Conference Presenters

Delora Abedzadeh, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech-Language pathologist working at Craig Hospital. She specializes in evaluation and treatment of language, cognitive and swallowing disorders for patients affected by traumatic brain injury. Delora is a member of Craig’s Interdisciplinary CRS-R Team, providing assessment and treatment to individuals in a disorder of consciousness state.

Kimberly Bierbrauer, MA, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist and executive function coach. Kimberly has a masters degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Northwestern University and completed Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) certification with Think: Kids, and is currently enrolled in their trainer program. Kimberly is a certified brain injury specialist with the Brain Injury Association and works for Intermountain Health at Lutheran Medical Center. With nearly 25  years clinical experience, she has a private outpatient practice and is passionate in collaborating with  parents and educators to help them understand what executive function looks like and how to build critical thinking skills that impact motivation, learning and behavior.

Maria Chisolm, MS, CCC-SLP, is a bilingual speech-language pathologist with 15 years of experience, runs a private practice serving CLD children in Colorado and New Mexico.  Specializing in early intervention and school settings, she conducts assessments respecting each child and family’s cultural and linguistic background.  Maria also provides business strategy consultations for private practitioners.

Liz Cuadrado, MS, CCC-SLP, BCS-S, is a speech-language pathologist in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus.  Over the past 22 years, she has continued to learn about the ever-evolving management of dysphagia cross the lifespan.  She now focuses her time on multidisciplinary care of patients within the department of otolaryngology and the cancer center.

Annie Daorai, PT, DPT, is a board-certified neurologic clinic specialist through the APTA, working as an inpatient physical therapist at Craig Hospital, specializing in evaluating and treating patients affected by traumatic brain injury. She’s a member of Craig’s interdisciplinary CRS-R team, providing education and assessments for individuals in a disorder of consciousness state.

Kendra Decker, COTA/L, is a passionate pediatric occupational therapy assistant, graduating with an associates of occupational science from PIMA Medical Institute in 2011. Specializing in sensory regulation, executive functioning and fine motor skills, she has dedicated herself to helping children thrive. Outside of work, Kendra is a devoted mother to her 11-year-old daughter and 2.5-year-old son. She enjoys outdoor adventures like camping and kayaking, cherishing family time and game nights.

Shelly Elfner, MA, CCC-SLP, is the assistive technology team lead for Douglas County School.  Shelly has followed her passion and has focused on supporting children with complex communication needs. She enjoys being part of a team to determine what types of technology can help a student communicate, participate, and increase their independence.

Phillip Erkkila, MA, CCC-SLP, is the professional development team lead, the ASHA CE Administrator, and a Bloom Clinical Manager for The Stepping Stones Group. He has worked in multiple settings including public, private and charter schools, private practice, early intervention, acute care hospitals, and adult home health.  He provides clinical support to Clinical Fellows and continues to practice.  Phillip has created and presented on many topics related to the field of speech language pathology including treatment practices for children with ASD, behavior management, collaborative service delivery, self- assessment, and the importance of soft skills. Additionally, Phillip is the host of The Stepping Stones Group Knowledge Quest, an interactive game show to help students become familiar with Praxis type questions.  He is an alumnus of ASHA’s Leadership Development Program, and the recipient of multiple ASHA Continuing Education (ACE) Awards.

Sarah Foley, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist who specializes in the treatment of medically complex adults with acquired brain injury and/or spinal cord injury.  She has worked in acute rehabilitation, outpatient and community-based settings for 20 years.   For the past 13 years, she has been a part of the assistive technology (AT) team at Craig Hospital with an emphasis on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and AT for cognitive support and community safety.  Her role on the AT team has focused on the use of AAC to improve short-term patient-provider communication, support language rehabilitation after an injury, and meet the long-term needs of individuals.  Sarah earned her Assistive Technology Professional (ATP) certification through Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) in 2019.  She also earned her Certified Brain Injury Specialist (CBIS) certification in 2023 after 16 years working with this population.  She has presented at a variety of national conferences including ATIA, NABIS and ASCIP.

Grace Gahan, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist specializing in the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and assistive technology (AT) supports. She currently works in the Assistive Technology Lab at Craig Hospital, treating inpatients and outpatients with acquired brain and spinal cord injuries in order to support their communication and improve their access to electronic external cognitive aides and accessibility supports. Grace obtained her Certified Brain Injury Specialist (CBIS) certification in 2023 and has been working with individuals who benefit from AAC for the past five years.

Terry Hall, MA, CCC-SLP, is a senior instructor, speech-language pathologist at the Children’s Hospital Colorado/JFK Partners. She is a certified ESDM therapist, a PROMPT instructor, Hanen certified in “It Takes Two to Talk,” “More Than Words,” and “Learning Language and Loving It”. She specializes in treatment of children with autism spectrum and childhood apraxia of speech. She is part of an interdisciplinary diagnostic assessment team and supervises speech-language students and clinical fellows.

Kathy Hardin, PhD, CCC-SLP, CBIST, is an expert clinician and educator providing excellence in functional rehabilitation of traumatic brain injury, working with clients to meet their individual goals for work, school, family and play. In addition to seeing individuals, her doctorate is in clinical science, a mixed study of epidemiology, patient advocacy, statistics and health-related functional outcomes. Kathy uses this framework to partner with healthcare and educational organizations ensuring that their staff can provide the best interprofessional care one can offer.

