The ABCs of speech therapy
Sarah Martins, a Northeastern University graduate, is building a speech therapy curriculum startup to help schools provide equal, effective support.
Sarah Martins knows firsthand the challenges of communication barriers. Her parents immigrated to the United States from Portugal, and Martins became their interpreter from a young age.
“I was learning English in schools and teaching them English while they were teaching me Portuguese,” she says.
When she discovered speech-language pathology, Martins immediately saw her own family’s struggles reflected in the field and knew she had found her calling.
“I knew the language [for my parents] was their barrier, and I just wanted to help other people with that barrier — whether it be a language barrier, communication barrier, articulation — just anything to be able to communicate, because being able to communicate is such a gift in this world,” she says.
In 2023, Martins earned her master’s degree in speech-language pathology from Northeastern University. This summer, she won first place in the Health and Wellness category of Northeastern’s 2025 Women Who Empower Innovator Awards for her startup idea: a digital-first speech therapy curriculum platform.
“We are creating a platform that empowers therapists to access resources, track attendance and generate progress notes seamlessly, all in one place,” she says.
The Innovator Awards honor Northeastern students, graduates and affiliated entrepreneurs seeking to make an impact in health, technology, sustainability and social innovation. Over the past five years, Women Who Empower has invested more than $1.8 million to help winners grow their ventures.
With her company — The Special Standard — Martins aims to build a comprehensive, no-prep curriculum for public schools that would cover all domains of speech therapy. Her goal is to improve student outcomes and give therapists the tools they need.
Speech therapy is considered a “related service” under federal law and special education guidance in Massachusetts. It helps children with disabilities benefit from special education and access the general curriculum. Services are included in a student’s Individualized Education Program when a communication disorder affects their learning.
Such students might struggle expressing themselves, Martins says, have a cognitive-communication disorder, neurological or a developmental language disorder. A speech therapist might work with them on sounds, vocabulary, peer interactions or social cues.
“In grad school, we learn about everything that we can do and should be doing to be able to help all these students,” she says.
Martins was shocked when she started her first job at a school and realized that there was no standardized curriculum or materials provided to her to work with students. She had to look for or create materials and spend her own money to provide consistent service.
“Teachers are given a curriculum to follow for their students,” she says. “When it comes to speech therapy, we have nothing — no curriculum, no structure. We do whatever we see fit for our students, and that isn’t the most effective intervention when there isn’t a lot of planning time for therapists.”
In the absence of a standardized curriculum, Martins says, services vary widely. Students whose speech therapists are highly motivated and can afford to buy or create their own materials often get better support than those whose therapists can’t.
“Students are suffering because there’s nothing out there for us to use,” she says. “There’s no generalization to make sure everyone’s learning the same thing.”
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Her solution is a digital platform aligned with state standards and developmental norms. Districts, which budget for special education services, would purchase it for students to use. The tool would also help districts meet compliance requirements, retain staff and track progress more effectively.
She and her co-founder are now focused on developing materials, building software and establishing relationships with school districts and decision-makers.
At Northeastern, Martins joined IDEA, the university’s venture accelerator, where she connected with mentors, resources and a network of entrepreneurs. Later, she came across Women Who Empower.
“I thought it was the perfect fit,” she says. “Speech-language pathology is such a women-dominated field, so this seemed like an incredible opportunity to apply and be part of something that celebrates women in leadership and innovation.”
This semester, Martins is also working with Generate, Northeastern’s student-led product development studio, to advance her software. She hopes to recruit some speech-language pathology graduate students to help design worksheets and interactive games.
