I founded SF Speech and Fluency Center because I love stuttering. I love to stutter. I love talking about stuttering, I love teaching about stuttering, and I love to support people who stutter and their families. I have known many people who stutter, and they are brave, and resilient. However, many people who stutter do not engage with life in they way would like to because of the fears and anxieties that they experience. I experienced this well into my 20s. I have since transformed my own fear and anxiety about speaking into something I love doing- being the best version of me that I can. My desire to support you through this transition is apparent by my warmth, understanding, kindness, and dedication to you. I want you to Communicate With Confidence!
Stuttering Therapy
I believe in an integrated approach to working with people who stutter. I recognize that therapy is not a one-size-fits-all approach. I approach every client and family with a personalized touch to treatment. My personal experience, compassion, and intuitive insights allow me to guide each individual, child or adult, at their pace, leading from behind using evidence based approaches.
- Preschool Children:
- I am skilled in differentiating normal disfluencies from stuttering disfluencies
- I have a thorough understanding of the many complex factors that work together at the onset of stuttering.
- I understand the anxiety and challenges that parent’s experience when their child begins to show signs of stuttering.
- My focus is often on parent education and training so that you can successfully support your child’s communication outside of the therapy room.
- School-age Children
- I follow the child’s lead and include them in the decision making process whenever possible.
- I focus on building trust and a safe communication environment with no judgement.
- I incorporate parent involvement as well as siblings when appropriate.
- I help the child and family to become experts in stuttering.
- I help the child develop age-appropriate, self-advocacy skills that can last a lifetime.
- We will work on strategies to support easier communication.
- Adults
- I put you in the driver’s seat.
- I follow your lead and help you identify where you want to go next and help you become your own best therapist.
- I support you in changing your experience with stuttering.
- I assist you in learning to stutter with greater ease.
- I celebrate your new communication successes.
- I teach you to find the positive even in the difficult times.
My personal experience in overcoming barriers to successful communication along with my extensive knowledge of the complexities of stuttering, make me well equipped to support you and your family. I believe in supporting clients and their families in every aspect of stuttering, including fears, anxieties, negative thoughts and emotions as well as teaching fluency strategies.
Cluttering Therapy
Cluttering is another type of fluency disorder that is often characterized by rapid speech, with occasional reduced intelligibility, that contains multiple stops and starts. People who clutter often are not aware of their own rapid speech or the impact that it has on others. I believe that important components of therapy for cluttering include building awareness of one’s speech patterns and the impact they have on listeners as well as teaching strategies to help organize thoughts.
The Personal Details
I am a Bay Area native who grew up in Berkeley, California. I developed a strong interest in stuttering in my early 20’s when I began to ask questions about why I stutter. I was fascinated (and frustrated) by the disorder and the impact it had on my life. I came to the field of Speech and Language Pathology by way of Neuroscience and Cognitive Science and genetic research into the causes of stuttering. I became interested in working with people who stutter in 2007 and graduated from San Francisco State University with a Master of Science in Communicative Disorders in 2011. In addition to running San Francisco Speech and Fluency Center, I have also taught undergraduate and graduate level courses to budding SLPs at San Francisco State University and California State University, East Bay. I have also provided trainings on working with stuttering to school-districts around the Bay Area.