Speech Therapy

Speech Language Pathologist – Clinical Fellow

How would you describe your approach to working with children and families?

Holistic and collaborative; focused on education and implementation across daily routine environments.

What accomplishments in your career are you most proud of?

Proud of coming in with 4 years of experience as an SLPA and for also getting experience across every setting for an SLP (schools, hospital, private clinic, in-home).

What inspired you to pursue a career in therapy, and what keeps you passionate about working with children and families each day?

Serving others is much more than just my career, but what I am called to do in all areas of my life. It’s a blessing to lift families up by giving them the encouragement, education, and support they need!

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of Milestone?

I enjoy hiking, yoga, running, playing with my dog, time with Jesus, bonfires with s’mores, and spending time with my family and husband!

Is there something unique or fun about you that patients might enjoy knowing?

I really enjoy baking and gardening!

Trainings + Certifications

• Gestalt Language Processing
• Sensory Integration from Sensory SLP

Speech Language Pathologist

How would you describe your approach to working with children and families?

Culturally responsive, neurodiversity-affirming, thoughtful, and child-led.

What accomplishments in your career are you most proud of?

Finding a kind and talented community to learn and grow with.

What inspired you to pursue a career in therapy, and what keeps you passionate about working with children and families each day?

I am passionate about working with children and families because of how we continue to inspire one another to be better versions of ourselves. We can work hard and learn new skills while having so much fun swinging around and chasing balloons. It never gets boring!

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of Milestone?

I love to do ceramics. It makes me feel calm and creative.

Is there something unique or fun about you that patients might enjoy knowing?

One of my favorite things to do is going tide pooling and looking for starfish, hermit crabs, and sea anemones.

Trainings + Certifications

• Beckman Oral Motor Intervention

Speech Language Pathologist

How would you describe your approach to working with children and families?

Help individuals of all ages find their voice and achieve their communication goals.

Establish Open Communication: Maintain regular, transparent communication about therapy goals, progress, and strategies.

Show empathy and understanding toward the family’s concerns and priorities.

Respect and incorporate the family’s cultural and linguistic background into therapy. By fostering a supportive and empowering space for my clients and their families.

Explain the Process: Help families understand the nature of the communication disorder, therapy goals, and expected outcomes.

Provide Resources: Share educational materials, online tools, and community resources to empower families to support therapy at home.

Teach Strategies: Offer hands-on training in techniques like modeling, using visual supports, or prompting language to help integrate therapy into daily routines.

Collaborate closely with families, educators, and interdisciplinary teams to ensure progress and meaningful outcomes.

Model Techniques: Demonstrate activities and strategies during sessions and allow families to practice with guidance.

Provide simple, practical exercises that can be easily incorporated into daily activities like mealtime, playtime, or reading.

Acknowledge Challenges: Recognize that therapy can be an emotional process and offer encouragement.

Celebrate Successes: Highlight even small progress to keep families motivated and optimistic

What accomplishments in your career are you most proud of?

Assisting with a child’s firsts:

First Words or Sounds: Hearing a nonverbal client speak their first word or produce a targeted sound.

First Communicative Gesture: Seeing a client use a gesture, sign, or AAC device to communicate intentionally.

First Conversation: Watching a child initiate or sustain a conversation for the first time.

Improving Intelligibility: Hearing a client become easily understood by family and peers

When progress made in therapy begins to show up at home, school, or in public.

Watching a client confidently participate in group activities or conversations and advocate for their needs. Anytime I develop a meaningful relationship where my client trusts and thrives with my guidance.

What inspired you to pursue a career in therapy, and what keeps you passionate about working with children and families each day?

Due to illness my mother’s communication skills and intelligibility slowly declined. This then made me want to help others with communication delays. I am a firm believer that all individual deserves a voice and I am grateful to have the opportunity to assist so many achieve this goal.

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of Milestone?

I enjoy biking, reading and traveling

Is there something unique or fun about you that patients might enjoy knowing?

I am a huge fan of Jane Austen.

Trainings + Certifications

• Phonological + articulation disorders

Speech Language Pathologist

How would you describe your approach to working with children and families?

