Speech Therapy in Crystal Lake, IL

Briana is a speech-language pathologist who earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Development and her Master's of Science degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders/Speech-Language Pathology at Illinois State University. She has worked alongside professionals at a non-profit organization providing childhood developmental services to families within her community, and she has completed additional trainings in the areas of feeding therapy, childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). She holds speech therapy licenses in the states of Illinois, California, and Florida. Briana has over 3 years of experience as a pediatric speech-language pathologist working in schools and in private practice/clinic settings. She looks forward to joining you and your child on their journey to better communication. **My Approach To Speech Therapy** Therapy should be fun and not looked at as a daunting task that must be completed. I strive to make all of my clients feel excited about therapy while also providing evidence-based practices that target their specific needs. **What A Session Looks Like With Me** Speech therapy sessions with me are fun and interactive! I always take time to determine what are my client's likes/preferences in terms of games and activities so that I can incorporate them within each session. **Fun Facts About Briana** Personally, I enjoy anything related to sports and music. I am a former basketball and track athlete, and I have been singing since the age of 2. I like to incorporate music and sports within sessions, which often times sparks up various meaningful and insightful conversations between myself, clients, and their families.

Cathy has over 25 years experience in a variety of settings treating all ages. She has worked in schools, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home care, and rehab facilities providing in-patient and out-patient services. Over the last 8 years, she has provided mostly teletherapy services to her clients. After working for many years in the field, Cathy pursued additional training and a degree in Public and Global Health initiatives. She gained a great deal of experience with interdisciplinary team and functional health approaches during her doctoral work with caregivers of clients with cognitive impairments, learning to tailor approaches to make therapy interventions functional and useful. Her bachelor's degree and master's degree are from Wayne State University, and her doctorate is from A.T. Still School of Health Sciences. Cathy is licensed in Florida, Michigan, California, Indiana, and Illinois. For her adult clients she is experienced in working with post-stroke, TBI, and executive functioning. Cathy can also tailor a program for professional/corporate speaking and voice and fluency as well as help with accent modification. For her younger clients, Cathy is able to bring skills with literacy development, executive functioning for teens and tweens, and especially enjoys working with speech clarity and intelligibility strategies. Cathy will work to collaborate with you on goals that help you achieve your best communication self.

Tamara is a licensed and ASHA-certified bilingual speech-language pathologist, fluent in English and Spanish. Tamara has dedicated her career to supporting children in building essential communication skills, specializing in early language development, bilingual language acquisition, speech sound disorders, and Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Her approach is family-centered, and she believes in the power of collaboration with educators, caregivers, and families to ensure each child receives individualized support tailored to their unique needs. Outside of work, Tamara enjoys exploring new places, indulging in different cuisines, and spending quality time with her family. **My Approach To Speech Therapy** My approach to speech therapy is play-based and client-centered, ensuring each session is engaging and tailored to the individual. Following my client’s lead, I create meaningful and relevant therapy experiences that align with their unique needs and fit seamlessly into their everyday environment. **What a Session Looks Like with Me** No two speech therapy sessions with me are the same because each client’s unique interests and needs guide my approach. My goal is to make every session fun, engaging, and impactful. I incorporate music, play, and movement to create a dynamic and interactive experience. Using "green screen magic," I take clients on exciting adventures featuring their favorite characters and games, all while targeting their specific goals. I also prioritize collaboration with parents, ensuring they’re an active part of each session. This partnership helps empower families to carry over the strategies learned in therapy into their daily routines for greater success. **Fun Facts About Tamara** - I’m an avid reader who also enjoys the occasional dose of reality TV. - My 4-year-old son loves teppanyaki restaurants, so I’ve likely visited every single one in the Dallas/Fort Worth area! - Speech therapy runs in the family—my mom is also a speech pathologist and was even my college professor. - I’m a native Spanish speaker, which helps me connect with bilingual families. - I am passionate about party planning and decorating—it’s my creative outlet!

Tara is a skilled and compassionate provider with 12 years of experience serving individuals across the continuum of care. Her career spans diverse settings—including schools, private practice, hospitals, and outpatient clinics—allowing her to support clients and families with a wide range of needs. For adult clients, Tara specializes in treating cognitive-communication, motor speech, voice, swallowing, and language disorders. Her skills were shaped by working at facilities such as Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific. She has extensive experience working with individuals affected by neurodegenerative diseases, acquired brain injuries, and functional neurological disorders. For pediatric clients, Tara has a special interest in early language development, receptive/expressive language, articulation, phonology, fluency, social communication, and literacy. She is dedicated to tailoring therapy to each child's unique strengths, needs, and interests to promote meaningful progress. **My Approach To Therapy** Committed to promoting life participation, Tara approaches each client with empathy and expertise, ensuring tailored treatment plans that address unique needs and goals. She is dedicated to providing person-centered care that empowers her clients and their families! **What A Session Looks Like With Tara** Tara strives to make every session personally relevant and impactful for each individual. Her creativity and adaptability create a dynamic approach that keeps therapy fun, meaningful and solution-driven! **Fun Facts About Tara** Tara loves traveling, live concerts, DIY projects, and photography!

