Testimonials

This is what they say about us...

I have had the privilege to work with Terese for the past 6 years as her clinical fellow, coworker and professional colleague. Personally, Terese is an incredibly warm, positive and uplifting individual. She has the ability to push people beyond their perceived capabilities, and motivate others to believe in themselves. Terese is one of the most honest and genuine therapists in the field. She is always willing to help her clients and colleagues even if it requires personal sacrifice of her own time. Terese has the unique ability to teach others to be their own advocates by giving her clients specific tools they need to be successful communicators well after their therapy session has ended. Terese has extended her passion for communication into a successful philanthropic organization. The TINIG AAC Project has raised funds to give many disadvantaged Filipino children IPADS to use as communication devices and has trained speech pathologists in the Philippines to be successful therapists in the field of AAC (Augmentative Alternative Communication). Again, her actions demonstrate her altruistic nature and passion for the field. Professionally, Terese is well trained in the latest therapy techniques. She is always looking for innovative, creative and better ways to help her clients be successful. Terese has the rare ability to listen to new ideas as well as contribute her well-researched and documented therapy techniques to others. Terese has taught countless new and seasoned speech pathologists to improve their therapy skills and become increasingly skilled interventionists. I have personally seen significant improvements in Terese’s clients of all ages and impairments. Terese has directly changed so many families’ lives and indirectly touched so many more. As a practicing speech pathologist, Terese would be the first person I would recommend to my own friends and family.

Please feel free to directly contact me with any questions Marissa.kurtz@gmail.com

I have had the privilege of working with Terese as a graduate intern, clinical fellow, and colleague. Terese is an incredible speech-language pathologist, and the progress her clients make is a testament to that. I have personally witnessed Terese's immeasurable success stories with clients of all ages and impairments. I am grateful every day to have been mentored by Terese, and I credit her with the development of my own clinical knowledge and skill as a graduate intern and clinical fellow. She truly goes above and beyond to help her students. Terese is an exceptional, dedicated, and talented speech-language pathologist.

Allison Freeman, M.S. CCC-SLP

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Marissa Kurtz, M.S. CCC-SLP

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I had the pleasure of working with Terese for two and a half years, from 2002-late 2004. During this time, she served severely disabled students and effectively and tenaciously worked with those students and their families to obtain appropriate augmentative communication devices. Terese always saw the bigger vision than what was before her; she was involved from the recommendation and assessment phase to and through the training and maintenance phases of AAC evaluations and implementations. She always made recommendations that were appropriate to the students, and was familiar with a large number of different products. She also worked hard to assist with finding funding for the devices, which can be a difficult avenue to navigate. Additionally, Terese assisted the clients, their school support teams, and families in becoming familiar with the AAC device. She spent many hours programming each device and learning it inside and out to enable her to teach it to others. Terese is truly gifted at helping people find their voices.

Melissa Diener, M.A. Special Ed/Assistive Tech

As a school social worker, I worked with Terese, serving a population of students with significant developmental disabilities and their families, for several years. Due to the nature of our roles, we worked together closely and I was a witness to the dedication, talent and persistence Terese showed to every student. She took the time to learn about the world of communication devices from "low-tech" to "high- tech" and worked tirelessly to find the right device that would best suit each student. One especially touching example was a student who has myriad medical issues and voluntary movement only in her arm and finger. She depends on others for all activities of daily living yet Terese used the movement in that child's finger to allow her to press a switch which had been crafted so that the child could make choices. The joy on that child's face was amazing when she chose her favorite color (pink, of course)! Terese truly opened a door for that child, working seamlessly with her whole team. She supported her directly and indirectly, as well, by helping to show the world what that girl could do. Terese was always eager to train others and pass on her gifts in supporting students in the incredibly valuable world of communication.

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Martha Goz, LSW

I have had the honor and privilege to work alongside Terese for the past two years in an Autistic school program. I am so thankful for how dedicated, hard working and determined Terese is to find the best successful way to teach a child to communicate and also to spend the time to train the parents and teachers/therapists working with that child how to properly use the method or communication device she is recommending. She puts her heart into everything she does and working with a variety of level into my classes Terese took her job seriously and on a daily basis to provide my students with methods of communication. Specifically she provided three of my students with a 7-level communication builder device to help them communicate their wants and needs in eating times, greetings, finding their names and days of the week etc. She also provided the class with a step-by-step communication builder which enabled me as a teacher (could also be used at home with parents) the ability to pre-record stories I would read to my students, and they would have the opportunity to “press and read” each step of the story. In addition, she provided one student with a four-step communication device to help him communicate greetings and basic needs effectively. In individual sessions she understood to the needs of each student as an individual and was flexible to do what that child needed to help them learn from her. For example, one particular student required high energy and fast paced instruction in order to be focused to use learn to use his communication device in requesting. She found that having him run up and down the hallway two times at the beginning of his session made him focused for a longer period of time to sit in a chair and communicate with her for increased periods of time. In the area of recommending and evaluating students for an ACC device I have experienced her observer my class one time and see a child in need. She then reached out to the child's family and conducted an in-depth evaluation to place him with a proper communication device for her level at this time ( which was a 7-level communication builder). She dedicated her time to write the report, for a student who was not assigned to her caseload, prepared this device and gave suggestions in training me as to which icons to use, the size and how to space them out. Lastly, she spent multiple times in phone conferences with the patents of this student to explain, answer questions and reassure the parents of our efforts as a team to teach their child a mode for communicating with the world around him. Overall, the talent, experience and dedication to children and families in helping them obtain and successfully use an ACC device to communicate makes her a gem to find and an exceptional professional to work with.

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Alicia Chirino, Special Education Teacher of Students with Autism

I had the most wonderful opportunity to mentor Terese when she was new to the speech field. She worked with me in a school for children severe to profound multiple disabilities from 2002 to 2005. When she was introduced to augmentative communication she immediately saw its unending possibilities and took it from there. She is dedicated, creative, insightful and knew almost immediately, AAC (alternative, augmentative communication) would be her focus and it is exciting to see her vision come true. She is tireless in finding ways to help her students find their voice.

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Maddy Hoffman, MS CCC-SLP, AUD

I have had the privilege of working with Terese for approximately three years. Terese has an excellent rapport with students, staff, administration, parents and school districts. Her success stories are endless and she has been instrumental in helping our students find their voices. Seeing the rewards of Terese's work with her students is priceless and we are lucky to have her as part of our team. It is without reservation and with great enthusiasm that I would recommend Terese as an AAC specialist to anyone seeking her expertise.

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Stephanie Shamin, BCBA

I have worked with Terese for several years in my role as the regional representative for DynaVox Mayer-Johnson. During this time she has always been the "go-to" person for assistive technology and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in her facility. It is evident that she has the respect of her colleagues; she's someone they want on their team helping their students and it's her genuine desire to get the best outcomes for staff and families as well. With Terese, service and support are delivered in a way that all involved are supported without them feeling "steamrolled" and dictated to. Instead, they know there's a well thought out plan in place for success and she'll be right there with them along the way. She's a team builder. Terese has attended several courses and conferences to continually improve her skills and knowledge in AAC. She always asks great questions and seeks new information and strategies, which she applies to benefit others. This is not just work for her, it's her passion. I highly recommend Terese, she's definitely the dedicated and knowledgeable AAC professional you want working with you.

LLC

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