GOLD SPEECH - Key Persons
Alison Kee has been a loyal team member of Gold Speech since 2019. She received her undergraduate degree in communication sciences and disorders in Searcy, Arkansas and her master's degree in Speech Language Pathology at Loyola University Maryland. Originally from San Diego, California, Alison is always looking for an adventure. From 2013-2015, she lived in South Korea and taught English. Continuing her love of travel, Alison spent her first year as a speech-language pathologist in Anchorage, Alaska. Later on, she and her husband moved overseas again to New Zealand where she worked as a speech-language therapist for the Ministry of Education, eventually returning back home to California and settling in the Bay Area. Given her upbeat personality, she's had no trouble keeping her clients of all ages engaged and enthusiastic participants! Alison is specialized in early intervention, dyslexia and motor speech disorders including apraxia. She is trained in PROMPT, a technique to manually shape and sequence the intricate sounds involved in speech. Alison maintains her love of working with all types of communication disorders with both children and adults. She strives to always be learning new treatments and techniques, and she loves collaborating with other members of the team. Her goals are to make therapy innovative and fun, and to form lasting relationships with her clients and their families. Alison enjoys hiking, yoga, playing with her two cats and visiting her young nieces.
Allison Ko, also known as Ally, grew up in the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley (Go Bears!). As an undergraduate, she learned about the field of speech language pathology and was inspired by the role that therapists play in supporting communication across the lifespan. After college, Ally pursued post-baccalaureate studies at CSU Fullerton, where she worked as a research assistant and presented at national and state-level conventions about autism and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). In 2019 Ally earned her Master's degree in speech language pathology from the University of Washington in Seattle. Her specialization focused on medically-based services, and she received extensive training in pediatric and adult acute care/ICU, in-patient rehabilitation and outpatient settings in the greater Seattle area. Ally returned to the Bay Area, where she worked full-time at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, treating children and adults with medically complex needs including dysphagia, aphasia, cognitive communication, and motor speech (dysarthria and apraxia). She then moved to the school setting, and ultimately joined Gold Speech in 2021. Ally's areas of expertise include early intervention, expressive and receptive language disorders, autism spectrum disorder, speech sound disorders (articulation, phonology, apraxia) and parent coaching. She is trained in the technique called PROMPT, designed for motor speech disorders but now used for a variety of populations. Ally is a native Korean speaker and has had the pleasure of working closely with clients and families to provide bilingual speech and language services. A priority Ally has as a speech-language pathologist is to implement evidence-based and client-centered treatment approaches. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants with her husband, cycling, reading and cooking.
Annie is originally from Westchester, New York. She attended her undergraduate studies at The State University of New York at Cortland and received a bachelor's degree in communication sciences and disorders with a minor in psychology. Soon after, Annie attended Mercy College where she earned her master's degree in Speech Language Pathology in 2016. Two years later, she took the leap and moved across the country to California where she served the pediatric population in a charter school, gaining experience writing Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and supervising Speech Language Pathology Assistants and Clinical Fellows. In early 2020 Annie joined Gold Speech where she quickly became saught after by client families. In the summer of 2022, Annie moved back to NY, but happily, she has stayed with Gold Speech. Annie provides individual sessions through teletherapy, and she's taken the reins to develop our Social Language Groups. Her specialization includes motor speech disorders, early intervention, social skills, and language-based literacy instruction. Annie won the first annual scholarship to attend the PROMPT Institute and has now achieved the second level of PROMPT certification. She loves collaborating and learning from other professionals and remains an integral part of the Gold Speech team. Passionate about fostering family relationships, Annie ensures family involvement and coaching is incorporated into her work. In her free time, she enjoys going to the beach, hiking, and spending time with her family and friends.
Darcy studied both undergraduate and graduate school at the University of South Alabama. In 2011 she earned her Master's Degree in Speech Language Pathology. Following graduation, she completed her ASHA CFY credentialing in a school district in the Florida panhandle. During her certification year, she worked with many students with emotional-behavioral disorders, students on the Autism spectrum, as well as a variety of other diagnoses. It was during this time when she realized her passion treating individuals with Autism. Following her marriage to her long-time sweetheart, Darcy took a contract post as a school speech pathologist in several cities in Florida. In 2013 she, her husband and daughter ventured to California for a summer rotation. They became hooked on the travel life and spent the next several years traveling to various places, learning different cultures across the United States. Darcy has had the pleasure of working with patients and students from 3 months of age all the way to 100 years young. She has had the opportunity to learn and practice techniques in feeding, swallowing, articulation, receptive/expressive language, fluency, and pragmatics. She really enjoys working with people of all ages and takes great pride in her work. She has had several years of work in the school systems, outpatient hospital settings and skilled nursing facilities. She loves learning new things and collaborating with new people. Gold Speech was honored to welcome Darcy in 2023. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking with her friends and family, kayaking, and walking on the beaches. She believes that one's family and closest friends are two of life's greatest treasures.