Lauren St Germain is an Illinois-based Speech-Language Pathologist and is a certified member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Lauren graduated with a Bachelor’s in Communication Disorders and Sciences and a Master’s of Communication Disorders and Sciences from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Lauren has gained significant experience in a variety of settings including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, outpatient, schools, and private clinics. Lauren is certified in Beckman Oral Motor to support her patients with dysphagia and speech. She enjoys working with both children and adults. Lauren has a passion for providing the best care possible to ensure her clients succeed in a compassionate and trusting environment. She ensures that her clients’ goals are the forefront of their care. Lauren also has significant experience working with military families and is a proud military spouse of an active-duty Marine. Outside of work, you can find Lauren spending time with her husband, two children, and her three dogs. She also enjoys working out, baking, and spending time with family and close friends. **My Approach to Therapy** Speech Therapy focuses on creating a supportive and engaging environment tailored to each individual’s goals. My approach integrates evidence-based techniques with creativity to make therapy effective, enjoyable, and client-centered. **What a Session Looks Like With Lauren** I provide virtual speech therapy sessions where we address your personal goals by building skills through targeted activities. Sessions are structured yet flexible, progressing while adapting to the client’s unique goals and interests.

Samantha Schultz is the founder of The Lucky One Speech, Language, and Learning. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Applied Behavior Analysis from the University of South Florida, and a Master of Science in Speech, Language, and Learning from Northwestern University. Since beginning her career as a speech-language pathologist, Samantha has been passionate about supporting children with speech and language delays and disorders, as well as empowering families and caregivers through education and training. She brings experience from a variety of settings, including schools, private clinics, and home-based therapy.

Lesley Meza is a Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist who received her BS in Human Development from Northwestern University and her MS in Speech-Language Pathology from Marquette University. She also obtained a Bilingual English/Spanish certification in graduate school where she gained specific insight on assessing, diagnosing, and treating bilingual speakers. Lesley has been working in an outpatient clinic for the past two and a half years where she has worked with a range of children and adults including for early language development, higher language skills and auditory processing, speech sound disorders, childhood apraxia of speech, cognitive communication disorders, AAC, dysarthria, and aphasia. She is certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and is licensed in the state of Illinois. Lesley is passionate about working with children and adults in ways that are functional and will increase their independence, confidence, autonomy, and communication skills across their daily environments. **My Approach To Speech Therapy** I believe therapy should be designed so that it is as functional and relevant to the client’s life as possible. I like to discuss with the patient and family what they want out of speech therapy and regularly modify goals to fit the client and family’s needs. I always aim to make therapy as engaging and client-led as possible when working with children in order to foster a strong relationship and make them excited about communication. This means taking the time to learn each patient’s strengths, interests, and needs. I also like to make sure there’s plenty of room for open conversation between the patient and/or family and I. Whether it's addressing any concerns you might have, celebrating small victories, or talking about challenges, these conversations help guide our work together and make the sessions feel more personal and connected. **What A Session Looks Like With Me** I like to begin my sessions by reviewing our schedule for the session including our goals and expectations. I like to keep each session dynamic and engaging, so I plan activities that are not only theme-based, but also closely connected to what is currently happening in the client’s life. This way, the activities feel more meaningful and practical making it easier for the client to relate them to real-world situations. I like to use a combination of evidence-based approaches tailored to the client’s needs. For younger clients, this typically involves a combination of literacy-based interventionsBio and play-based interventions to provide different and fun opportunities to practice their skills. At the end of each session, we will take time to wrap things up by reviewing the key takeaways and creating a home education plan. This plan is tailored to your specific needs and goals, ensuring you have a clear direction for continuing your progress outside of our time together. I want to make sure you feel empowered and supported, so you have the tools to stay on track and keep the momentum going until our next session! **Fun Facts About Lesley** I love to dance! I've been in dance companies since I was 4 years old. Im currently in a Mexican Folklore company and occasionally teach workshops as well! Outside of work and dance I love to go on walks, workout, and spend time with my family.

Ruthvi is a certified member of the American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) and is licensed to practice speech-language pathology in Illinois and California. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Neuroscience from Loyola University Chicago, Post-Baccalaureate in Communication Sciences and Disorders from University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, and Master’s degree Speech-Language Pathology from Saint Xavier University. Additionally, she completed a Master’s thesis titled Types of Situational Fears in Adults Who Stutter. Ruthvi's career began in home health, working to increase patients’ abilities to participate in their daily tasks and access the support they need. She then transitioned to providing bilingual evaluations and treatment to school-aged children as well as telehealth to school-aged children and adults. Ruthvi specializes in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of fluency/stuttering disorders, articulation disorders, dysphagia, and aphasia. She works closely with individuals and their families to facilitate the best treatment possible. **My Approach To Speech Therapy** I take a client-centered approach to therapy, focusing on personalized care that empowers individuals to communicate confidently. By combining evidence-based practices with creativity and support, I create effective treatment plans tailored to each person's needs. My goal is to foster growth, build trust, and help clients thrive in all aspects of communication. **What A Session Looks Like With Me** We’ll begin each session by discussing your challenges and progress, and then work together on targeted activities that focus on improving your skills. I use a mix of evidence-based techniques, interactive exercises, and real-life practice to make therapy both effective and enjoyable. Throughout the session, I provide support and encouragement, helping you build confidence and progress at your own pace. **Fun Facts About Ruthvi** Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my husband, son, and dog, Oreo. I love being outside – our family rule is, “If the sun is out, we’re out.” I love exploring different cuisines at new restaurants, traveling to new countries, practicing my photography skills, watching anime, reading about fantasy and dystopian worlds, and painting.

Eileen has been a speech-language pathologist since 1974. It has been her pleasure to work with students of different abilities, including regular education students and special education students from 3 years old to 22 years old in the public schools. She has also worked with adults with Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, and a variety of other cognitive challenges. Another specialty for her has been foreign accent modification. Eileen holds a Bachelors Degree, BS, from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, a Masters Degree from University of Illinois, UI, Champagne, IL, a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) from the American Speech-Language & Hearing Association (ASHA), and she was a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in the area of Exceptional Needs from 2005-2024. **My Approach To Speech Therapy** My approach to therapy revolves around my getting to know my clients and their needs. I think it's very important and takes time to learn about each client, what their needs are and what is most important to them with regards to their communication skills. **What A Session Looks Like With Me** Sessions are constantly evolving to meet a client's communication needs. If a client is working on specific sounds, the session would probably begin with a brief chat on how they feel things are going, then go on to work on the specific sounds with a focus on listening to the sounds, discriminating between correct sound production and their errors on the sound, then instruction on the correct production of the sound and practice. If a client has a language, fluency, voice or other impairment, then those skills would be worked on specific to the problem they are having. **Fun Facts About Eileen** I am married to a great guy and we have two little dogs that rule our house! I also have two wonderful daughters of whom I'm very proud. My older daughter, Jessica, is a heart & kidney transplant patient and my younger daughter is the kidney donor! I enjoy reading, making pottery and Zentangle.

Jessica is an Illinois-based speech-language pathologist after moving to Chicago from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She obtained her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Midwestern University and holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Jessica has experience in a variety of settings, ranging from early intervention, skilled nursing facilities, acute care, in-patient rehab, and telehealth. She has extensive experience treating dysphagia, cognitive communication disorders, and motor speech disorders. **My Approach To Speech Therapy** Speech Therapy focuses on creating a supportive and engaging environment tailored to each individual’s goals. My approach integrates evidence-based techniques with creativity to make therapy effective, enjoyable, and client-centered. **What A Session Looks Like With Jessica** Using evidence-based practice, I collaborate with my clients, tailoring my sessions to each individual client to ensure they feel comfortable and confident to achieve their personal goals. **Fun Facts About Jessica** In my free time, I enjoy yoga, bike rides, board games, beach volleyball and trying new restaurants with friends!

Haneefah Cummings is a dedicated and compassionate speech-language pathologist with extensive experience in a variety of settings, including schools, early intervention programs, teletherapy, and private practice. She is passionate about pediatrics and helping children and their families achieve their communication goals. **My Approach To Speech Therapy** With a strong background in working with diverse client populations, my approach is to provide engaging, creative and child-led speech and language services. My expertise spans a broad range of speech disorders, including articulation/phonology, language delays, and social communication, using evidence-based practices to help clients achieve their communication goals. Whether in-person or virtually, I am committed to making a positive impact on the lives of those I serve. **What A Session Looks Like With Me** My sessions will always be as fun and engaging as possible, with an emphasis on incorporating play and the child's interests to encourage functional communication.

