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About Misty

My Path to Becoming an SLP and Myofunctional Therapist

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Pillar Speech Therapy, LLC is short for “Caterpillar Speech-Language and Myofunctional Therapy”. It was inspired by The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. I love this book, reading it aloud to a preschool classroom set me on a path to becoming an SLP and later a Myofunctional Therapist.

My Journey to Becoming an SLP

As an undergraduate student in Texas, I worked in a preschool classroom and read The Very Hungry Caterpillar daily in circle time. There was a non-verbal student who started seeing an SLP at our school, who they called his 'special teacher'. Three months later, while I was reading this book in circle time, he said his

first word in class: "apple". After that the words started to flow out of him, it was incredible! At that time I was not familiar with this profession, so I became a special education teacher. I spent three years with the Houston Independent School District. I worked with students with a variety of disabilities in the alternative and charter schools department. I was the department chairperson where I prepared and facilitated Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) meetings, and monitored the implementation of classroom accommodations, related services, standardized testing and transition services.

 

During this time, I met an SLP who invited me to observe her sessions, and I was hooked! I applied to graduate school the following semester, and through the course of my studies, I grew to understand and appreciate that 'special teacher' who helped my non-verbal student. I have spent the last ten years learning all that I can to support children and their families.

Writing Color Names with Markers_edited.

My therapy style is play-based, flexible and client-directed. I love playing!!

My sessions always include toys and games. Children learn so much through play and I want to help bridge the developmental gaps in a fun, safe, and supportive environment. 

Children learn so much through play and I want to help bridge the developmental gaps in a fun, safe, and supportive environment. 

I am also a Myofunctional Therapist

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In 2015, I started working at a private practice with Kristie Gatto (the first COM® in Houston and past president of the International Association of Orofacial Myology).  She introduced me to myofunctional therapy and learned I have an Orofacial Myofunctional Disorder (OMD). Learn more about OMDs.

I completed the 28 hour course, Understanding the Orofacial Complex, and served as Kristie's assistant in several courses, eventually completing the certification process in 2018, #276. I’ve learned the importance of tongue position and swallowing habits, and want to pass along this information to others who are experiencing these symptoms. As an SLP, I have even more tools in my toolbox to assist clients with the tongue placement and tongue strength needed to produce speech sounds, and chew and swallow safely.

Big Latch On_PillarSpeech_edited_edited
WH Questions_Pillar Speech Therapy
Prepositions_Follow Directions with Pillar Speech
Prepositions with Pillar Speech Therapy
Pillar Speech Therapy_Halloween Spooktacular
Pop the Pig
Articulation Language Social Oral Motor_edited
Travel Games
Writing Color Names with Markers
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