Sally Connolly

Sally Connolly received her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from Brown University in 1999, where she was also heavily involved in Brown’s chorus, West African dance, and Irish music programs. Upon graduation, she received Brown’s unique Samuel T. Arnold Fellowship, which afforded her an entire year of “independent study and international travel“ based on a grant proposal to explore the similarities between music and language acquisition through cultural immersion—in her case, learning the nuances of the traditional Irish flute repertoire and Irish music community in Ireland.

Sally’s neuroscience background, the temporary loss of her singing voice in college, and a fascination with the great neurologist, Oliver Sacks, led her to pursue her Master of Science at Boston University’s Sargeant College of Health and Rehab Sciences in 2003. Sally’s graduate clinical settings included outpatient, middle school, early intervention, and a coveted specialty placement at Mass Eye and Ear, serving professional speakers and singers who traveled from afar for world-renowned rehabilitation. Sally also had the opportunity to fund a portion of her undergrad and graduate programs as an NIH-sponsored research assistant in psychoacoustic labs; she was excited to discover that the New England Institute for Clinical Research is an integral part of the HQHT home. 

For the past 20+ years, Sally has worked with pediatric to geriatric patients (and everyone in between!) in skilled nursing facilities, clinics, and private homes throughout Fairfield County. Her specialty areas include cognitive-linguistic, voice, dysphagia, articulation, and fluency. She has also had the pleasure of training numerous emerging therapists, both graduate student clinicians and recent grads, and was named one of Sacred Heart University’s three recipients of the 2018 Community Partnership Award “in recognition of exceptional collaboration to further the educational goals and mission of the college.” 

Most recently, Sally became a licensed SPEAK OUT! provider, an evidenced-based therapy program developed by Parkinson’s Voice Project to help people with Parkinson’s regain and retain their speech and swallowing. She has also trained multiple post-stroke and TBI patients on customized speech-generating AAC devices via Lingraphica and Tobii Dynavox.

In her spare time, Sally enjoys spending time with her family & friends, singing, playing flute, live music, salsa, tennis, kayaking and managing her eldest son’s band, The Low Darts, who recently surpassed 50K subs!

Sally is an upbeat, positive, empathetic, and creative speech therapist who is excited to be a part of HQHT’s intellectual, innovative, and holistic team as a clinician and as our Client Relationship Concierge.