Testimonials

How lucky we feel to have had Zahava work with our son! Her kindness and warmth combined with her skill made the process of speech therapy incredibly smooth. Our son made great progress due to Zahava's precise and individualized treatment plan, combined with her amazing ability to connect and to keep him interested. We are so grateful and couldn't recommend her more highly.

- Tom & Katherine Sohn

Zahava has been our son's speech therapist for the last three years and his progress has been phenomenal. Max worked with three different therapists before Zahava, and none of them delivered results like she did: under her compassionate guidance our son went from struggling with three-word utterances to speaking in sentences and carrying on conversations. Zahava is nothing short of amazing.

-Michelle Holmes

My wife and I have had the pleasure of knowing Zahava for the last year. Our daughter Samantha has had a speech delay that has been quite distressing for our family. From the first moment meeting Zahava we were impressed with her demeanor and ability to make our daughter smile early on. She greets Sam at the door and brings great joy into Sam’s world. Samantha now routinely waits by the door for “Z” to come and play with her.

My wife and I have learned a great deal through Zahava. She has taught us the importance of observing, waiting and listening for Sam to initiate. Zahava has the patience of a saint and is encouraging to both the parents and the child. Through Zahava’s instruction we have become better people and parents.

Zahava has made our therapy sessions fun and educational for the family. She has taught us the importance of visual aids such as books, toys and the importance of music in a developing young mind. Zahava has become more than a speech therapist. She is a member of the family and a good friend. She has taken the fear out of our daughter’s speech apraxia and has replaced it with hope and optimism for a brighter future for our precious daughter.

In short, Zahava is the single biggest reason Samantha has progressed so far in such a short amount of time. I would recommend Zahava to any family in need without reservation.

- Bill and Becky Tontz

Zahava worked with my son Andy for three months. In three months, my son’s vocabulary went from under 100 words to almost 500. Each and every time “Z” (as my son called her) worked with Andy, he amazed me with all the new words that came out of his mouth. He would then typically continue to use those words from that point onward, long after the therapy session. Zahava used a wide variety of strategies and tools to elicit language from, as well as teach language to, Andy. In addition to all the new words Andy learned, I think the main reason I would recommend Zahava is her warm personality and ability to connect with Andy. The therapy sessions were fun and play based. My son tends to be shy with people he doesn’t know well, and so I was very pleasantly surprised at how quickly he warmed up to Zahava. He always talked about Z during the week, and always looked forward to the therapy sessions. His typical reaction to her coming over was jumping up and down and smiling and laughing. He tended to be in his best mood of the week when she was here! I would highly recommend Zahava to anyone looking for an effective, personable, professional, and play based speech therapist for their child.

- Tiffany Fletcher

Zahava has made a world of difference for my autistic daughter Mika. After a year of speech therapy with Zahava, my non-verbal four year old has tripled her vocabulary and length of utterance. Her fun, engaging style and techniques completely captivate Mika, who honestly begs to go to sessions with her beloved Ms. Z. Zahava eagerly shares her expertise and partners with parents, providing guidance, resources and support in reinforcing skills at home. She has provided a foundation to be built upon for a lifetime. Thank you Zahava!
– Lisa Krolikowski

Zahava Friedman clearly has passion for her work as a speech language pathologist. Her sessions were fun and exciting for our daughter, Maya, who would light up when Zahava arrived for our weekly in-home sessions. Zahava's strategies were quite effective, and we were thrilled to witness Maya's speech grow week after week. Zahava was very good at explaining her strategies to us while a session was in progress. We learned many techniques from her, and were able to incorporate them into our daily routines with Maya. We are so grateful for having the opportunity to work with Zahava!

- Rose & Marcus Espejo

Both of my children (Audrey - 5 yrs old, Christopher – 4 yrs old) have been diagnosed with a speech & language delay and Zahava has been their speech therapist (Audrey for 3 years and Christopher for 1 year). Zahava encourages my kids by incorporating the goals from their IEP’s to improve their communication. She is extremely professional & very reliable. I feel that I am always well informed of my children’s progress. Both of my kids always talk about “Miss Z” and my son constantly sings the songs that he learns from “Miss Z” therapy sessions. She always has my children’s best interest at heart and my husband & I feel very fortunate to have her as our children’s therapist.

– Beth Hilliard

Ms. Z gave my son words. My 3 year old, who had been in speech therapy for nearly 2 years before meeting her, had few to no words. He had no conclusive diagnosis, but the only absolute fact was that he could not speak. At the time, he communicated only with sign language, but had no hearing deficit. Within one year of working with Ms. Z's cutting edge speech therapy ideas, he was speaking in full sentences! His progress continues to this day. Thank you Ms. Z!
– Anne Marie Counsil

My son has made great progress in his two short years with Zahava Friedman as his Speech Therapist. In the beginning he was speaking only syllables in attempts to communicate. Zahava worked with him and through a combination of verbal, pictoral and signing techniques he has blossomed into an effective communicator. Although he continues to require speech sessions, he now speaks in sentences, can make his needs known and is visibly less frustrated with attempts to communicate. My son loves “Ms. Z”. We believe her ability to connect with the kids is her biggest asset. The kids work hard and improve dramatically with her but they are only aware they are playing and having fun. We appreciate all Ms. Z has done for our family.

– Tamara DeBeliso

We love our son's speech therapist, Zahava! She is really caring and fun and will go the extra mile to help her kids. My son receives therapy from Zahava at school but in addition, Zahava has been to our house a couple of times in order to help make him more comfortable with her. These extra visits have helped enormously and he will happily chatter away with her at school thus making his speech sessions very productive. I have participated in many sessions with them and Zahava makes it so much fun! We love her songs and activities and find them to be great tools to also use at home. We are very happy to have her as our son's speech therapist and look forward to continuing to work with her.

