We recently connected with Brianna Lauer and have shared our conversation below.

Brianna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

At Innovative Minds Therapy we utilize a play based, child-led, and family centered approach. Play based therapy increases a child’s attention and builds a positive interaction. Children are motivated and engaged in communicating with activities of high interest. Social skills are learned through play in a naturalistic setting. There is an increase in progress noted in children’s speech and or language goals through play. It is very important to get to the child’s level and enter their world. Affect is very important and conveys much more than words can express. Moreover, it is essential to have the family involved throughout this process in order to promote carry over at home and empower them. All of this makes a difference when treating the child.

Brianna, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi everyone, I’m Brianna Lauer, a Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist and founder and owner of Innovative Minds Therapy. For the last 6 years, I have been working across different settings including public and charter schools, private practice, home health, virtually, and in a prescribed pediatric extended care facility. I have experience working with children from diverse medical diagnosis including, but not limited to Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Developmental Delays, etc. I have experience with Articulation/ Phonological Disorders, Augmentative/Alternative Communication (AAC), Central Auditory Processing/Impairment, Developmental Delays, Expressive and/or Receptive Language, Early Intervention, Fluency, Oral/Motor techniques, and Motor Speech/Apraxia of Speech. I am certified in the SOS approach to Feeding which integrates motor, oral, behavioral/learning, medical, sensory, and nutritional factors and approaches in order to comprehensively evaluate and manage children with feeding concerns. I am also knowledgable about DIR floor time, which is an approach that helps children development through a respectful, playful, joyful, and engaging manner.

Growing up I always had a passion with helping others. I was fascinated with the medical and teaching world! Then, I discovered the path of Speech-Language Pathology when I shadowed an SLP, Judy Batista, for a day in the field. I saw the difference an individual can make not only within their client, but also within the client’s family as well. Therefore, I went to pursue my Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology in order to continue impacting the world in a positive manner! I am very passionate in what I do and I set forth maximum effort to see my client’s succeed.
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At Innovative Minds Therapy we offer consultations and coaching not only to parents and caregivers, but also to other fellow speech-language pathologists and fellow high school students that are seeking guidance about the career. We also offer comprehensive evaluations in the areas of speech, language, and feeding. We provide individual and theme based group treatments. We offer small play based group therapy to toddlers and pre-kindergarten children. Our groups include 2 speech-language pathologists including Nicole Rodriguez from Inclined to Shine Therapy and I paired with 4 kids and their parents. We include the parents in the process in order to teach them strategies on how to elicit language and promote carryover. We also like empowering the parents and establishing a little community in which they can communicate with each other. Within our session we address each child’s needs, in order to provide the most effective treatment.

I am very proud of all the gains the little ones have made, whether it’s finally being able to eat a meal with their family, or communicating effectively through the use of an AAC or verbally, making new relationships with the friends they’ve made, or finally seeing the families empowered and feel at ease. My goal is to make a positive impact in each family’s life that I encounter because those little gains make an impactful difference overall!

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I met Nicole Rodriguez, the owner and founder of Inclined to Shine Therapy, my business partner for our Saturday group sessions through our dads. Our dads would talk with each other about their daughters while they were at the gym. One day Nicole’s dad asked my dad to talk with Nicole since she was working in her first year as a Speech-Language Pathologist and wanted some guidance. So, I called Nicole and we instantly clicked we talked for hours and realized we had a lot of things in common. We realized from that conversation that we would stay in touch because we wanted to collaborate together in the future. The opportunity finally arrived in summer of 2023 and our dads found us a space to start our dreams come true. Nicole and I then established our seasonal thematic social groups. We created these social groups because we saw the need for toddlers to socialize with peers since the pandemic occurred and we wanted to create an intensive summer program to get children ready for Kindergarten. We started it then and its been an amazing experience overall!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I believe the approach that I provide in tailoring to the client and families needs has helped build my reputation in the market. I try to assist not only the child, but the family as well. I help ease that frustration that the parents and caregivers express in order to communicate with their child. I listen to the parents and see the child overall. I collaborate with other health professionals in order to make sure all their needs are met.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://blauer26.wixsite.com/innovativeminds/consultation-plans
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/innovativemindstherapy/

Image Credits
All images have been taken and approved by the child’s parents.