Helping your Child Achieve their goals through a holistic and family centered approach
Back Bay Speech & Occupational Therapy is a home based private practice that provides holistic and family centered services to the greater Boston area. We provide services to all ages in their home, community, or virtually. We offer speech, language, feeding, and occupational therapy evaluations and treatments. Consistent therapy is essential for progress, with an in-home model we see more consistent therapy and faster progress then clinic based therapy.
All of our therapists have advanced training in their areas of specialty and utilize an evidence-based, patient-centered, holistic approach to provide the best possible services. Services are individualized to improve engagement and therapy outcomes for each patient.
Back Bay Speech Therapy was established here in Boston in 2014. Our foundation is based on the core values of being the best possible therapists through continuing education and advanced training, helping others achieve their goals, and finding fun and happiness in all areas of life. And it all started with our founder, Lisa Butler. Using the company’s core values and providing therapy in a natural environment allows our patients to achieve the best possible outcome. We also want every patient to have access to quality therapy so our therapists travel to you. As more and more families came to us in need of specialized and personalized care, the team expanded. All of our therapists have specialty areas and we match each patient to the best-qualified therapist to facilitate the most positive individual outcomes. Each of our therapists has a smaller caseload than most clinic-based companies to allow for more time to focus on your treatment. In 2021, Back Bay Speech Therapy became Back Bay Speech & Occupational Therapy to continue to bring quality services to families in the comfort of their homes.
Therapeutic Journey
1) Sign up for a free consultation or call our office to go through the initial intake process.
2) Our administrative staff will complete a complementary benefits check with your insurance company to verify coverage and patient responsibility so you have an idea of what treatment will cost before getting started
3) In the interim, you will be matched with the best qualified therapist and provided with a day and time for your evaluation.
4) We ask that you complete our new patient paperwork a minimum of three days prior to your evaluation to give your therapist time to review and adequately prepare.
In most cases your child will need an evaluation as it allows the therapist to get to know your child’s strengths and weaknesses and formulate a treatment plan for therapy. If your child has been evaluated recently we may be able to use this evaluation in place of our own evaluation but must be reviewed by staff before making this decision.
Your therapist will review your/your child’s medical history, inquire about current concerns and discuss your goals and what you hope to achieve in therapy. Your therapist will then perform an objective evaluation and need time to score and report the findings. The therapist should be able to give you initial findings at the time of the assessment but likely needs time to analyze the results before recommending the type and frequency of therapy. Finally, there will be time to ask questions or revisit any topics needing additional clarification. You will receive a call from our administrative staff to book future appointments that will facilitate optimal progress and ensure you have appointment dates and times that work best for your schedule.
Your therapist will make a recommendation based on the results of the evaluation. It is hard to predict the frequency of therapy without a formal evaluation.
Our therapists are constantly evaluating their patient’s goals and updating based on progress. It is difficult to state an exact number for any therapy service as everyone responds differently to therapy and progresses at their own pace. Your therapist will discuss progress made in session regularly and prepare you for discharge when agreed upon by the therapist and client/client’s family.
Meet Our Staff
Lisa Butler, MS CCC-SLP, QOM
Lisa is the owner and director of Back Bay Speech Therapy and a Speech-Language Pathologist who works with infants, children, and adults with speech, language, swallowing and literacy disorders. Lisa’s passion for helping others in conjunction with her enthusiasm for working with young children has set the core values and standards of Back Bay Speech Therapy. Lisa finds it so rewarding to assist her clients and their families in achieving their goals while having fun in the process.
Lisa has been practicing pediatrics since the start of her career in multiple settings including, acute inpatient, outpatient, and home care, working with a variety of congenital and acquired disorders. Lisa holds advanced training in PROMPT, Michelle Garcia Winner’s Social Thinking™ program, Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing™ Program (LiPS), Talks Tools, is a Qualified Orofacial Myologist, and is on track to earn her COM (Certified Orofacial Myologist). Lisa specializes in articulation and phonological disorders, language disorders in ages 0-5, pediatric feeding and swallowing, and myofunctional disorders across the lifespan. She is licensed by the state of Massachusetts and is certified by the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association. Lisa received an ACE (Aware for Continuing Education) award from ASHA in 2022 and 2023.
Lisa holds a Masters of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions as well as a Bachelors of Science in Communications Sciences and Disorders from Emerson College in Boston, MA.
Micayla Bowman, MA CCC-SLP
Micayla is a licensed and practicing Speech-Language Pathologist at Back Bay Speech Therapy with advanced training in PROMPT. Micayla began her career working in the Plymouth, MA public school system where she provided speech and language treatment for students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Micayla has experience provided treatment in the areas of articulation, phonology, fluency, expressive and receptive language, as well as pragmatic language/social skills. Micayla has provided treatment across these areas to clients with concomitant disorders including Autism, Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD), learning disorders and social/emotional disorders. Micayla achieved an ACE award for continuing education through ASHA.