– Pam Larson

Miss Z is amazing!! She's able to touch so many children and families. Her impact on ALLLLL the students in my classroom is insurmountable and eternal. It warms my heart knowing there are people like her supporting kids with disabilities, especially autism. She posseses an innate ability to understand and appreciate the dynamic needs of special children. She is truly a precious gem.

– Aloha, Ms. Bush

Special Educator, Early Childhood

Ms. Z worked with my youngest son who was recently diagnosed with Autism. In the short month and a half that she worked with him, he started to sign “more” and babble. She gave us suggestions, tips and also provided handouts that helped us. It was a true pleasure working with Ms. Z. She is the BEST speech therapist that we’ve worked with because she is professional, extremely knowledgable, compassionate, patient and fun! Between our two sons, we’ve worked with different speech therapists from the Regional Center, Kaiser and Children’s Hospital. Her genuine passion, enthusiasm and endless energy come across in her work. We will definitely miss working with her. I would highly recommend Ms. Z’s services to every family who needs an AMAZING speech therapist who can deliver results.

-N. Nguyen

Zahava is a kind, caring and passionate therapist. She loves her job and it shows. She goes above and beyond what is expected of a professional by treating her clients as if they were family. The West Coast will miss her dearly! -Lydia & Parker

Miss Z. has been working with my daughter Meg for a year and half. My daughter did not know or use many words at 3 years old. Her vocabulary has been improving tremendously and her use of new words in sentences has also been improving. Her clarity in her speech is impressive. I have to thank Miss Z for all the improvements I have seen so far with Meg. Meg loves Miss Z and describes her time with Miss Z with so much excitement. Miss Z is not only helping my little one, she is a tremendous help to me too by providing guidance and suggestions in dealing with my daughter's strong willed attitude. She has been very responsive in replying to my email queries as well as making time available whenever I have requested to discuss my daughter's progress or areas that need more attention at home. Miss Z is an excellent speech therapist and I applaud her many efforts in helping children like my daughter. I know that both children and their parents will be rewarded with her services as a speech therapist.

    – P. Goverdhan

Zahava is dedicated, passionate, and brilliantly gifted at what she does. She has been working with my 3 year old autistic daughter, Ada, for less than a year, and the difference is beyond remarkable. Ada had been receiving speech therapy and ABA for almost 8 months when Zahava first started seeing her. She was making progress, but she still had no words. Within weeks of Zahava joining Ada's team, and educating my husband and me on techniques we could use, Ada said her first word (go!), and she now has well over 100 words, including many 2 and 3 word phrases. Quite simply, Zahava changed our lives.

- Nick and Hannah Cole

Ms.z worked with my son Jeyden for over a year. She helped my son with his vocabulary tremendously by the time we came to the end of our sessions Jeyden knew how to express him self and use all the skills she thought him not only did she help Jeyden but she also help us as parents and also took the time to show my daughter skills to understand her brother. She was super loving, caring and always had nothing but positive energy. My family and I will always be great full for all her dedication to get Jeyden to where he is today.

-Samantha Aviles

I'm so incredibly thankful that Zahava Friedman was my son's speech therapist. She is most definitely "One of Kind"! Zahava, came into our lives when Danny could not make out most words. Only myself (his Mother) was able to understand him and most days even I didn't know what he was trying to communicate. I'm not exaggerating when I say she is patient, kind, fun, understanding, creative and overall brilliant when it comes to working with children. I found myself learning new ways to communicate with my son and overall becoming a better Mother to a child who was struggling. Knowing that your child is learning at a different pace than most is hard but having the right person to help your child is absolutely everything!

-Sarah B

Zahava Friedman is the best speech and language therapist that I have ever met and that I could have wished for the care of my son David.

As a primary care physician myself, I’m lacking adequate words to start describing Zahava Friedman work. Her work ethics, dedication, expertise, profound knowledge, performance, flexibility, patience, evidence-based approach, knowledgeable and update in current research and practice guidelines, education/counseling/reassurance to us as family members keeping us up to date in David’s plan of care, expectations, giving is reassurance on a weekly basis explaining us David’s progress so far, prognosis, and BEYOND!

Zahava made me feel we were all “Team David”. Her UNCONDITIONAL DEDICATION TO DAVID’s progress positively impacted my Son’s development FOREVER. Until this day, she continues defining his amazing progress and milestones, in the distance, through her Youtube videos “Mrs Z Academia we call it and David loves it!

It is my PERSONAL OPINION (AND FORMAL/OFFICIAL PROFESSIONAL RECOMMENDATION AS A PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN to all parents in need of Speech & Language services), that it is on the BEST INTEREST and well-being of your child for you to NOT hesitate choosing Mrs Zahava Friedman as your SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPIST. Your child will THANK YOU FOREVER (and I bet your child will love her too forever, just as my David still does!!-almost 2 years after Zahava’s intervention.

THANK YOU Mrs. Zahava, you have changed our lives and I we will be forever grateful for your kindness and dedication as David’s Early Intervention SL therapist.

David Cabret-Almodovar &
Dr. Wanda Almodovar, MD, MT (ASCP)
Internal Medicine Physician
“HopeMD Institute of Integrative Healthcare, Medical Aesthetics & Human Development, INC”
“HopeMD Concierge Health & Medical Aesthetics, LLC”
CEO and Founder