I am a speech-language pathologist, a private practice owner, a wife, and a mom who is committed to learning and growing as a speech-language pathologist and sharing my knowledge and experience with my community. I am truly passionate about educating my fellow SLPs and parents with the knowledge that I WISH I had 20 years ago! I was never taught about gestalt language processing in graduate school, my externships, or during my clinical fellowship year. When it came to echolalia, I was taught to ignore and redirect.

It wasn't until much later in my career that I learned echolalia communicates - a serendipitous moment in 2016 when I was introduced to Marge Blanc’s book, Natural Language Acquisition on the Autism Spectrum: The Journey from Echolalia to Self-Generated Language. As soon as I heard about her book, I immediately bought it and read it cover to cover. That is when I truly began to understand gestalt language development and why my clients were communicating with delayed echolalia. Once I implemented my new knowledge into therapy, it was immediately obvious this approach was WORKING! I finally began to see tremendous growth in the most complex communicators. I reached out to Marge right away and began one of the most meaningful mentorships and collaborations of my career. Marge helped me every step of the way and has given her input, editing skills, and time to the Meaningful Speech^® course.  Meaningful Speech^® is now my way to spread the career-changing knowledge of the Natural Language Acquisition framework (Blanc, 2012) while helping parents, speech-language pathologists and related professionals turn their knowledge into action.

Katie has been an SLP for 18 years and has worked in a variety of settings including private practice, outpatient clinics, grade schools, and high schools. As a military spouse, she has had the opportunity to explore different regions of our country. Each area having its own exposure to speech therapy practices and differing perspectives on the role of a speech-language pathologist.

Katie’s work as a clinician, a business owner, a clinical manager, and an SLP supervisor has given her a broad spectrum of challenges and experiences, but her greatest love has always been in the role of mentor and educator. Her work with Meaningful Speech® has fed that passion, supporting clinicians and families in their understanding of gestalt language processing and Natural Language Acquisition as the moderator for clinical support on the community forum. Katie is the creator of the Gestalt Language Processing Handbook: Handouts for Coaching and Education, GLP Intake Forms, GLP Educational Video Series, and Visual Support Posters distributed through Meaningful Speech®. She is thrilled to have had the opportunity to have worked in many communities and to continue to support gestalt language processors specifically through educational resources, content, and consultation worldwide.

Jess is a speech-language pathologist with a passion for collaborating with and supporting professionals and parents on their journey in learning about gestalt language development, child-led therapy and neurodiversity-affirming practices.

She owns Play Haven Pediatric Therapy LLC, a niche private practice in Massachusetts where she specializes in supporting gestalt language processors and their families through direct services for those in Massachusetts and parent or professional consultations worldwide. 

Jess has many roles on the Meaningful Speech® team. She both coordinates and provides live trainings internationally for Meaningful Speech including a live conference in London with Alexandria Zachos as well as numerous professional development days for school districts, small and large clinics, daycares, and parent groups across the United States. She is active weekly in our exclusive Member Forum where she supports those enrolled in our courses. Jess is also our marketing coordinator where she helps with content creation for with our social media accounts, blog posts, emails, and more! 

I am a speech-language pathologist and AAC specialist with over 13 years of experience in both the medical and educational settings. In my role as a therapist and an AAC facilitator, I have had a special interest in supporting autistic children who have complex communication needs. Having seen the gestalt language processors I supported flourish using AAC, and with Alexandra Zachos' support, I combined my clinical and professional experience to bring this course to Meaningful Speech^®. It is my goal to help others learn how to give gestalt language processors a voice and to help parents, speech-language pathologists, teachers, and other professionals feel more confident as communication partners. Laura is the instructor of our AAC for Gestalt Language Processors course where she teaches how to identify, evaluate, and support gestalt language processors who currently communicate using AAC or those who may benefit from AAC but have not yet been introduced. 

Kaitlin has been as SLP for just over 9 years. She has worked in a variety of settings including: private practices, a therapeutic day school program, multidisciplinary clinics and most recently she opened her own private practice in Rhode Island. 

At Kaitlin's practice, Competent Communicators LLC, she specializes in gestalt language processing and AAC. She works with many autistic children and is passionate about providing neurodiversity affirming therapy, as well as, parent coaching. Kaitlin provides contracted support to various school districts for AAC evaluations, as well as supporting her outpatient caseload. She also grades tests for Meaningful Speech and provides certificates of completion. Meaningful Speech and natural language acquisition has completely transformed Kaitlin's clinical practice over the last few years and she is grateful for the opportunity to continue to educate parents, caregivers and support staff on the importance of utilizing the appropriate therapy approach with their gestalt language processors. 

Kierstin is a Bilingual (English/Spanish) Speech Language Pathologist in her 5th year in the field. Kierstin supports Meaningful Speech primarily with grading of course final assessments, providing feedback and generating certificates of completion to clinicians. She is available for in person and virtual trainings as well. 

Kierstin works full time as a Bilingual Preschool SLP utilizing a push in model, and has a strong passion for encouraging and educating her school teams in child led learning, gestalt language development, the benefits of multilingualism and neurodiversity affirming practices. Kierstin additionally has experience in therapeutic day school, elementary, and middle and high school settings and has recently opened her own niche private practice, Songbird Speech & Family Services PLLC,  in the state of Illinois.

Kierstin’s specialized trainings include: 

• NLA Trained Clinician
• AAC + GLP Trained
• UNMASC - Understanding the Needs and Motivations of Autistic Social Communication (Learn Play Thrive)
• Trauma Informed Practices for SLPs
• Culturally Responsive Practice/Diversity, Equity & Inclusion trained

I've been a virtual assistant on the Meaningful Speech team for 3 years. It has been a great experience connecting with so many people all over the world. I'm your go to for account changes, group enrollments, general questions, purchase orders and much more!