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Why not now?
That’s the question that Michelle Mikviman, MS ‘21, asked herself before she opened up SpeakEasy Therapy, her own speech-language pathology (SLP) private practice, this past year.
Before going off on her own, Mikviman graduated from Salus University’s SLP program and started working at an early intervention agency where she completed her clinical fellowship year. After a year at that agency, Mikviman was excited and motivated to explore the profession, and took a leap of faith in opening her own practice. She currently sees around 15 to 16 patients, the majority pediatric, and typically sees patients with autism spectrum disorders, sensory processing disorders, feeding difficulties, articulation cases and speech delays. Her parent coaching goes hand in hand with her treatments and she works with parents as well as with her patients. In addition to her private practice, she keeps up with her adult skill set by contracting with a few home care agencies.
“The SLP program at Salus definitely prepared me for my professional career. My externships, both pediatric and adult, had really great supervisors who allowed me to do a lot of hands-on learning, in combination with my classes which were very hands-on as well,” she said. “It made me feel super prepared and confident to get out and start working.”
Mikviman’s entrance into the SLP profession started like most other healthcare professionals, having the desire to help others, but her personal background afforded her a unique perspective entering the profession.
“I am a first-generation American from Ukraine, and everyone in my family speaks Russian so I grew up bilingual, with Russian as my first language,” she said. “Going into college I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I wanted to help people. I had an SAT tutor suggest the SLP profession, I did some research, shadowed a few speech therapists, and haven’t looked back since.”
The SLP profession was exactly what she was looking for, affording her the opportunity to help patients and families in a variety of ways, and the flexibility to work with a variety of conditions.
“In the future, I am looking forward to growing my private practice and growing as a clinician,” said Mikviman. “I want to continue collaborating with families in order to provide the best possible therapy for their children that is catered to their unique needs.”
