Embark Speech and Language Therapy

About Embark Speech and Language Therapy

Embark Speech and Language Therapy is a pediatric speech-language practice based at 833 W. Chicago Avenue, Suite 200, Chicago, Illinois 60642. The clinic provides services in Chicago and the western suburbs through in-clinic visits, in-home care, off-site daycare or preschool visits, and teletherapy available throughout Illinois. Embark offers free phone consultations, comprehensive evaluations, individualized speech therapy, and small group classes. The practice describes its work as personalized and evidence-based, with an emphasis on helping children build communication skills in a supportive and engaging setting. Sessions are designed around each child’s goals and often use play-based activities, with treatment plans tailored after evaluation and carried out in the setting that best fits the family. The website also highlights collaboration with families and, when appropriate, teachers, physicians, and other providers.

The practice focuses on children with speech sound disorders, receptive and expressive language difficulties, late talking, autism, apraxia of speech, fluency concerns, feeding and swallowing needs, reading-related challenges, executive functioning concerns, and pragmatic or social communication differences. Embark also has a dedicated page for Gestalt Language Processing therapy, where it explains a neurodiversity-affirming approach that builds on scripts and supports language development through the Natural Language Acquisition framework. Founder Maureen Ofiara, M.S., CCC-SLP, is an Illinois-licensed, ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist with degrees from Eastern Illinois University and prior experience in Chicago Public Schools and Illinois Early Intervention. The team page lists additional M.S., CCC-SLP clinicians with interests and training in areas such as feeding, AAC, literacy, fluency, articulation, autism support, and early language development, including Margaret Xenakis, Mary Beth Xenakis, Annalise DiVito, Alexandra Smyth, Alayna Orzel, Julie Behm, Alia Mariella, Trishna Paul, Ellie Gatz, and Brandi Neuberg.

Conditions Treated, Specialties & Treatment Types