Tara Honstetter, owner of Let’s Talk Pediatrics, is a certified Speech-Language Pathologist with over 13 years experience practicing speech therapy in the pediatric population. She is a graduate of Idaho State University, where she earned her Master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology in 2010. She is a certified member of the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) and holds licensure as a speech-language pathologist in the state of Idaho. Tara has experience working in homes, schools, hospital, and private clinic settings, providing evaluation and treatment of a wide variety of communication disorders.
Tara’s primary focus over the past several years has been providing direct intervention to children and their families in the private practice clinic setting. She has extensive experience working with the pediatric and young adult population, between the ages of 0-21 years. She has worked with individuals with a wide variety of diagnoses including physical and intellectual disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down Syndrome, and ADHD, as well as countless other developmental and neurological diagnoses. She is highly trained in the evaluation and treatment of a wide range of communication areas including expressive/receptive language delays, articulation delays, phonological disorders, motor speech disorders, Childhood Apraxia of Speech, fluency disorders, literacy delays, social/pragmatic language differences, AAC, and hearing loss.
Tara has a passion for working with children and is dedicated to helping them reach their full communication potential and improve quality of life by providing them with the supports they need to succeed. She understands the importance of providing family-centered, evidenced-based care and has special clinical interests in the areas of early intervention, gestalt language processing, natural language acquisition, neurodiversity affirming therapy, Autism Spectrum Disorder, literacy, and fluency. She believes in the importance of making therapy fun and engaging, and uses play-based, child-led strategies to promote growth and development during her sessions.
Tara is devoted to life-long learning and education, and has completed additional trainings in a variety of interest areas. Most recent trainings include the Learn Play Thrive Strengths Based Approach to Autism Program, in which she learned practical strategies for implementing a strengths-based, child-centered approach to promoting communication and self-advocacy and skills. She is also trained in Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) and is experienced in providing neurodiversity affirming therapy to gestalt language processors who communicate using echolalia. When she’s not working, Tara enjoys spending time with her family, cooking/baking, reading, and going on outdoor adventures.