, previously, we were told would be unattainable with our child. The bottom line here is, if something feels instinctively wrong, then it IS wrong. Having a post-graduate degree does not make someone a good fit as a therapist. If a person lacks empathy and patience, then their therapeutic techniques will breed that in the child. This review was very difficult to write, in part because we did gain and learn so much, they truly are professional and organized, and there was one therapist who was absolutely stellar to work with. Unfortunately, the fit was wrong from the beginning and we did not quit when we should have. I am certain there are families who have had amazing experiences here and will continue to do so, but ours was a very painful one and I am thankful it is over.