Jessica earned a master’s degree in speech-language pathology from Calvin College. She is comfortable with a variety of ages and diagnoses. She speaks some simple Spanish and sign language in order to help bridge gaps in communication with children and families. Jessica has had the opportunity to serve in a variety of therapy settings since graduating in 2015 including skilled nursing and pediatric home health. Jessica is an Advanced Clinician, has been at CI for 8 years and loves the therapists and families in the CI community. She has had the privilege of working with many autistic children and their families and has taken a course on natural language acquisition to better serve this population. Jessica is skilled in treating speech sound disorders, expressive and receptive language disorders, and pragmatic/social language disorders. Jessica has been expanding her clinical knowledge on stuttering treatment as well as the supportive counseling piece involved in fluency disorders. She is an advocate of augmentative and alternative communication methods to support language growth. Jessica believes it is important for all children to have a voice and experience the power of words. Jessica is especially passionate about educating and supporting families to enable their child to better communicate, interact with others, and understand language through a play-based approach. During her therapy sessions, Jessica enjoys using storybooks, games, music, and movement activities to keep children interested and engaged. The goal is always to have fun while learning new skills and learning about each other.
