MEET OUR TEAM
Maura Ambrose MA, CCC-SLP, NTMTC, IGNITE's founder, is a certified Craniofacial Speech-Language Pathologist licensed to practice in Ohio & Pennsylvania. With over a decade of experience working with children with complex medical and developmental conditions, Maura is dedicated to achieving the best outcomes for her patients.
MAURA'S STORY
Maura embraces the most difficult challenges, and through her hands-on hospital and clinical work, she has extensive experience in diverse patient populations including cleft/craniofacial, dysphagia, hearing impairment, traumatic brain injury, Childhood Apraxia of Speech, and dysarthria, among others. She brings extensive expertise in the pediatric population and a deep passion for uplifting and supporting children and their families.
Maura received her master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh. One of the most impactful rotations for her was in the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Cleft-Craniofacial Center. While working with dozens of families, Maura heard gut-wrenching stories from patients in the clinic, such as how their speech disorder made them “feel”, why they were “afraid” to raise their hand to speak in class, and the moment they realized “everyone” was staring at their cleft scars. These stories of emotional pain were matched by stories of personal triumph, such as the child born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate who was nominated as class speaker for graduation, or the child born with Treacher Collins Syndrome who attended Flying Horse Farms summer camp, and for the first time, felt “normal.”​​
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​After receiving her master’s degree, Maura was selected to hold one of only two Craniofacial Speech Fellowship positions in the United States. She was fortunate to be placed at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH, where she worked with some of the top clinicians and scientists in the country. Maura quickly became an expert in evaluation and treatment techniques for children with cleft and craniofacial conditions. As a result, she successfully executed speech, resonance, language and feeding treatment plans for this population. Her specialized skill set also made her adept at treating children with other complex and difficult to treat conditions, such as dysarthria and Childhood Apraxia of Speech.
MAURA'S EXPERIENCE
Maura’s experience with a wide variety of complex communication disorders in children with cleft and craniofacial conditions led to a masterful understanding of the direct connection between learning disabilities, hearing impairment and speech and language disorders. She was able to witness the impact of early intervention and parent education through the myriad of parent-toddler therapy groups she facilitated. As a result of Maura’s teaching sessions and use of self-help techniques, parents unanimously reported they were able to see objective gains in their child’s speech and language skills by the end of their 6-week session.
Aside from her clinical roles, Maura was also a co-investigator in several research and quality improvement projects, which focused specifically on improving feeding and speech outcomes for children following surgery. This research led to changes in post-operative protocols within the hospital and provided parents with the additional support they needed to care for their child.
Upon completion of her clinical fellowship at Nationwide, Maura transitioned to Akron Children’s Hospital, where she joined the Craniofacial team. Here, she led the creation of a standard evaluation protocol for annual Craniofacial visits within the hospital, which made it easier to track a child’s progress annually. Maura served as a clinical lead at the Akron and Boardman campuses for the evaluation and treatment of feeding and speech/language disorders in the cleft and craniofacial population. She was also the go-to therapist for children diagnosed with complex medical histories, hearing impairment, traumatic brain injury, dysphagia, and picky eating.
In addition to treating speech/language and feeding disorders outpatient, Maura also evaluated and treated children who were admitted inpatient to the hospital in the NICU and pediatric unit. Maura became certified in Neonatal Touch and Massage, which she used to calm and soothe premature babies in the NICU. As an infant therapist, Maura continued to care for babies after discharge, which included completing videofluoroscopic swallow studies to ensure they were swallowing safely and monitoring the development of their speech and language skills.
Maura was invited as a feeding and cleft/craniofacial speaker several times for the doctors in the neonatal intensive care unit as well as within her speech department. Maura continues to share her passion and expertise with doctors nurse practitioners, pediatric therapists, and others in the community.
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In every city, she consistently observed the agony that grownups carried as they navigated access to treatment for their children's medical and developmental needs.
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For Maura, it was completely understandable - parents were spread thin due to work responsibilities and caring for their families. Then, when they were forced to layer in multiple doctor and therapy appointments just to understand what could be impacting their child’s success, it only added to the uncertainty and frustration.