Alexandra received her undergraduate degree from Miami University and her master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Rush University. For the past 8 years, she has worked in school settings, providing therapy to elementary and middle school students with a wide range of communication needs, including speech sound disorders, language disorders, and Autism. In addition to her work in schools, Alexandra has experience in private practice, where she focused on early childhood language development and phonological disorders. Her diverse background allows her to tailor therapy to each individual, using evidence-based practices to support meaningful progress in communication skills.**My Approach To Speech Therapy** My approach to speech therapy is centered on providing individualized, evidence-based interventions to support each client’s unique communication needs. I tailor therapy sessions to align with personal strengths, challenges, and goals, ensuring that strategies are both functional and meaningful. By utilizing research-backed techniques, I create targeted activities that maximize engagement and promote measurable progress. I continuously assess and adjust my approach to optimize outcomes, fostering confidence and independence in communication. Through this personalized and data-driven method, I strive to empower each client to achieve their full potential. **What A Session Looks Like With Me** A session with me is designed to be engaging, personalized, and goal-focused. I incorporate each client’s interests to make therapy fun and motivating, ensuring active participation and meaningful progress. Sessions begin with a check-in to see how the week has gone, allowing us to discuss any successes or challenges related to communication outside of therapy. From there, we move into goal-directed activities tailored to individual needs, using evidence-based strategies to build skills in a supportive and encouraging environment. At the end of each session, we review progress, discuss key takeaways, and develop a plan for home practice to reinforce learning between sessions. My goal is to create an interactive and positive experience that fosters growth and confidence in communication. **Fun Facts About Alexandra** When I’m not in a speech therapy session, you can often find me outside enjoying nature. I love playing golf and spending time on the course, as well as hiking and exploring new trails. Another passion of mine is fostering dogs through a local rescue—I love giving them a safe and loving place to stay while they wait for their forever homes.

Catrina Hughes (she/her) is a passionate neurodiversity-affirming speech therapist based in Chicago, IL (in-person & virtual) and is also licensed in Washington state (virtual only). She brings a special skillset to her practice as she is also a professional improv comedy educator and performer. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Speech-Language Pathology & Education from Marymount Manhattan College (2012) and her Master of Science in Communication Sciences & Disorders from The University of Vermont (2014). Catrina has been on the Faculty at The Second City Training Center, Chicago for 3+ years. **My Approach To Speech Therapy** With a distinctive use of improvisation (improv), play, and integral life skills as transformative tools, my approach to speech therapy is rooted in joyful client-directed care. I collaborate with clients in their therapeutic experience to promote meaningful personal growth, autonomy, wellness, and connection. Partnering and connecting with caregivers/families is also a vital element to my practice to maximize carry-over of skills to each client’s community. **What A Session Looks Like With Me** A session with me is going to be first and foremost: comfortable and fun! We will begin our sessions with wellness, consent and boundary check-ins to see how you are doing presently (e.g., maybe you would like to refrain from any activities that involve movement, or any topics that discuss ableism). Next, we will review learning accommodations and needs for the day (e.g., maybe you are feeling overstimulated so need to wear headphones or find a quiet space in your home with low lighting to meet). Then, we will write out a visual schedule and set timers for the session to better anticipate upcoming activities and support executive function skills. Following this, we will support the nervous system with an energizing or calming improv game with specific intentions (e.g., ground in our bodies, let go of stress, increase mindfulness/presence). From there, we will move into goal-directed activities tailored to your individual needs, using evidence-based strategies to build skills in a supportive and encouraging environment. As much improv and playful movement will be incorporated as desired by each client. That might look like role-playing certain social or advocacy scenarios (e.g., initiating a hang-out with an acquaintance, asking for help at school), enhancing narrative/listening comprehension skills via sensory story-building games, or affirming your unique way of communicating in creative scene games. **Fun Facts About Catrina** Outside of speech therapy, I am typically coaching improv performers, going to theater or comedy performances, or performing myself! I love to connect on and off stage with creative comedians and actors, as I am always inspired by everyone’s unique points of view. Laughter and improv have supported me in my own neurodivergent journey and I believe I am able to be my best, most authentic self when I am consistently engaged in the comedy community. I also love swimming in the lake, dance classes, and pottery! My favorite quote is from the mother of improvisation, Viola Spolin: “Through spontaneity, we are re-formed into ourselves.