With more than 20 years of experience, Maricarmen Angeles-Simon, M.A;CCC-SLP, is a bilingual (Spanish-English) American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) member and PROMPT-trained speech-language pathologist (SLP) emphasizing early intervention. Lanterman Regional Center in Los Angeles for which she provides home-based speech-language services to the pediatric population. She is a mother
of two little girls, ages 8 and 6. Originally from Lima, Peru, Maricarmen holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Universidad Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, and a master’s degree in speech-language pathology and learning disabilities and also a diploma in early intervention from CPAL (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú). During the first four years of her career, she was a child psychologist and speech language pathologist at Colegio América – Callao High School in Peru. In 2006, she was recruited to work in New York as a bilingual speech therapist for Achieve Beyond, where she completed her clinical fellowship year (CFY). In 2009, she relocated to Los Angeles, where she began working as a speech-language pathology assistant (SLPA) for the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), from Head Start to elementary, with a focus on the bilingual population. In 2011, Maricarmen received her SLP license and returned to her roots in early intervention for Achieve Beyond, this time providing home-based bilingual speech-language services. Maricarmen began her career working with kids with different disabilities, and she quickly discovered that she loved working with them. At the time, speech-language services were lacking in Peru, so she decided to fill the void. Not everybody can work with kids, especially babies. It takes a unique personality to be able to talk, play and laugh with them, and Maricarmen is naturally gifted in that area. She connects with children through play, and feels it’s crucial for children to see her as a friend, not as a teacher. When a child is happy and confident, he or she will learn. In addition to play-based therapy, Maricarmen’s philosophy includes parent/teacher coaching. She believes strongly in relationship-driven therapy models and treating the individual child within the context of his or her family and community. Regardless of the diagnosis, if parents believe in their children, they will improve. In 2017, Maricarmen launched Play & Talk Bilingual Therapy—a provider of quality home-based and in-clinic speech-language services to the pediatric population to enhance their verbal/non-verbal communication skills. This is accomplished by identifying concerns through specialized evaluations and developing goals to meet the needs of the child and the family. Language is one of the most important skills that children develop. There are several red flags that parents should notice in determining whether their child requires speech-language intervention:
• Inability to make eye contact.
• Limited social interaction. Babies tend to babble between the ages of 4–7 months, make gestures such as pointing between 7–12 months and have an understanding of what parents are saying between 7 months–2 years.
• Aggressive behavior. Sometimes children are unable to express their wants and needs, so they use their body language to talk.
• Not talking at the age he or she is supposed to start talking. If your child is 18 months old and is not saying at least 10 words, ask for help, because the sooner you get help, the sooner your child will start talking.
• Parents are unable to understand what their child is saying between the ages of 18 months–2 years.
• Inability to combine two or more words together by age 2.
• Difficulty making “easy” sounds, such as “P,” “B,” and “M” or saying words between the ages of 2.5–4 years.
