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Madeline Appleyard is a licensed and certified pediatric speech-language pathologist (pediatric speech therapist) and the owner of Foundations of Speech. She has a deep passion for helping children find their voice and believes that communication is a basic human right. As a child who once attended speech therapy herself, Madeline knows firsthand the power of connection and the confidence that comes from being understood. Today, she brings that same compassion and understanding to every family she works with.

Madeline specializes in working with children with complex communication needs, including autism, down syndrome, and cerebral palsy. She has extensive experience supporting children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), including a variety of access methods such as eye gaze technology. In addition to AAC, she provides support for speech sound disorders, early language development, school-age language, social communication, stuttering, voice disorders, and more. Madeline works with children from birth through age 18, always with a focus on building functional communication skills that matter most in everyday life.

Her therapy approach is play-based, child-led, and neurodiversity-affirming. You’ll rarely find her sitting at a table—Madeline prefers to get down on the floor and follow each child’s lead, making therapy fun, engaging, and meaningful. She believes that regulation should always come before expectation and takes the time to ensure each child feels safe, happy, and confident before focusing on communication goals. Madeline also values family involvement, often inviting parents, caregivers, and siblings to participate in sessions to help carry communication skills over into home and community settings.

Madeline earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Speech-Language Pathology from Old Dominion University. She holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), as well as a Virginia state license. She is also a certified Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) Trained Clinician through the Meaningful Speech course, with specialized training in gestalt language processing, echolalia, and natural language acquisition.

Outside of speech therapy, Madeline loves to craft, crochet, and tap dance! She and her husband have been enjoying Virginia’s Northern Neck for years and are now proudly putting down roots, building their own home by hand. They are thrilled to be a part of this warm and welcoming community and can’t wait to meet more families through Foundations of Speech.