Dawn received her bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where she studied Bioethics, Spanish and Psychology. She moved to New York City where she worked in business consulting for a couple of years before returning to graduate school. In 2005 Dawn earned her master's degree from Columbia University's Teachers College, with a bilingual extension in Spanish. Early in her career, she worked full-time with at-risk populations in a Harlem public school. In 2006, newly married, she and her husband spent a month in Guatemala living with a family. Dawn sought out the sole provider of speech therapy in Antigua, Guatemala and took part in therapy sessions at a government funded public school for children and adults with disabilities and hearing impairment. From there, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she served as the bilingual speech pathologist at an Easter Seals child development center. To continue her work with adults, Dawn provided evening and weekend services at skilled nursing facilities. Upon moving to Mountain View, CA in 2008, she continued to serve pediatric and adult clients within a local clinic. There, she built and supervised a Spanish program that spanned four office locations. In 2009, Dawn was invited by to supervise graduate clinicians in a summer abroad program in La Paz, Bolivia. At the Hospital del Niño, Dawn led her team conducting hundreds of evaluations and treatment of children whose parents had come from the most rural outskirts of Bolivia to be seen. After having her first child, and while providing contract speech services for various public school districts, Dawn began to see private clients. Ultimately, her practice blossomed in 2014, and she expanded her reach beginning in 2016 by bringing on her first team members. Dawn is now blessed with three sweet children. In her free time (what free time?) Dawn enjoys practicing yoga, photo and video editing, wrapping presents, and walking while talking with friends or listening to podcasts.
Kathleen grew up in the DC Metro area before moving to North Carolina where she currently resides with her family. She received her Bachelors in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the Pennsylvania State University in 2010 and her Masters of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from The University of the District of Columbia in 2012. From there, Kathleen worked at KIPP DC Public Charter School with students in preschool through 8th grade, while assisting in founding a new preschool for the network. Kathleen then transitioned to a public school district in Northern Virginia and eventually into private practice after her second child was born. While being one of the main SLPs for a prestigious Maryland private practice, she was also responsible for coordinating all their social skills groups - streamlining the process for scheduling initial appointments, coordinating group sessions, and managing the payments for the groups. Amazingly, during this time period, Kathleen and her husband had two more children! She continued seeing her private practice clients via telehealth and then joined Gold Speech in 2021, where she serves as Intake Coordinator and manages scheduling, client communications, superbills and much more. Kathleen has achieved the full PROMPT certification and completed the Comprehensive Orton Gillingham training through IMSE. Her clinical expertise includes expressive and receptive language disorders, pragmatic language, motor speech disorders, and dyslexia. Kathleen greatly values the importance of relationships and works closely with Dawn and the clinicians at Gold Speech to achieve the best outcomes for our team and our clients. Impressively, she and her husband homeschool their four children. In her spare time, Kathleen enjoys hiking, baking, and is learning how to crochet!
Molly is originally from Carmel, Indiana. Molly's passion for becoming a speech pathologist began over the years as she watched her younger sister with Down syndrome struggle with both her receptive and expressive language. She was able to witness the positive impact speech therapy had on her sister's life and realized early on she wanted to pursue a career in speech pathology. Molly's undergraduate experience came from California University of Pennsylvania where she played collegiate volleyball for four years and received her bachelor's degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Following her undergraduate degree, Molly took a year off and spent time working in a Montessori school as an instructional assistant to children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She returned to graduate school and in 2017 received her master's degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri. After graduating, Molly had the opportunity to do her clinical fellowship in San Jose and fell in love with the area. Even prior to joining Gold Speech in 2021, Molly was providing private in-home pediatric care to clients all around the South Bay area. Molly's areas of experience include expressive/receptive language disorders and delays, articulation disorders, childhood apraxia of speech, fluency disorders, Down syndrome, ASD and early intervention. She is trained in PROMPT, an approach to helping those with motor planning difficulties, and is sought after by former and prospective clients alike. Molly is truly passionate about creating strong relationships with her families and teaching them the tools and techniques they need to help their child be the most successful possible. In her free time, Molly enjoys hiking, playing volleyball, camping, and spending time with her husband and their two dogs Indy and Tripper. In 2023, they welcomed a lovely baby girl into their family.
Neil grew up in Canada and received his Bachelor's Degree in Business from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. After his father passed away suddenly in 2009, he moved to California to be close to his family. Neil entered the Speech Pathology field by shadowing a speech pathologist upon his arrival in California. He became fascinated with the field and decided to make the switch in his career as he found it so rewarding. He pursued a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Speech Pathology and graduated from San Jose State University with both in 2014. Neil achieved full licensure at Nova Health Therapies and has been employed there for 9 years. Neil started off as an SLP for 2.5 years providing direct services to elementary aged children in San Jose. From there, he moved into a management position and supervised speech pathologists in San Jose and Morgan Hill at the middle school and high school levels. Neil became the clinical director for Nova Health overseeing the Early Intervention program for children birth to three years. Neil joined Gold Speech in 2023 where he works part-time providing individual therapy and leading several social language groups. Neil's specialties are social skills/pragmatics, assessment and treatment of expressive/receptive language, and supervision of SLP's and SLPA's. Neil met his wife in 2016, got married in 2018, and have since been blessed with two loving boys. As an avid sports fan, he passionately follows hockey (Go Oilers!), soccer and football. He is also a movie enthusiast, enjoys trying new cuisines/restaurants, loves to travel and most importantly enjoys spending time with his family and friends in the outdoors.
Sabrina Hogan is a California native originally from Southern California and moved to the Bay Area in 2012. She started as a Speech Language Pathology Assistant and Clinical Manager at a pediatric speech and feeding clinic in Newport Beach, California. Sabrina fell in love with speech pathology and pursued a career as a full-fledged Speech Language Pathologist. She attended San Jose State University for undergraduate and graduate school. During her studies, Sabrina was enthusiastic about gaining as much knowledge and experience as possible by working at a pediatric speech clinic and volunteering at various organizations such as Autism Tree Project Foundation, