About

First and foremost, I'm a speech-language pathologist who loves working with children and teens. When I thought I knew enough to share, I became a seminar presenter, author, podcast host, and now, mentor. I live in the North Georgia mountains in a cute lil cabin by the river. It's beautiful and amazingly peaceful.

I earned my master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Western Michigan University. I studied under the legendary Dr. Charles Van Riper (the "father" of articulation) during the final years of his career. Since that time, I served as an Assistant Professor and Department Chair at Loma Linda University and spent many enjoyable years working in both public schools and private practice. I love doing therapy (not a fan of the paperwork, however!).

Primarily, I believe in capability-based speech therapy—because it works. My goal is to develop the individual’s underlying capabilities so they can formulate accurate and effortless movements to produce speech. At it's core, the fundamental components of movement capabilities are the points of Stabilization and Mobilization. The tongue-parts that move are stabilized by the parts that are still. For example, to make a /t/, the front-tongue is anchored by the sides of the tongue and the mid-tongue. It's fascinating and therapeutically very helpful!

I spent from 1978 to 1993 researching and talking with professionals prior to creating my first seminar and book. I remember walking into the School of Physiology and Pharmacology at Loma Linda University and asking to speak with a professor about muscles. That’s when I serendipitously met Dr. Raymond Hall—a super nice man and exceedingly knowledgeable. Among other things, he was an expert on tongue muscles and oral functions. Ha! I lucked out. That first encounter turned into two-years of productive meetings that guided me toward articles, books, and answers. Thank you, Dr. Hall.