Speech Language Pathologist

Rosemary Johnston, M.S., CCC-SLP

Rosie earned her Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from Long Island University in 2004. She began working for St. Mary’s Hospital for Children providing community based speech, language and feeding therapy to patients with a wide variety of medical diagnoses who ranged in age from birth through adolescence. Shortly after, Rosie was offered a position at the hospital’s Center for Pediatric Feeding Disorders, where she discovered her passion for feeding therapy. She continued her work, using behavior modification techniques to help children and adolescents overcome feeding issues resulting from medical conditions, sensory integration difficulties and oral motor deficits. Rosie has extensive training in the use of behavioral treatment techniques, which began in 1998, when she worked as an Applied Behavioral Analysis assistant with children from birth to 3 years old diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorders.

Rosie uses behavioral and sensory integration techniques in her treatment of feeding disorders. Beckman Oral Motor Assessment and Intervention techniques are used as well. She provides behavioral and sensory based feeding therapy to children from birth through adolescence with a variety of diagnoses such as PDD/Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Downs’ Syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis, Maple Syrup Urine Disease, GERD, Delayed Emptying and food allergies and intolerances. Rosie’s therapeutic interventions have been extremely successful in alleviating food aversions to taste and/or texture, increasing consumption to avoid or eliminate tube feedings and work on oral motor skills for safe and efficient feedings. Additionally, her therapeutic techniques have also been useful in decreasing mealtime stressors such as dawdling and improving self-feeding skills to foster independence during meals.   

In addition to treating children with feeding deficits Rosie has many years of experience providing speech and language therapeutic services to children and adolescents with motor speech and language disorders. As a school-based speech-language pathologist Rosie has extensive experience treating children with a wide variety of diagnosis’.  She is a proponent of collaboration and works closely with therapists, teachers and medical staff and is dedicated to advocating for her students and their families.  Rosie is PROMPT II certified and is licensed by the State of New Jersey and certified by the New Jersey Department of Education as a Speech-Language Specialist.

Rosie has 2 beautiful children who inspire her daily to pursue her passions.  When she is not providing therapy, Rosie enjoys snowboarding, tennis, and yoga.