My name is Suzanne Ashman-Kipervaser and I have been working with children and their parents throughout New York City since 2008. I am a New York State licensed bilingual speech-language pathologist and am certified by the American Speech and Hearing Association.
I earned my Master of Science degree from Teachers College at Columbia University and since then have worked in various clinical and school-based settings in the New York City area. I've had the pleasure of working at the Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center in the Bronx, and the Gramercy School in Manhattan, a center based preschool. I've served as an adjunct clinical supervisor in the Speech-Language Pathology Department at Teachers College, Columbia University and was also a speech-language evaluator at the New York League for Early Learning where I provided comprehensive multilingual speech-language and feeding evaluations. I have served on many teams over the years and collaborate regularly with classroom teachers, special educators, psychologists, learning specialists, SEITs, ABA therapists, occupational and physical therapists, and other related service providers.
English and Spanish are my native languages. I also speak French. I have expertise in bilingual language development and disorders and welcome any questions you may have regarding a multilingual child. I work closely with bilingual Spanish/English speaking families to support both languages, and can also partner with a French speaking therapist to treat a bilingual child collaboratively.
My clinical interests and my approach are varied. I treat children with a range of speech and language difficulties, monolingual and multilingual. I have a special interest in early intervention, working closely with families to help young children who have language delays or are at risk. I am deeply committed to working with children who present with developmental challenges such as autism spectrum disorder. My approach is family-centered and informed by DIR-Floortime, a developmental relationship-based approach as well as The Hanen Program (It Takes Two to Talk) which centers on teaching caregivers how to promote language, social skills and literacy during everyday activities. Other areas of expertise include early childhood language development, articulation/pronunciation issues and working with young children who stutter.
My goal is to create a trusting relationship with each child in order to tackle challenges together. I partner closely with parents, whether this means regularly speaking at the end of sessions, having phone calls, or emailing notes- whatever necessary to discuss goals, progress, and address challenges on a regular basis. Communicating often and clearly is an essential part of my commitment to families.