About us

 

Meet our founder, Liz Cole

Elizabeth Cole, MA CCC-SLP is the founder of Compass Speech and College Prep, a private practice based in Northampton, MA and serving Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley including the towns of Northampton, Amherst, Hadley, Easthampton, Southhampton, Springfield, and Chicopee.

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Elizabeth is a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist who specializes in evaluating and treating a wide variety of pediatric communication disorders. As a therapist and researcher, she has focused on the most efficient and effective ways to address the specific communication, social, and learning challenges faced by children from ages two to eighteen. She has been funded by the Department of Education to conduct research, develop treatment protocols, and provide training nationally to other SLPs on the use of virtual therapy and treatment strategies for students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders, receptive and expressive language disorders, and other communication disorders.

Elizabeth has worked in a variety of hospitals, out-patient, private practice and public school settings. She has experience working with children with a wide variety of articulation, language, motor speech, auditory processing, executive functioning, fluency, voice, and social pragmatic disorders. Elizabeth also provides services with a local public school district. This means that she knows what services help students most and, most importantly, how to partner with teachers and other student support professionals.

Elizabeth received her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.  She holds her national certification from ASHA (American Speech-Language and Hearing Association). She has received specialized certification from the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders, the Diagnosis and Management of Childhood Apraxia of Speech Using Dynamic Tactile and Temporal Cueing (DTTC), and the PROMPT  approach to remediating speech disorders using tactile-kinesthetic cues.  Prior to entering the field of speech and language pathology, she worked in higher education as the Senior Assistant Director of Admissions in a graduate program at Brandeis University. 

Elizabeth specializes in several areas, including:

  • Autism Spectrum Disorders

  • Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC)

  • Articulation/Phonology

  • Academic and Career Skills

  • Childhood Apraxia of Speech

  • Cerebral Palsy

  • Down Syndrome

  • Expressive Language Disorders

  • Early Language Development

  • Executive Functioning

  • Post-Concussive Syndrome and Traumatic Brain Injuries

  • Pragmatic/communication language disorders

  • Receptive Language Disorders

  • Stuttering/Fluency Disorders

  • Word-Finding Disorder