Early
Connections
Ursula Marin, MA, CCC-SLP
Early
Connections
Every Child Has Something to Say
Research-based literacy assessment and structured reading intervention for children with dyslexia and other reading difficulties.
When a child isn't communicating the way you expected, the building blocks of language haven't come together yet, or the way they communicate hasn't been recognized and supported. My job is to find where connection is breaking down, meet your child exactly where they are, and build communication that's genuinely theirs. You'll leave understanding what's going on and what comes next.
Here's How We Work Together
Step 1 · Comprehensive Speech-Language Evaluation
A full evaluation shows how your child understands language, uses it, plays, and connects — and where the gaps are. I look at the current sounds they use and their patterns, how much language they understand and express so therapy starts in the right place with a baseline to measure real progress against.
Step 2 · Consultation & Plan
We sit down and walk through what I found: your child's strengths, where communication is breaking down, and what's driving it. Then we build the plan together — what we target first, how we'll work, how often we meet — plus concrete things you can do at home right away.
Step 3 · Therapy That Follows Your Child
Play-based, one-on-one sessions built around how your child already communicates. I draw on Hanen parent coaching, gestalt language processing (NLA), declarative language, meeting your child in their interests and motivation.
Caregivers are welcome in every session.
Step 4 · Progress Monitoring
I track progress every session — new words, longer utterances, clearer speech, more back-and-forth. That data drives what's next: skills that are solid move on, ones that need more time get approached a different way. Your child's own development sets the pace, and you'll always know where they are.
My Approach
Communication doesn't develop on a schedule, and it doesn't develop the same way in every child. Progress happens when therapy honors how your child already connects, builds on their motivation, and brings you in as their most important communication partner. That's the philosophy behind every evaluation and every session I provide.
Child-Led
Therapy follows your child's interests and motivation — because kids learn language when they have something they want to say.
Neurodiversity-Affirming
I support your child's own communication, including AAC and gestalt language, rather than forcing one "right" way to talk.
Developmentally Informed
I meet your child at their actual stage and build the next step, not the step a chart says should come now.
Evidence-Based
I use approaches grounded in research on how children develop language, chosen to fit your individual child.
Parent Partnership
You're in the sessions and you leave with real tools, so communication keeps growing between visits, not just during them.
About Ursula
Ursula Marin, MA, CCC-SLP, is a licensed speech-language pathologist and the founder of Early Connections Speech Therapy, where she brings the science of language development to the teaching of reading. She is trained in Orton-Gillingham structured literacy through IMSE's IDA-accredited OG+ program and has worked with children and families since 2011. Because reading is built on spoken language, Ursula's dual expertise means she can identify and treat the underlying skill gaps — phonological, linguistic, or attentional — that tutoring alone often misses.