Speech Therapists

Benita Mancini-Ajello, MS CCC/SLP
Benita's experience includes 17 years as a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist. She has practiced in the New York area and presently works with the New Jersey Early Intervention System. Benita has provided services in center based programs, public schools, inclusionary pre-school, private practice and home care.

Benita is dedicated to helping children reach their full potential. Using a holistic approach, she believes in consulting with other professionals as needed and integrating the needs of the family in therapy. Benita's unique ability to establish good rapport and trust with the families provides lasting changes with her patients. She believes that while focusing on helping the children communicate functionally, it is necessary to help parents, guardians and caretakers accept, understand and feel capable to move forward in communicating actively and productively with their children. For the past seven years, Benita has been trained as an oro-motor feeding therapist focusing on the oral phase of feeding and its impact on speech and language developement. Assisting parents in understanding components of feeding and how to facilitate an enjoyable feeding experience with their children.

Benita holds a Bachelor 's degree in Business Administration from Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada. She also holds a Master's degree in Speech Communications in Arts and Sciences from Brooklyn College. Benita is a member of the American Speech and Hearing Association, as well as the New York State Speech and Language and Hearing Association. She continues to attend workshops and conferences to further her professional growth.

Kelly Sheehan, MS, SLP-CCC
Kelly joins Abilities in Action with 8 years of pediatric experience. Kelly has worked in schools, early intervention, hospitals and private practice . For the past 5 years, she has provided speech, language, and feeding therapy to children of all ages at Children’s Specialized Hospital, as well as Early Intervention to infants and toddlers.

Kelly believes in a functional and family-centered approach to therapy, with parent and caregiver involvement being an integral part of goal setting and carry-over of strategies to maximize a child’s progress. Kelly’s areas of interest, clinical experience, and on-going training include sensory-based feeding disorders, dysphagia, apraxia, fluency disorders, language development, and articulation deficits.

Kelly’s educational background includes a B.S. in Speech Language Pathology from The College of New Jersey and an M.S. in Communication Disorders from Penn State University. She is a member of the American Speech Language Hearing Association’s Special Interest Division 13 which focuses on dysphagia.

                                                   Kristin Trezza, MS, SLP-CCC
Kristin comes to  Abilities in Action with experience treating infants and children. Kristin has worked in schools and continues to provide early intervention services in Monmouth County. Kristin specializes in the treatment of language development and articulation deficits.

                                                  Gwynn Davies, MS, SLP-CCC
Gwynn Davies is a certified member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and is currently licensed in New Jersey. She has been practicing Speech-language Pathology since 1992 predominately in early intervention and pediatric outpatient facilities. Ms. Davies graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a BS in Communication Disorders in 1990 and completed her education at the University of Maryland with a MA in 1992. Clinical interests include feeding disorders, infant/toddler development and behavioral management. She is PROMPT trained and has completed extensive continuing education in the area of medically based feeding disorders.

                                                    Linda Hakim, MS, SLP-CCC
Linda's experience includes treating infants with developmental delay and children with communication disorders. Linda's past experience includes providing communication and language therapy to children ages 3-18 at the Children's Center of Monmouth County. She specializes in the promoting effective communication for children of all ages.