Communication Horizons Speech Therapy

01/02/2026

We’re excited to welcome Michelle Markowitz, M.S., CCC-SLP to the Communication Horizons team in the new year! 💙

Michelle brings over 15 years of experience supporting individuals with complex communication needs, along with deep expertise in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).

A meaningful part of Michelle’s career was the six years she spent at The Avalon Academy (theavalonacademy) in the Bay Area, a truly special school serving children and adults with complex communication needs and multiple disabilities. Avalon’s culture and mission are especially close to our hearts — both Cynthia (Communication Horizons) and Magda (movement_horizons) spent several years working there, and the environment we strive to build today is deeply shaped by that shared experience. Michelle’s time at Avalon speaks volumes about her skill, dedication, and heart.

We are so excited to have Michelle join our community and can’t wait for our families to get to know her. Please join us in welcoming Michelle! ✨

12/31/2025

2025 in reflection.

We’re deeply grateful for the families who trusted us this past year — for the relationships built over time, the shared problem-solving, and the moments of real connection that make this work meaningful.

From families we’ve worked with for years, to training two graduate student clinicians — and welcoming one back to join our team for her clinical fellowship — this year was shaped by trust, collaboration, and growth.

We’re reminded again and again that connection is the foundation for communication, learning, and progress.

Thank you for allowing us to be part of your journey.

Looking ahead with gratitude.

12/30/2025

When families tell us, “I wish we had found you earlier,” they’re often talking about hope.

Many families share that for years, the focus was on what their child couldn’t do — test scores, delays, and limitations — without anyone helping them truly see their child’s strengths or imagine what might be possible with the right support.

Too often, families are encouraged to delay AAC, to accept reduced systems, or to rely on assessment scores that were never designed for children with complex physical, sensory, or medical needs.

Standardized assessment scores don’t accurately reflect a child’s abilities when they don’t have access to communication and a tool to acquire language.
When motor, sensory, or physical demands limit how a child can respond, test results often underestimate what they understand and can learn.

When children don’t have meaningful access to language, their ability to learn is often underestimated — and as a result, opportunities to learn are reduced.

Once access to a robust, accessible AAC system is in place, the picture often changes.
Families frequently notice increased engagement, clearer intent, and often increased vocalizations — not because something “new” suddenly appeared, but because their child finally has a reliable way to explore language, communicate, and be understood.

And if AAC wasn’t introduced early — it’s not too late.
AAC can support meaningful communication growth at any age, whether someone is just beginning or has spent years without access to a reliable way to communicate.

If this resonates, you’re not alone. Many families were navigating systems that focused on limitations instead of possibility.

12/22/2025

✨ Welcome to Communication Horizons ✨

I’m Cynthia Heryanto, MS, CCC-SLP, founder of Communication Horizons, and I’ve spent over 20 years supporting children and adults with complex communication needs as they build meaningful communication and language over time — not just quick wins.

Here’s what matters most to us:

🌱 Communication is a journey.
Progress isn’t always linear, and meaningful growth takes time, thoughtful planning, and individualized support.

💡 We bring deep, specialized expertise.
We help families understand why things feel hard, what’s getting in the way, and how to build a long-term roadmap that supports communication, language, and literacy across years — not just sessions.

👩‍👧‍👦 We partner with families.
Your goals, your child’s progress, and your family’s experience are central to our work. Meaningful progress happens when families feel supported, informed, and involved.

🔍 We look beyond words and devices.
Our work considers how individuals access communication, learn language, and participate in everyday life — now and in the future.

We don’t focus on quick fixes.
Lasting communication and language growth doesn’t happen overnight. We help families build confidence, competence, and communication that deepen and expand over time.

✨ Whether you’re just beginning, rethinking your plan, or feeling stuck — you’re welcome here.

📍 South Bay, Los Angeles
Evaluations • Therapy • Consultation • Group Programs

👉 Learn more at communicationhorizons.com or reach out to start a conversation.

12/21/2025

She spontaneously put together the phrase
“want Cynthia ouch”

…and then burst out laughing 😂

Honestly, having a kid threaten my safety (while laughing) has never felt so good.

Especially because in that same session she also said things like
“Frankie love baby”
“love Ms. Kim beautiful”
and so much more.

She’s 12 years old and has an extremely rare disorder.
She did not have access to an AAC device until a little over one year ago — and had only begun trialing AAC a few months before that.

When she first received AAC, there were understandable concerns about motor access. Because she couldn’t clearly isolate a finger, her system was programmed with larger buttons and a keyguard.

What often comes with larger buttons is less vocabulary and more navigation — more screens, more effort, and fewer chances to say interesting things.

And when communication takes that much effort, it’s easy for kids to lose motivation.
Devices don’t get used as much.
And then the child can appear less capable — not because the potential isn’t there, but because the system doesn’t invite them to show it.