Clare Henderson, MA, CCC-SLP, (she/her) is a queer, non-binary, neurodivergent speech-language pathologist at the Center for Vocal Health in Broomfield, Colorado, where she specializes in voice and upper airway disorders and gender-affirming voice care.

Marie Jetté, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a clinician-scientist and a certified speech-language in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. She holds a doctorate in Communication Sciences and Disorders, with a focus on the assessment and treatment of voice and upper airway disorders, including refractory chronic cough.

Charlie Lunaris, PhD, CCC-SLP, (they/them) is a queer, non-binary speech-language pathologist and assistant professor working at the University of Northern Colorado (UNCO). They specialize in research that evaluates how hormones affect the voice and supervises gender-affirming voice services at UNCO’s speech and hearing clinic. Their service is focused on promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in communication science disorders. They are on the Board for L’GASP (the LGBTQ+ ASHA caucus) and is a founder of the national LGBTQ+ CSD Student Association, which they currently serve as Chair of the Board of Directors.

Danielle Maglinte, MS, CCC-SLP, is an early intervention speech-language pathologist and assistive technology consultant who has experience working with children with complex communication needs. She has provided evaluations and therapy for children who use augmentative and alternative communication with direct select/touch access and a range of alternate access methods. Danielle is committed to providing young children with the opportunity to increase communication options and promote language development while continuing to work on speech skills.

Nick Manely is a 68 year old father, grandfather, Colorado resident and international speaker who shares his life journey living with FND.  He has presented locally, nationally and internationally, including a presentation with the Director of the National Institute of Health on FND in Washington, DC. He has been living a life of advocating for the FND patients and caregivers, and medical professionals to promote awareness and positive ways to “Conquer FND Everyday”.  He is a retired Para Alpine ski racer whose goal was to be on the US Para Alpine Team as a racer.  He also guided visually impaired ski racers, participated with the NSCD Competition Team from 2012 to 2020 and was a ski coach for two years.

Emily Martin, MS, CCC-SLP, is the lead speech-language pathologist at the Medical Center of Aurora. She completed her master’s degree and early professional experience at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her clinical interests include management of patients with tracheostomy and ventilator dependence, dysphagia in the critically ill and post-operative cardiac surgery patients, and standardization of dysphagia diagnostics.

Katja Piscitelli, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language-pathologist and owner of Total Spectrum Speech Therapy clinic, located in Sacramento, California. Katja primarily supports autistic children and specializes in gestalt language processing and AAC implementation. She prides herself on leading a team of neurodiversity affirming clinicians.

Natalie Potter, MA, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist and assessment specialist with the Cherry Creek School District. She is a graduate of Apraxia Kids Intensive Training, trained in Level 1 PROMPT, and is designated a research-reliable provider of DTTC. Since 2022, she has worked as a clinician researcher with the first randomized control trial looking at dose frequency of DTTC in children with CAS, with principal investigators Elizabeth Murray, PhD, CPSP and Jenya Iuzzini-Seigel, PhD, CCC-SLP.

Sara Rode, MA, CCC-SLP, is an assistive technology specialist for Douglas County Schools and the owner of Sprout Pediatric Therapy Services, LLC.  Sara specializes in childhood apraxia of speech, augmentative alternative communication, assistive technology and complex communication needs.  She is a passionate cheerleader and advocate for presuming potential in all learners.

Barbara Rodríguez, PhD, CCC-A/SLP, is a professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, and serves as the Senior Vice Provost in Academic Affairs at the University of New Mexico (UNM). Previously, she was department chair and program director in UNM’s Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences. Barbara is currently the vice president for academic affairs in speech-language pathology for the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association. She has contributed to the research in the areas of cultural competence/humility, bilingual language acquisition and bilingual language assessment. Recently, her research focused on language and literacy developing in bilingual, cultural and environmental influences on the language development of children from diverse backgrounds.  Barbara holds a doctorate in speech-language pathology from the University of Washington, a masters degree in speech-language pathology from The University of New Mexico and a Bachelor of Arts in communicative disorders from The University of New Mexico.

Louis Rossetti, PhD, is professor emeritus of communication Disorders at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. He is an internationally recognized authority on services for children with special needs and is a frequent presenter at professional conferences throughout the world. He is the author of six books on children with special needs and the author of the Rossetti Infant Toddler Language Scale, currently used world-wide. Dr. Rossetti is the founding editor of Infant-Toddler Intervention: The Transdisciplinary Journal and has been named a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Dr. Rossetti continues to provide therapeutic intervention for children and their families.

Becky Spence, MS, CCC-SLP, COM®, has more than two decades of experience supporting patients and families with communication and swallowing disorders. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Fort Hays State University and completed certification in orofacial myofunctional therapy through the International Association of Orofacial Myology (IAOM).  Becky has treated infants through geriatrics across a variety of settings and has found the autonomy of private practice to be her favorite.  Becky is the owner of Achieve Therapy and currently focuses her practice on her passion for feeding difficulties in infants and young children.

Dawn Winkelmann, MS, CCC-SLP, is an award-winning Latina product designer for ezpz, whose feeding products are available at Nordstrom and Target. Her advice and designs have been featured in Good Housekeeping, Parents Magazine and Shark Tank. She has a Colorado-based private practice focused on pediatric feeding and swallowing.