Ghinwa Salem Speech Therapy
For Lebanese Families Abroad

Lebanese Arabic Speech Therapy Online for Families in the USA

Live one-to-one speech and language therapy in Lebanese Arabic, or in English, for Lebanese-American families in Michigan, New York, California, Texas and nationwide — delivered from Beirut in the dialect your child grew up hearing.

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The Lebanese-American community is among the oldest Arab communities in the United States, and it is unusually spread out — dense around Dearborn and metro Detroit, but scattered thinly almost everywhere else. That geography is the problem. A family in Michigan may find an Arabic-speaking clinician locally; a family in Ohio, Georgia or Arizona almost certainly will not, and the nearest one who speaks Lebanese Arabic specifically may be several states away. Online removes the geography entirely.

How Sessions Work From Abroad

How this fits with your local SLP and insurance

Speech-language pathology in the US is licensed state by state, usually alongside ASHA certification, and services reach children through school districts under an IEP and through private practices billed to health insurance. Ghinwa is licensed and practising in Lebanon, is not licensed in any US state, and these sessions are private, self-paid, and not billable to insurance or to an IEP. If your child qualifies for school services, use them. These sessions are the Arabic-language component that a US caseload will not cover.

IEP services are English-language services

When a Lebanese-American child is flagged for speech services at school, the evaluation and the therapy happen in English. That creates a specific and well-documented risk: a bilingual child can look language-delayed in English while being entirely typical in Arabic, which leads to over-identification — or can pass in conversational English while carrying a real difficulty that only shows in their stronger language. An assessment in Lebanese Arabic answers the question the school evaluation structurally cannot, and it is useful information to bring back to the school team.

Timing from Beirut

The East Coast runs seven hours behind Beirut and the West Coast ten. East Coast families usually take a late-afternoon slot that lands in the Beirut evening; West Coast families most often take Saturday, which is comfortably a Beirut afternoon. Saturday availability is held open for North America specifically.

Paying from the United States

Session fees can be paid by card, or through Whish Money and OMT — the same channels Lebanese-American families already use to send money to relatives in Lebanon. No insurance paperwork and no international wire. Fees are agreed in writing before the first session.

Questions From Lebanese Families Abroad

Usually yes, and start with the school's — it's funded and it addresses the language of the classroom. What the IEP evaluation cannot tell you is whether your child's Arabic is developing normally, and that's the piece that distinguishes a genuine language disorder from a child who is simply still building English. An Arabic assessment gives you that, and it is worth sharing with the school team; it often changes how they read their own results.

No to insurance — Ghinwa is licensed in Lebanon, not in your state, so sessions are private and self-paid. HSA eligibility depends on your plan and on services from a licensed provider, and an overseas practitioner will generally not qualify; check with your administrator rather than assuming. Payment is by card, Whish Money or OMT.

With an assessment, because the same surface pattern has two very different causes. If Arabic comprehension is intact and only production has stopped, that's typical of Lebanese-American children and responds well to work focused on getting words out rather than on understanding. If comprehension is also thinning, or if the English shows difficulties too, that points to something clinical. The plan is completely different depending on which it is, which is why guessing costs months.
Does bilingualism cause speech delay? Read the articleFAQ
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Lebanese Arabic Therapy, Wherever You Live

Send a WhatsApp message with your child's age, the languages spoken at home, and your time zone. You'll get a straight answer about whether online sessions fit your situation — and an honest one if they don't.

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