Holistic family-centered, play-based, and functional therapy approach.

What accomplishments in your career are you most proud of?

Seeing all of my clients and their families progress and meet their goals!

What inspired you to pursue a career in therapy, and what keeps you passionate about working with children and families each day?

I love working with people, especially children. The growth I see as I help families navigate the early years of communication development with their children keeps me passionate about my career.

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of Milestone?

Barre3, hiking, the beach, and spending time with my family including my 2-year-old son, husband, twin sister, and nieces and nephews!

Is there something unique or fun about you that patients might enjoy knowing?

I have an identical twin sister and we attend an annual twins festival every year we are able (we attended 27 years in a row!) and participate in research studies together.

Trainings + Certifications

• Eye-Gaze Evaluations + Implementation
• Natural Language Acquisition
• Lateral Lisp Remediation

Speech Language Pathologist

How would you describe your approach to working with children and families?

Total communication approach, child-led, neurodiversity-affirming, play-based, culturally responsive.

What accomplishments in your career are you most proud of?

I’m so proud of the progress I see in my clients and myself as I continue to grow as a clinician. The kids teach me so much!

What inspired you to pursue a career in therapy, and what keeps you passionate about working with children and families each day?

My nephew received speech therapy and occupational therapy and it was amazing seeing how much he progressed! I wanted to help other families feel that same joy my family felt. A play based therapy and total communication approach has helped me stay passionate about my job when we are able to incorporate different language modalities and interests into a session.

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of Milestone?

I like to read, do barre, travel, and eat sweet treats with friends

Is there something unique or fun about you that patients might enjoy knowing?

I love collecting trinkets!

Trainings + Certifications

• Beckman Oral Motor
• Hanen: More than Words

Speech Language Pathologist

How would you describe your approach to working with children and families?

I have a therapeutic emphasis on person-first, child-led, and family inclusive care.

What accomplishments in your career are you most proud of?

My experience working with patients across the full life spectrum.

What inspired you to pursue a career in therapy, and what keeps you passionate about working with children and families each day?

I pursued a career in speech therapy to help others, and remain passionate about working with children and families so that they can communicate more effectively with each other in their day to day routines and across care environments.

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of Milestone?

In my spare time, I love reading and going to see live music.

Is there something unique or fun about you that patients might enjoy knowing?

I recently moved back to San Diego from Austin, Texas.

Trainings + Certifications

• Project ImPACT: Teaching Social Communication to Children with Autism and Other Developmental Delays
• Treatment Approach Considerations for School-Aged Children with Speech Sound Disorders

Speech Language Pathologist

How would you describe your approach to working with children and families?

I am passionate about providing individualized and personalized care that focuses on helping children and families achieve their goals through a child-led, play-based approach that fosters growth and development.

What accomplishments in your career are you most proud of?

I am most proud of my work with clients who have limited communication when they first come into therapy sessions, and how they progress in therapy sessions to communicate in a variety of different ways.

What inspired you to pursue a career in therapy, and what keeps you passionate about working with children and families each day?

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of Milestone?

In my free time, I enjoy baking, spending quality moments with my family and dog, visiting Disney, and traveling the world.

Is there something unique or fun about you that patients might enjoy knowing?

My husband and I love to party plan and host a “cooking around the world” dinner for our friends each year.

Trainings + Certifications

• PROMPT Trained
• LSVT LOUD Certified
• DIR Level 101 Trained
• Beckman Oral Motor
• Hanen: More than Words

Speech Language Pathologist

How would you describe your approach to working with children and families?

Child-led, neurodiversity affirming, individualized

What accomplishments in your career are you most proud of?

I am proud to be a Lead SLP at Milestone. I enjoy supporting my colleagues, patients, and their families everyday.

What inspired you to pursue a career in therapy, and what keeps you passionate about working with children and families each day?

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of Milestone?

I enjoy spending time with my dog, attending sporting events, working out (barre3), hanging out with friends and family, and trying new restaurants.

Is there something unique or fun about you that patients might enjoy knowing?

I played college softball!

Trainings + Certifications

• Stuttering Treatment
• Childhood Apraxia of Speech
• AAC
• AI for Speech Therapy