Hello! My name is Dr. Erin Michaud. I’m the speech and language pathologist and board certified behavior analyst behind the blog TalkingFirstWords. My years of experience working with young children with a range of speech and language disorders and their parents inspired TalkingFirstWords.

My research experience involved training parents of children with language delay and parents of children with autism. The inspiration for researching parent training came from a question I was asked over and over again. When I would meet a parent of a young child with a language delay, more often than not they would ask me “what book should I read,” or “what website should I look at?” These parents were looking for ways to help their child when the therapist wasn’t there. Although there are many great books and resources that I’ve recommended over the years, I wanted something more specific. That lead me to create my own parent training focusing on first words. The satisfaction that comes from watching parents learn to help their child is amazing! I created this blog in an attempt to reach more parents and early interventionists.

Stay tuned for more content.