Nichole L. Cannon, MA, CCC-SLP/L


Welcome to Totally Communicating LLC, a premier pediatric speech and language clinic specializing in motor speech sound disorders.
I offer a unique approach where each session integrates multiple sensory inputs for optimal learning. I incorporate visual, tactile, kinesthetic, gestural, and auditory cues guided by motor learning principals to address even the most challenging speech errors.
Additionally, I target a variety of other communication disorders, and my sessions are connection-based ensuring your child enjoys and feels motivated in their speech journey!
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Speech Sound Disorders
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Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)
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Articulation Disorders
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Phonological Disorders
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Autism
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Social Learning
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Early Intervention
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Expressive-Receptive Language Disorders
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Written Language (Reading Comprehension/Writing)
Nichole Cannon, MA, CCC-SLP/L
Speech-Language Pathologist
Welcome! I’m Nikki Cannon Speech-Language Pathologist and owner of Totally Communicating LLC. I bring over 17 years of clinical experience from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Specializing in diagnosis and treatment of severe speech sound disorders along with social learning skills has been my passion! I have spent my career perfecting the art of effective treatment serving populations of children who struggle to communicate. I come with a wide array of intervention strategies and evidence-based expertise in every session. But that’s just the beginning!
I decided to start a private practice because I prioritize building continuity, advocacy and deep trusting relationships with my families. I want the absolute best for your child and will craft innovative treatment activities and navigate the best models of care specific to your child’s needs. My extensive training spans across various programs and sensory principles are incorporated ensuring a holistic therapy experience.
Collaboration is fundamental to my approach. Working alongside professionals like OT, PT, developmental pediatricians and psychologists has given me a comprehensive understanding of each patient's needs guaranteeing optimal progress and attention to all developmental areas.
Beyond the clinic, I’ve presented multiple times on speech sound disorders and social skills to pediatric speech-language pathologists. I’ve also completed a study on preschoolers with autism and Stanley Greenspan's Floortime approach.
When I’m not researching best practice techniques and developing new therapy activities, I enjoy spending time with my husband, two children and two goldendoodles. My hobbies include being a master gardener volunteer through the Ohio State University Extension, crocheting and learning new recipes. I look forward to working with you and your child!



Mission
My mission is to go beyond the traditional therapy boundaries and be your child’s cheerleader and motivational coach while building confidence in communication. I believe speech therapy should be enjoyable and engaging, leaving your child feeling empowered and wanting more. Individual differences are celebrated, and skills will be nourished in the most positive way. Your child’s overall success is not just a goal, it's my personal commitment!

Professional Trainings
ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) • Prompt Trained-PROMPT Institute • Verbal Behavior-Carbone Clinic-New York • Floortime • Executive Function Deficits • Expanding Expression Tool (EET) • ADHD • Hanen Centre Program-Early Intervention Parent Training • (PECS) Picture Exchange Communication System • Kaufman-Apraxia Training • Self-Management Patient Counseling • RPM (Rapid Prompt Method) informal training • DTTC (Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing) • Social Thinking • Zones of Regulation • Cultural Diversity/Ethics Training • Neurodiverse Affirming Model of Care
Education and Credentials

Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders, Magna Cum Laude
University of Cincinnati (2004)
Masters of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology
Miami University (2006)
Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA)
Department of Education Ohio Teaching license
License to practice Speech Pathology through the State of Ohio
License to practice Speech Pathology through the State of Tennessee

Services

Initial Consultation
Do you think your child might need speech-language therapy but not quite sure? Give me a call! We can discuss your concerns and appropriate next steps.
15min-FREE

Comprehensive Evaluation
This includes a full speech-language evaluation to diagnose and set up treatment along with initial goals. A full written report is included in the price.
1-hour $180
90-min $270
2-hour $360
Individual Education Evaluation (IEE) available upon request. Price varies depending on individual needs.

Treatment
Office and Telehealth:
30min $60
1hour $120
Jon Peterson Scholarship Provider
I can provide a superbill for those wanting to submit services to insurance for reimbursement. Many companies will accept a superbill and put service fees towards your overall deductible or out of network benefits. Contact your insurance company to learn more.

