About Me

I was raised on a dairy farm in Belmont, Wis., which was our first state capitol. I attended UW-River Falls for my undergraduate, and then Mankato State University for my graduate degree in Communicative Disorders. Upon graduation, I immediately took my national board exam and obtained my Certificate of Clinical Competency. I began my career with a rehabilitation center and have worked with the birth-3 population, in nursing homes and in hospitals. I then made the switch to working in school districts. I enjoy working with students of all ages and abilities, but I have a special interest in the areas of augmentative communication and autism. I have 34 years of experience as a speech/language pathologist.

My Philosophy

Communication is the most sophisticated and yet basic aspect of human life. When a student's communication skills are judged to be different, it has the potential to affect all aspects of his or her life. I believe every individual deserves the opportunity to develop and achieve the best communication possible. Everyone deserves a voice!

Who I Work With

Speech therapy involves so much more than working on sounds!  Below is a list of common speech/language disorders I work with.  

Speech Disorders

• Articulation - the way we say our speech sounds
• Phonology - the speech patterns we use
• Apraxia - difficulty planning and coordinating the movements needed to make speech sounds
• Fluency - stuttering
• Voice - problems with the way the voice sounds, such as hoarseness

Language Disorders

• Receptive Language - difficulty understanding language
• Expressive Language - difficulty using language
• Pragmatic Language - social communication; the way we speak to each other