This is where presumed competence (or presumed potential) matters.

In her case, once she was given a system that required more precision — with the keyguard supporting accuracy — something important became visible.
She began showing subtle but intentional attempts at finger isolation, stabilizing her hand so she could say what she wanted.

With access to robust language, her communication grew — and her fine motor control grew right alongside it.

Today, she’s navigating LAMP WFL Full on an 84-location grid.
She’s joking.
She’s expressing love.
She’s showing us who she is.

She didn’t suddenly change.
We changed the system around her — and that made more of her strengths visible.

10/26/2025

We loved hanging with our community at ’s amazing Halloween festival — candy, prizes, friends old and new, and lots of AAC awareness! 💬✨
Big thanks to our rockstar former intern Jody for joining us — we can’t wait for her to officially join our team in December! 💙

10/25/2025

We’re so psyched to be here supporting today until 4PM! Come say hi and play our Plinko game to win a prize!

10/07/2025

🧑‍💻 Moving your head can be enough to access the world.

In this video, you’ll meet an adult with cerebral palsy using a head mouse — technology that turns small head movements into precise control on his AAC device.

With just his head, he’s able to:
• Talk using his communication device
• Play his favorite game (Candy Crush 🎮)
• Change the TV channel 📺
• Control his cell phone — sending texts, making calls, even WhatsApp video calls

This technology has been around longer than eye gaze but is often overlooked. For people who have enough head and neck control, it can be simpler and more reliable than eye gaze:

• No calibration needed
• Works in any lighting — indoors or outdoors
• Glasses (even thick, complex prescriptions) aren’t a problem

And for many, moving your head while looking is a natural movement — making it easier to learn than keeping perfectly still for eye gaze.

10/06/2025

Did you know you can control an AAC device with a joystick?

Joystick access works a lot like a computer mouse. The user moves a joystick to guide the cursor on the screen and can select in two ways:
• Dwell: pause on a word for a set time and it’s automatically selected (similar to eye gaze or head mouse).
• Switch + joystick: move the cursor where you want, then hit a switch placed anywhere the person can move — by a knee, foot, or toe — to “click.”

One of the coolest features? If someone already drives a power wheelchair with a joystick, that same joystick can often control their communication device too — no extra equipment needed. Many new chairs have Bluetooth built in, and, if not, accessories like a BJOY ring can also connect the chair’s joystick to the AAC device.

In this video, you’ll see an adult woman with cerebral palsy using the joystick on her wheelchair to put together a message on her device. She uses the dwell method — simply guiding the cursor and pausing for a second to select each word.

Joystick access is often overlooked, but for the right person it can be a simple, powerful, and seamless way to communicate.

10/06/2025

🔊 When vision and movement are limited, listening can lead the way.

In this video you’ll see two communicators showing how auditory scanning works — a way to talk by listening for choices and pressing a switch when you hear the one you want:

• A 12-year-old boy with cerebral palsy and vision impairment who’s been using switches since he was 5. He’s now a skilled communicator — automatically moving to activate his switches and showing others how his system works. You’ll hear the quiet prompt voice behind his head giving auditory cues, and then the louder device voice when he makes a selection.

• A 2-year-old with a rare disorder affecting movement and vision, just beginning to learn. She’s playing a calling game — pressing her switches to “call” family members to come see her and starting to understand that her actions can make something happen.

Auditory scanning is slower than other methods but for those with limited vision and movement it can be life-changing — because reliable communication matters more than speed.

10/02/2025

👀 Eyes can do the talking.

In this video you’ll see two emergent communicators exploring eye gaze in different ways:

• A toddler, about 2 years old, with almost no independent body movement. Sitting supported, he’s experiencing his very first moments of eye gaze — discovering that looking at pictures can make the device speak for him.

• A preschooler with CDKL5 and cortical visual impairment (CVI) who’s been using eye gaze for a while. Here she’s refining her skills — playing a caterpillar game to practice aiming her eyes at different spots on the screen, and also learning that choosing words on her device can spark fun, interactive play with her therapist.

Eye gaze technology opens a path to communication for people with little to no other reliable body movement besides their eyes and vision. But it still requires thoughtful setup, practice, and support to help the communicator realize they are in control of the words.

09/23/2025

💙 We are so proud of this amazing little girl and the progress she’s made in just about 10 months! From playful switch presses to using words and even putting them together — her journey has been incredible to witness. ✨

We are so thankful to be walking this path alongside her and her family. Every step forward is a reminder of the power of early access to AAC and the importance of always seeing potential. 🌟

👉 Watch her inspiring journey here:

🌟 Every child deserves the chance to communicate—early. This video shows how one little girl, despite complex motor and vision challenges, found her voice t...