My daughter was treated for tongue thrust as a child. That was over 30 years ago. Little did I know that I had the same tendency that contributed to many dental issues that compounded as I got older. (I was a thumb-sucker as a child.) After many years I began to look for more wholistic dental solutions and discovered how tongue thrust was affecting everything. Along with other therapies, I began working with Sharon Coale to overcome my lazy tongue. She is very knowledgeable and confident in her approach, providing targeted exercises to strengthen my tongue and improve facial tone.  I have enjoyed working with her. Most of all, she helped me overcome a lifetime of poor habits that will help maintain the progress of my other therapies.

Jan D.

Our experience with Sharon has been exceptional. My son spent 8 months unsuccessfully in speech therapy elsewhere before working with Ms. Coale. Sharon identified the underlying issues of his tongue thrust, his resting tongue posture, and chewing and swallowing patterns and how they affected his speech. She worked with him to correct those things first which then allowed him to make the corrections to his speech permanently. Sharon was able to connect with my son in a way that made him want to go to speech therapy and always explained things to me so that I understood what he needed to do at home. She was supportive to both my son and me and always made me believe that we could achieve good speech with him. I feel extremely fortunate to have found Sharon and would highly recommend her!

Karen S. – Bethesda

My daughter has been seeing Sharon Coale to address significant oral motor, articulation and expressive language difficulties.   Not only has my daughter made amazing progress, but she has loved working with Sharon every step of the way.  Although Sharon’s expertise is speech and language, she has a very holistic view of children.  She truly wants children to reach their highest potential in all areas.  She is very knowledgeable about kids beyond their speech and language abilities and has given me excellent advice on how to best help my daughter.  Over time Sharon has become much more than just my daughter’s speech therapist.  She is a good friend and someone I trust.  I’m confident my daughter would not be doing as well as she is today without Sharon’s help.

Marisa, Parent

By the time we found Sharon, my wife and I were getting desperate. Over a couple of years, our 9-year old daughter Maria had worked with several therapists to overcome a couple of speech disorders (both in English and our native tongue – Bulgarian), but with very little to show for it. Sharon impressed us from the first encounter: she was able to quickly diagnose the issues and explain them to us in plain English, set out a course of therapy, and give us a realistic prognosis of what could be achieved when. She is not only very experienced and well-qualified technically but has a fantastic rapport with the kids – Maria loved spending time with her. Most importantly, she delivers results – Maria gradually overcame her disorders, and today there isn’t even a trace of them. And, although the issues weren’t exactly identical, Sharon did the same thing all over again for our middle child Anton: with Sharon’s help, he has made huge strides forward – evolving from weekly therapy sessions to independent exercise at home, with just periodic monthly visits to monitor progress. We do hope our youngest – Teddy – will not require any speech therapy but should it be the case, we know who to go to. I’d recommend Sharon to friends and family without any reservation!

Lubo Varbanov – Bethesda, MD

Sharon’s expertise and enthusiasm shine from the first consultation a client has with her. She is particularly adept at helping both children and their parents understand, in a practical way, how any given exercise will build upon another in order to achieve results. Sharon’s commitment to her clients’ success is also evident in her patience and creativity in making therapy adjustments when needed. Her willingness to go the extra mile for her clients make her an indispensable asset to a child’s health and educational team.

Angela Q. – Client Parent

Sharon is an amazing speech therapist. We had great success as she worked with my daughter on tongue thrust and swallowing issues. Although my daughter was hesitant at first, she came to love going to therapy so she could spend time with Sharon. Sharon is a lovely person who develops strong rapport with both parents and kids which enables her to motivate clients to be successful. I cannot say enough positive things about Sharon as a person and professional.

A very happy and grateful mom