December 2017
Thank you so much for taking the time to evaluate him. You are beyond talented with kids and you brought us peace of mind! You were fabulous and made him feel so comfortable!
Janet M.
Alexandria
August 2017
Joelle came to us highly recommended; after 2 sessions, we could see why. We sought out Joelle's expertise to assist our 6-year-old daughter with her "r" sound, as our school would not address it until age 9. Joelle agreed with our interest in taking a proactive approach. Joelle is personable & relatable, & our daughter adores her. She looks forward to her weekly sessions. Joelle uses easily employed & understandable techniques with creative, fun lesson plans. Amazing & results oriented.
A. Taylor
Alexandria
June 2017
My husband and I were very pleased with Joelle Dolas. Not only was she flexible and willing to work with us in a short time frame, but she had incredible rapport with our 2 1/2 year old son. Joelle was able to keep him effectively engaged and happy during an over 2-hour evaluation session, which resulted in a comprehensive report that gave us a clear plan of action to address our son's speech issues. It was a pleasure working with her and we recommend her highly.
Theresa W.
Annandale
February 2017
Ms. Joelle successfully cured our 8 y.o. daughter of a long-standing speech impediment and lisp. We tried several different therapists before landing in Ms. Joelle's office and thank goodness we found her! I was not confident anybody could "fix" the speech problems our daughter exhibited, which made her impossible for strangers to understand and impeded her social interactions. In a very short time our daughter was speaking perfectly and now we forget she ever had speech problems!
Stephanie M.
Alexandria
November 2016
To whom it may concern:
I want to express my highest regards for Joelle Dolas, who worked with our daughter, E to address her severe case of apraxia when she was around 18 months old.
E’s speech was limited to saying only “Mom” and she essentially could not say any other letter or word. As a result of her inability to speak, she was extremely shy and had a trouble connecting with others – particularly adults.
During her time working with Joelle, E developed a trust and fondness with her as she progressed over the course of 16 months to being able to hold a full conversation with anyone. Joelle provided great exercises for us to complete with E at home (targeting language, articulation, and volume) and worked with us to address our concerns about E during the whole process. Joelle was also extremely helpful in addressing our concerns about E and her wellbeing. Joelle provided us with reassurance about her progression while also being realistic about timing and what she needed to accomplish to get to the next level of speech. In addition, she helped us understand when it is necessary to be firm to ensure she was properly utilizing the skills she was learning (e.g., prompting her to tell us what she wanted from the refrigerator rather than just pointing to what she wanted). This is where I was most appreciative – the balance between compassion and, as I mentioned before, firmness while being consistently encouraging to E throughout.
I think the best recommendation may come from E herself who enjoyed the sessions and her homework and looked forward to working with Joelle every week.
I highly recommend Joelle Dolas to any individual searching for a kind, skilled and impactful speech therapist.
Sincerely,
Marc M
October 2016
Joelle was our sons’ speech therapist for 3+ years seeing them each weekly for a 30 minute session. She began working with both of our sons when they were newly 3 years old and continued working with them until they were 5 and 6 ½ years old, respectively.
As is likely the case for most parents, we were uncertain about the need for speech therapy when we initially contacted Joelle about our oldest son, but thought it was likely something that our son could benefit from as his articulation didn’t seem on par with his 3 yr old peers. The initial evaluation was quick, yet thorough, and the results were provided in a clear and detailed manner. She was always wonderful about answering all of my questions and addressing concerns. Our younger son was a late talker and went through the same evaluation one year later when he too seemed to have some delays. Joelle talked me through getting a hearing screening done and getting a neurologist’s evaluation with our younger son to rule out apraxia of speech. Her support and guidance were appreciated.
Both boys always enjoyed their lessons with Ms. Joelle and would often argue as to who could go first. Whether they were playing games or reading books/worksheets, Joelle always kept it new and interesting and incentivized both their participation in session and homework with regular prizes.
The improvement both of our sons saw in terms of articulation was amazing with the help of Ms. Joelle and both are no longer seeing a speech therapist for articulation.
Our older son did work with Ms. Joelle on reading skills during his kindergarten year practicing phonograms, etc. It complemented his classroom lessons and was a definite benefit to increasing his reading skills. In 1st grade, he is now reading great, and we still regularly utilize some of the techniques suggested by Ms. Joelle to get him through a difficult word/sentence.
We will always be grateful for the time Ms. Joelle spent working with both our boys and would highly recommend her to other families needing similar services.
Vicky H. - Alexandria, Virginia
October, 2016
It is with great pleasure that I write this letter of recommendation for Joelle Dolas. Joelle worked with my son for two years, two to three times per week. Joelle is a consummate professional with an incredible ability to work with children from the very young to teenagers, bringing out their best while having fun. He was 2 years old when he started with Joelle. At the time he was not even vocalizing and was incredibly deficient in his level of vocabulary. We were so worried about his future and ability to catch up with his peers. And even more importantly, how his lack of language and speech ability would effect his behavior and our ability to identify and respond to his needs.
Week after week we saw progress in our son. If he was feeling reluctant about a session or being clingy, Joelle would engage his big sister to participate in an activity which always helped. Shortly after we started, both kids couldn’t wait to see Ms. Joelle again. Another important note about Joelle is her communication with parents. When my nanny brought our son to speech therapy, Joelle always sent home notes detailing the activities for the day, what we needed to focus on at home and where he was improving. Finally, and while I feel guilty admitting this, I would at times compare him to his older sister and how she was much more advanced at his age, etc. etc. Joelle was a source of comfort and confidence. She would always remind me gently that boys and girls are different, that his strengths were different and just as fantastic and that he was making great progress.
Joelle let us know from the beginning it would take time given where our son was at and hard work but we would get there and she was correct. He is now a thriving 5-year old who doesn’t stop talking! Most importantly, one would never know he had speech challenges in his early years. It has been a little over a year since we worked with Joelle but every time we pass the building he received speech therapy in he and his sister say “Hi Ms. Joelle”!
Thank you Joelle for all your work with our son. We will always remember you, your positivity, and the work you did with him.
Gina and family
