Hidden Gems: Meet Nina Morano of Morano Speech Therapy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nina Morano.

Hi Nina, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
It’s been a journey! Initially, there were many late nights and weekends dedicated to starting my speech practice. I’m grateful that my sister, Nicole Yule, who also has a speech practice, was able to provide guidance and answer my endless list of questions to help me get started.

In 2018, I saw a few clients in the evening following my full-time speech therapy position. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to utilize a room in an office that specialized in breastfeeding services. I was working in healthcare during the pandemic. I decided it was time to take more control over my future and to invest time and effort in growing my own business. I chose to take the risk and left my job of five years.

Over the course of six months, I received numerous inquiries for teletherapy. Through these requests, I was able to grow my caseload to what it is today. My job is now a full-time position and I am elated that I finally have my own office space in Phoenix.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road to my success was not straight and smooth, but more winding with its fair share of rough patches and potholes. It’s been a challenging time for speech-language pathologists. There were many struggles related to serving clients during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the learning curve of transitioning to teletherapy services, finding online resources, and conducting (in-person/telehealth) evaluations.

The pandemic forced me to rethink the most effective way to serve my clients while taking into account their specific needs. Ultimately, with some creativity and parent support, client progress via teletheath has exceeded my expectations. Masks are not conducive to speech sessions as we are unable to visualize how the lips, tongue and jaw move. Especially at the beginning of the pandemic, in-person services were a delicate balance of obtaining the information needed for treatment and ensuring safety for all.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Morano Speech Therapy is a clinic that serves children and adults with speech and language impairments. My specialization is myofunctional therapy, which aims to correct disorders of the muscles in the mouth, such as abnormal swallowing (e.g., tongue thrust), low resting tongue posture and speech sound errors. I am proud that I am able to provide a wider range of treatment options that are not present in many traditional speech therapy clinics. I conduct evaluations and therapy in-person and via telehealth. Morano Speech therapy prides itself on providing comprehensive evaluations and fun, engaging treatment sessions.

How do you define success?
This is a challenging question to answer in that every person likely defines success a bit differently. Personally, as a therapist, I think it’s demonstrating pride in your work, individualizing treatment and having the autonomy to choose the best treatment approach for positive outcomes in therapy. And, of course, seeing those positive outcomes for my clients.

Contact Info:

• Email: moranospeech@hushmail.com
• Website: https://www.moranospeechtherapy.com

Image Credits
Laurie Stephens (Sweetface Photography)
Anthony Morano