Children learn in play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn." -O.' Fred Donaldson

Founded in 2011, SLPIM has grown to become one of Long Island's most trusted speech language pathology practices.   We have offices in Islandia and Hauppauge, NY and serve clients from Nassau and Suffolk County, with clients traveling to us from as far away as NYC and the East End.    

We are passionate about helping families meet their communication and feeding goals.  Your success is our success!  Our treatment plans use evidence-based practices that balance client/family preferences, research, and clinical experience.

We specialize in movement and play based therapy and incorporate a variety of tools, strategies and approaches including animal assisted therapy, DIRFloortime, hippotherapy, PROMPT, the SOS Approach to Feeding, and more.

SLPIM is a leader in the use of hippotherapy in speech treatment, offering support and mentoring to therapists throughout the United States.  We are the only American Hippotherapy Association Facility Member on Long Island.

Children learn best when they are having fun.  We believe it is important to create positive experiences with food, and to make communication motivating, internally driven and meaningful.  We do this by incorporating movement and play in a purposeful way.  This means that we work to find what our clients love and we use that to encourage improved feeding skills and optimal communication skills, rather than telling clients what to do and how to do it.  This helps to foster independence and generalization of skills across contexts and environments.  We believe that keeping client preferences and interests as well as their sensory, motor and cognitive abilities in mind during all sessions is critical to success.  

Our philosophy helps us bridge the gap between ineffective and effective skills while increasing independence and maximizing potential. 

Tina has been a New York State licensed speech language pathologist (SLP) since 2007.   In 2011, she opened SLPIM, to pursue her dream of helping children with speech, language and feeding difficulties by combining her two passions: speech-language pathology and horses.  Tina grew up and attended school on Long Island, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree from Molloy College in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology in 2005, and a Master of Arts degree from Long Island University - C.W. Post in Speech-Language Pathology in 2007.

Tina is a holds a Certificate of Clinical Competency (CCC) with the American Speech-language and Hearing Association (ASHA), and she holds a Teacher of Students with Speech and Language Disabilities (TSSLD) certificate with the New York State Department of Education.  Tina has been recognized as a board certified hippotherapy clinical specialist (HPCS) since 2011 and is one of only ten SLPs in the United States to hold this credential.  

Tina received the ASHA Award for Continuing Education (ACE) in August 2012, December 2015, August 2018, and August 2019. Her continuing education has included training in animal assisted interventions, AAC, hippotherapy, PROMPT, DIRFloortime, The SOS Approach to Feeding, NDT, LAMP, PECS, TEACCH, ethics and leadership development.  She is a graduate of the 2018-2019 ASHA Leadership Development Program (LDP).  Tina received the "Barbara Glasow Therapist of the Year Award" from the American Hippotherapy Association in 2019.  

Tina currently serves as the board president of the American Hippotherapy Association (AHA Inc).  She also serves as the Chair of the AHA Inc. Ethics & Advocacy committee, and is an active member of the organization's Reimbursement Committee.

 Professional memberships:

• Certified Member of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA)
• Member of the New York State Speech-Language Hearing Association (NYSSLHA)  
• Member of the Long Island Speech-Language Hearing Association (LISHA).  
• Lifetime professional member of the American Hippotherapy Association Inc.  
• Registered Therapist and CTRI with PATH Intl.   

Kim joined the SLPIM team in 2019. She was born and raised on Long Island and grew up with a love of animals and a passion to work with  children.  While studying psychology  at the University at Albany, Kim discovered the field of speech-language pathology and fell in love.  She earned her Masters degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Long Island University-Post Campus.  Throughout her education and professional career, Kim has worked with individuals ranging from birth to geriatrics, who  have a variety of speech and language difficulties.

Kim holds a New York State license in Speech-Language Pathology and is a  Teacher of Students with Speech and Language Disorders (TSSLD) with the  New York State Department of Education.  She also holds her Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) with the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association.  Kim is PROMPT trained.  She is a member of the American Hippotherapy Association (AHA) and a  member of the Long Island Speech-Language Hearing Association (LISHA). 

Kim enjoys combining her love for horses with her passion for the field of speech-language pathology through her work at SLPIM.