Friendship Builders

Friendship Builders is a pediatric speech therapy and social skills practice serving children and teens in Newport Beach and across Orange County. The organization provides supportive, structured care to help young people strengthen communication, build confidence, and develop meaningful relationships at home, school, and in the community. Its therapist-led social skills groups give children opportunities to practice play, cooperation, conversation, emotional regulation, perspective-taking, and other peer interaction skills. Programs are tailored to different ages and needs, including support for siblings, and draw on frameworks such as Floortime and UCLA’s PEERS program.

Friendship Builders also offers individualized speech and language therapy in person in Newport Beach and through telehealth. Services address articulation, phonology, receptive and expressive language, pragmatic communication, stuttering, autism-related communication needs, and childhood apraxia of speech. Additional specialties include dyslexia therapy using approaches such as Lindamood-Bell and Orton-Gillingham, myofunctional therapy, and play-based support for young learners. The practice aims to provide a welcoming environment where children can work toward their individual developmental goals.