Micayla is passionate about working with children, adolescents and young adults to improve their communication skill set and ability to interact within their homes and community. Micayla creates a positive, patient and motivating environments to help clients achieve their goals. Micayla is also a registered yoga teacher and enjoys incorporating movement into sessions with clients to maximize motivation and participation, as needed.
Micayla obtained her Bachelors of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders, as well as her Masters of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Micayla holds her Certificate of Clinical Competences from the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA), and is licensed to practice in the state of Massachusetts.
Megan Buckingham, MS CCC-SLP
Megan is a practicing Speech Language Pathologist with Back Bay Speech Therapy. Megan started her career in a private preschool setting. She has experience working with children with fluency, language, phonological, articulation delays, and feeding disorders. Megan enjoys working with infants through adolescents. Her goals are to provide customized treatment plans that involve the whole family dynamic. Megan received her Masters of Science Education in Speech Language Pathology from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY and completed her bachelor’s degree at The State University of New York at Geneseo. She is licensed by the state of Massachusetts and New York. Megan is certified by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association.
Lori Goodrich OTR/L, C/NDT
Lori Goodrich is a certified and registered occupational therapist who earned her degree from Quinnipiac University in 2002. Since then, Lori has developed expertise and certifications in sensory integration and neurodevelopmental treatment. Lori also has extensive training related to feeding/mealtime therapy. She utilizes her knowledge in these core areas, alongside an ever-evolving understanding of other factors that influence the human experience, to provide a range of integrative and targeted services for clients of all ages and abilities across a variety of settings. Lori values meeting everyone she works with where they are at each moment. She prioritizes supporting their unique needs to promote growth in a way that is meaningful to them.
In addition to providing therapeutic services, Lori is passionate about providing accessible and meaningful educational opportunities for clients, parents, and professionals to support the needs of the community and those in it. She is the co-developer of an integrated approach to supporting individuals with eating, feeding and mealtime needs, as well as a developmental whole-body approach to handwriting. Lori feels fortunate to be able to share information in a wide variety of modalities including workshops, consultations, courses, and podcasts. In addition to her love for all things sensory and OT, Lori enjoys learning new art modalities and spending time in nature.
Olivia Palmer MS CF-SLP
Olivia is a Speech-Language Pathologist at Back Bay Speech & Occupational Therapy. She began her career at a specialty school for children with disabilities and at Connecticut Children’s outpatient center. Through her previous experience, Olivia had the opportunity to work with a variety of speech, language, and related disorders, including articulation, receptive and expressive language, fluency, feeding, alternative and augmentative communication (AAC), voice, and literacy. Olivia received her Masters of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from Sacred Heart University, as well as a Bachelors of Arts in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences from the University of Connecticut. At Sacred Heart University, Olivia was a recipient of the ABCs4ASD grant and studied literacy skills in children with disabilities.
Olivia enjoys working with children of all ages and abilities and is passionate about providing neurodiversity affirming care. She aims to implement functional communication systems for you and your family to enhance meaningful communication across contexts using play, routines, and age-appropriate language targets.
Mia Tamaro MS CCC-SLP
Mia is a licensed speech language pathologist at Back Bay Speech & Occupational Therapy. She most recently worked in a private practice setting where she provided individualized therapy to children aged 1 to 18 years with a wide variety of diagnoses. Previously, she has clinical experience working in the public school and early intervention settings. Mia’s passions include working with early language learners, children with autism, social pragmatics and social groups, as well as articulation and phonological disorders. Mia values establishing rapport with children and their families and aims to provide functional and individualized therapy to enhance everyday communication skills. Mia received her Masters of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from Sacred Heart University, and her Bachelors of Science in Psychology, with a double minor in Speech-Language Pathology and Italian. She is licensed by the state of Massachusetts and holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence through the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
Hailey Whitaker
Hailey is the Administrative Coordinator here at Back Bay Speech & Occupational Therapy. Hailey assists families through the intake process, handles all of our direct billing, insurance authorizations, scheduling, and benefit information.
Hailey brings years of administrative experience in pediatrics and excels in providing quality client support.
Saeed Nisar
Saeed is on the billing team at Back Bay Speech & Occupational Therapy. Saeed assists families in updating insurance information, researches claims, supports in obtaining authorizations, and other administrative tasks.
Saeed has over a decade of experience in healthcare and business operations.
Outside of work, Saeed enjoys spending time with his family and friends. He enjoys nature and frequently hikes and camps.
