Kim was introduced to speech-language pathologists when her 1 year old daughter had a speech and language delay. At age 2, she had 25 words. With early intervention home services, she was able to progress quickly while learning to “talk AND play.” At age 3, her rambunctious son was labeled with Sensory Integration Disorder. Following years of seeking medical and professional help and genetic testing, at age 11 he was diagnosed with high functioning Autism, then labeled Asperger’s Syndrome. After becoming her child’s advocate with a difficult school system and a child with atypical features, years of frustration and angst finally resulted in a positive outcome. Kim now understands from a personal and professional side what a child’s rights are and how to “speak the language” of educators and interpret Individual Education Plan paperwork and advocate for others for their child’s best possible progress at school and home.

Professionally, Kim’s experience started in both educational settings in a bilingual school and in the adult medical world.  Kim has worked with school age students ages 2-21 with a variety of speech, language, and cognitive communication disorders.  In the adult world, her passion for young adults on the Autism Spectrum led to dating coaching.   Job attainment and maintenance skills programs were developed to promote independence for this population.

Seeing the challenges of acquired communication disorders, Kim has also focused on the needs of those with aphasia, dysphagia, dysarthria, cognitive communication disorders, reading and writing deficits, and non-verbal communication means to name a few.  From acute care inpatient experience to outpatient to home health, Kim has worked in a variety of settings allowing a unique perspective on client needs.  Furthermore, support groups for specific needs such as aphasia language facilitation, caregiver support groups, parent support groups, and transgender voice practice support groups are fundamental to treating the whole person

Kim is a bilingual Spanish speech-language pathologist. She holds a B.A in sociology, additional B.A. in speech-language pathology (Elmhurst College), an M.A. in speech-language pathology (Northwestern University). She is dual certified as a speech-language pathologist (American Speech-Language and Hearing Association Certificate of Clinical Competence ASHA CCC) and special education teacher.