THE IGNITE DIFFERENCE
A diagnosis and therapy plan should have provided relief to these parents, instead, it added stress because more time was needed for visits to the hospital or clinic and to complete “homework” assigned by their therapist.
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IGNITE was formed to relieve all of these pain points.
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Although Maura loved being in the medical setting, she decided to open her own private practice with the intent of relieving the anxieties carried by families she has observed throughout her career. Most importantly, IGNITE is a platform where she can truly bring her vision to life, which is to:
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EMPOWER GROWNUPS TO CREATE A FUTURE OF RESILIENT CHILDREN.
Erin Beans, MA, CCC-SLP is a certified Speech-Language Pathologist licensed to practice in Ohio. Erin, an Austintown native, brings over 17 years of invaluable experience in special education to her role as a speech-language pathologist.
ERIN'S STORY
Her professional journey began with a focus on early intervention, where she dedicated herself to teaching preschool-aged children with Autism. Starting locally at The Rich Center for Autism and later at The Monarch School in the Cleveland area, Erin thrived as part of interdisciplinary teams, collaborating closely with occupational therapists, physical therapists, music therapists, art therapists, and behavior therapists. This immersive environment provided Erin with profound insights into a holistic, whole-child-centered treatment approach, examining not just communication needs but also the multitude of factors that can either enhance or impede a child’s ability to communicate effectively. Through her teaching experiences, Erin discovered her calling as a Speech-Language Pathologist, recognizing the profound impact she could make on the lives of children and their families. She earned her Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Akron in 2016 and has since amassed a diverse range of experiences across public schools, pediatric outpatient settings, and private practices. Erin's clinical expertise lies in Autism, Late Language Emergence, and Early Intervention. Continuing to draw from her diverse experiences, her therapeutic approach is deeply child-centered and sensory-integrated, prioritizing the establishment of positive relationships with both the child and their family. Erin is a Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) trained clinician and well-versed in the evaluation and treatment approach for Gestalt Language Processing (GLP). Since joining Ignite, Erin has brought to life our Working on Words adapted story time programming by designing and implementing a story time that delivers a therapeutic approach to working on language development in a small group setting. Erin excels at adapting to her clients and families' unique needs, always putting what is best for the child above all else. As a mother of two young children herself, Erin understands the challenges of everyday life and masterfully integrates language interventions that not only meet a child’s unique language needs but also empower parents and caregivers to take the lead on fostering their child’s language development within their daily routines.
Jennifer McDonough, MS, CCC-SLP is a certified Speech-Language Pathologist licensed to practice in Ohio. Jennifer, a native of the Youngstown area, brings over 13 years of valuable experience in various pediatric settings throughout eastern Ohio, primarily in & around Mahoning and Columbiana counties.
JENNIFER'S STORY
Jennifer earned her Master's Degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA in 2011. Professionally, Jennifer has gained invaluable knowledge of the public school and special education systems. Through her experience working on transdisciplinary teams using the Primary Service Provider model, Jennifer has been fortunate to learn and work collaboratively with others to observe and understand a child's development across all developmental domains to best support their progress holistically. Jennifer has provided speech-language pathology services to children from preschool through 12th grade and is well-versed in the Individual Education Program process as a provider and as a support to parents when transitioning their child from Early Intervention into School Age Services. Jennifer’s time spent providing early intervention services to little ones and their families helped foster her passion for educating parents and caregivers about the vital role they can play in their child’s speech and language development. Jennifer has extensive experience working with Early Intervention, Late Language Emergence, Speech Sound disorders, and Autism. Since joining Ignite, Jennifer has developed the Empowering Grown-ups round table chat program, focusing on bringing her wealth of knowledge to parents and caregivers in a stress-free, accessible format that will aid in fostering language development through play and daily interactions with their children. Jennifer is a Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) trained clinician and strives to deliver the most current, effective, and best practice approach to her therapy sessions. Jennifer is the mother of a young child who is experiencing some mild language delays and is navigating that journey currently. She is also actively involved with her young niece and nephews. She is passionate about working alongside caregivers to maximize a child's potential, and is excited for the opportunity to support families here at Ignite and in the Austintown and greater Youngstown community!