Teletherapy reBOOT: Navigating a New Era

Karen Edwards began her career as a Social Worker working in a variety of settings including residential treatment, community mental health, schools, and private group practice. She took a break to be at home with her two young sons. Upon returning to the workforce, she changed her career focus and returned to school to pursue a Master’s of Science in Speech-Language Pathology. She has spent the last six years working as a school-based SLP, grades K-12. In November, she took the opportunity to change positions and work as a school-based Social Worker, currently servicing seven district elementary schools.

Andrea Szwabowski is a Speech-Language Pathologist, and the creator, author and blogger of The Whimsical Word. Andee has been an SLP in a school-based setting for 20 years, and founded The Whimsical Word after entering the field of speech telepractice. Here, she creates digital products for sale on Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT), and authors both a blog and a podcast dedicated to telepractice. She is a graduate of Augustana College in Illinois, where she received a Bachelors of Arts Degree. Andee pursued her Masters of Health Sciences degree from Governors State University, while working full time serving students with autism. Andee is currently a Clinical Product Expert for DotCom Therapy, and is a member of ASHA and ISHA (Illinois Speech-Language Hearing Association), where she volunteers as a member of the Telepractice Committee. Her passions are language processing disorders, speech telepractice, and empowering SLPs with creative therapy tools.

Kristin Martinez has over 20 years of experience in school-based speech-language pathology and brings her past decade of expertise in clinical teletherapy implementation, best practices, and thought leadership to AMN as Senior Director of Teletherapy. Joining AMN in 2023, Kristin is dedicated to leveraging her deep knowledge of school-based services and her passion for ensuring access and equity for all children to lead AMN's team in partnering with schools nationwide to develop impactful and sustainable teletherapy programs.

Jessi Andricks earned her master's degree in Speech Therapy from the Medical University of South Carolina. She is a trained Integrative Health Coach and Yoga and Mindfulness Teacher, focusing on Stress Management for SLPs. She has presented at ASHA Annual Convention and at state speech pathology association conventions on the topics of stress management and burn out prevention for SLPs. Jessi has written for the ASHA Leader Live and NSSLHA Blog, as well as created several CEU courses and been interviewed in several Speech-related Podcasts. She also runs the website, JessiAndricks.com, where she has programs and resources to help SLPs reduce stress, burn out and overwhelm.

Anna Vagin, PhD, is a licensed speech/language pathologist with over 30 years experience. Currently in private practice in Marin County, she provides individual sessions and social learning groups to families and children 6 months through young adulthood. Her particular interest is using media to support social thinking in students with diagnoses such as ASD, ADHD, NVLD, Language Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Social Communication Disorder or Twice Exceptional.

Nicole Gains received her Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology from The University of Akron in 2016. She has been working full time in a public school district in central Ohio as a primarily preschool based SLP since graduating in 2016. The majority of her experience has been in inclusion based preschool classrooms working alongside Intervention Specialists. She is CCC certified and hold a license through the state of Ohio as well as a Pupil Service License through the Ohio Department of Education.

Kimberly Green is an assistant professor in the CSD Department at WKU and former College of Health and Human Services Chief Diversity Officer. Professionally, her areas of focus include cultural competence/proficiency specific to diversity, equity, and inclusion, interprofessional practice, and global perspectives in CSD. In addition to traditional and online classes, she regularly teaches collaborative courses in countries including Belgium, France, and the UK. Her global experience includes teaching international/interdisciplinary courses such as pediatric rehabilitation and evidence-based practice. She is the past co-director of WKU’s Impact Belize program, focusing on the needs of rural residents. Dr. Green is a long-standing member of the Warren County Public Schools Equity Council and is a member of the International Centers of Kentucky Board of Directors. She is active in Warren County helping families with refugee status or limited English proficiency access a broad range of health, educational and community services.

Christina Kang Rosow is a medical Speech-Language Pathologist with specialty training in voice pathology which includes a year-long internship at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Laryngeal Surgery & Voice Rehabilitation followed by a clinical fellowship at the University of Kentucky Voice Clinic under the tutelage of Drs. Joseph Stemple and Rita Patel. In 2012, Christina was recruited to Mayo Clinic Arizona to co-find the state-of-the-art Multidisciplinary Voice Program,. She retired from Mayo Clinic in 2020 to start her own private practice The Voice Forum, LLC. Christina is passionate about being a conscientious and mindful clinician/teacher, offering clients medically sound, evidence-based strategies they can rely on to thrive as their own advocate. She is actively involved in research and frequently present at national and international meetings on topics of voice and swallowing rehabilitation. In 2015, she proposed a new type of swallowing disorder that previously went undiagnosed (muscle tension dysphagia), and her 3 peer-review published recommendations for treating this disorder are now widely adopted. She also has a strong interest in chronic pain and functional laryngeal disorders and have undergone extensive training in Pain Rehabilitation of Central Sensitization Syndrome. Vocal pedagogy has always given her great joy. Even while working at Mayo Clinic, she always maintained a private singing studio, and served as a lecturer in Undergraduate and Graduate Vocal Pedagogy at Arizona State University. She continues this focus in her private practice.

After having graduated with her MS in Speech Pathology from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2000, Jennifer Vroom has been working full-time as an ASHA-certified Speech-Language Pathologist for past 21 years. She has experience in a wide range of settings to include: hospital, home health, school-based (PK-12th), skilled nursing facilities, and private practice clinics. She has worked across the continuum of care and has worked extensively with clients on the Autism spectrum throughout her career. She created a company called Vroom Speech Therapy, PLLC, which specialized in Corporate Accent Modification and public speaking skills providing services for clients both across the US and internationally. For the past 6 years, she has worked full-time providing tele speech therapy for schools across the country including NC, VT, PA, MS, TX, MT, and CA. Other passions include professional photography as well as meditation, which she currently teaches through her online platform and business, Evoke Meditation (evokemeditation.com). She loves being able to implement strategies from her mindfulness and meditation practice into her therapy sessions with clients.

Ana-Maria Jaramillo is a nationally-certified bilingual pediatric integrative speech-language pathologist with over seven years of experience providing speech-language therapy to children ages birth to 18. She is the owner and founder of Voz Speech Therapy, a private practice that provides individualized services in English and Spanish in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Her area of specialty is working with children in early intervention, ages one to six years old, with autism spectrum disorders, orofacial myofunctional disorders, oral-motor disorders, expressive/receptive language disorders, learning disabilities, fluency disorders, social language impairments, and articulation disorders. She graduated cum laude in 2013 with a Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, and obtained her bachelor’s degree in child psychology and sociology from Saint Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. She is currently pursuing a clinical doctorate in speech-language pathology from Northwestern University. When she isn't treating patients, Ana-Maria is actively speaking at local high schools about the field of speech-language pathology in hopes to diversify the field.

Courtney Overton is the Owner and Founder of Speech of Cake, Inc., a private practice in Alexandria, Virginia that specializes in treating speech sound disorders and dyslexia. She is also the Project Manager of a federally funded grant at the University of Maryland in which she and a team of consultants are researching the linguistic structures of African-American English in preschool-age children. Courtney attended Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts to earn a master's degree in speech-language pathology, and she obtained a bachelor's degree in speech-language pathology, a minor in linguistics, and a certificate in American Sign Language at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is currently a doctoral student in literacy, culture, and language education at Indiana University with a minor in educational leadership.