Treatment Areas

Speech Sound Disorders
Is a general term that refers to difficulty producing speech sounds in a language. Between the ages of 4-5 children should be using most sounds correctly and be understood by others. When this does not occur, your child may have a speech sound disorder. There are different types of speech sound disorders that can be addressed in treatment. Proper and early diagnosis is essential in order to achieve best evidence-based treatment strategies.
Articulation
A child with an articulation disorder will typically exhibit distortions or substitutions with specific speech sounds. For example your child might produce a “b” for a “v” and say “base” instead of “vase”. Treatment for an articulation disorder is motor based focusing on the exact placement and production of a certain sound.
Phonological Disorders
A child with a phonological disorder experiences a pattern of errors that are predictable and spill into multiple sounds. For example a child with a phonological disorder might delete all final consonants at the end of a word and say “ba” instead of “bat”. Treatment for a phonological disorder is more linguistic based in which the therapist targets multiple sounds at once in order to eliminate the error pattern.
CAS (Childhood Apraxia of Speech)
A child with CAS (Childhood Apraxia of Speech) struggles with the motor planning and programming of speech sound movements. A child exhibiting a verbal apraxia will often present with many inconsistent speech sound errors. They often struggle to get through sounds in a word without pausing and create disorganized sound patterns. It’s common to hear vowel distortions, prosody errors (i.e. monotone) and reversal of voiced and voiceless consonants with this type of deficit.
Pragmatic Disorders (Social Skills)
Children with a pragmatic disorder struggle to engage socially, make and keep friends or display unexpected behaviors that create obstacles with others. This decreases a child’s ability to socialize and work successfully as a team. Studies have shown that social-emotional skills correlate most highly with one's workplace future even over IQ alone. Pragmatic therapy can help teach your child skills that will open the doors to connecting and understanding social rules. These skills can be improved in treatment with effective strategies.
Expressive Language Disorders
Your child may exhibit an expressive language disorder if they struggle to get their thoughts out. They may struggle with asking questions, using a variety of vocabulary words when speaking or organizing their thoughts. You may also hear many grammatical errors and difficulty verbally retelling stories or other events. In speech therapy, we can help your child overcome these difficulties by teaching and stimulating new skills that will improve expressive language. This will help ensure your child’s message is being clearly delivered which directly improves social interactions and academic success.
Early Intervention (Birth-3 years)
Early intervention is a type of language therapy that is geared towards children birth-3 who may be at risk for developmental delay, have a disability or exhibit late language emergence. Many parents often wonder if therapy is needed when their child is so young and barely talking. The answer is yes. The earlier services are delivered the more likely a child will develop effective communication. In early intervention, therapy tends to build upon the cognitive aspects of communication like learning the importance of talking and developing a desire to communicate with others. It's common for a therapist to target joint attention, engagement, gestures, non-verbal imitation and play skills to help develop verbal communication.
Receptive Language Disorders
Your child may present with a receptive language disorder if you notice them not understanding directions or comprehending vocabulary. They may also struggle interpreting conversation and understanding stories. In speech therapy, we can work on increasing your child’s ability to process language. This will help improve your child’s performance across all environments.
Nikki is more than just a therapist to me. She's a true friend and ally in my battle against my speech challenge. Without her, I would have given up speaking a long time ago. Nikki's belief in my potential and refusal to give up on me has given me the gift of speech. Our sessions are always filled with laughter, making them always fun. I can't even imagine where I would be today without her support and guidance.
(K.M. Client)
Nikki came highly recommended for working with children with apraxia. Our oldest daughter has been working with Nikki for over five years now and has made tremendous progress! Nikki's thoughtful approach and strategies have helped our daughter build from pointing and single words to full sentences and improvements in articulation. Nikki has given our daughter the confidence to use her own voice. We all love Nikki, she is absolutely the best!
(B.D. Parent)
Our son has worked with over a dozen speech therapists from the time he was 2 years old. Nikki is the best one he has ever worked with! She is incredibly talented, persistent, patient and creative. She always believes in our son's abilities and potential, and she works hard to help him unleash that potential. Simply the best!
(C.H. Parent)
Nikki provided play-based therapy which made a big difference and exactly what my son needed. Nikki makes it fun. My son always LOVES going to see Nikki and what cool new toys she has. Nikki has been amazing and is so patient, professional and informative. Nikki even helped with writing speech goals for my son's IEP. She is great at providing weekly homework. Hands down I would recommend Nikki to anyone without hesitation. I saw my son have more confidence in speaking and speaking clearly. There are not enough words to thank her. She truly cares about her patients which shows.
(A.J. Parent)
Miss Nikki was an incredible speech therapist for my son. I am not very trustworthy with alot of people but Miss Nikki was excellent at making my son AND I feel comfortable. She was knowledgeable and noticed even the smallest change in my son! She celebrated every single step forward as a huge victory and it made my son and myself feel so confident in his capabilities. She's got the friendliest personality and if your kid loves Mrs. Rachel from YouTube, well here is the Cincinnati version! I cried an ugly cry to hear she's moving on but I'm so happy for her to start this journey. She has everything it takes! We love you!
(J.S. Parent)
Nikki is so gifted when it comes to helping kids speak. My son was discharged from another speech therapist because they couldn't progress him any further, but Nikki never gave up on him. She is very knowledgeable with strategies and just intuitively knows the right things to do. She thinks outside the box and is able to easily adapt to my son's need by adjusting strategies or implementing new techniques to get him talking. Thanks to her he now has progressed even further than we could've imagined!
(C.L Parent)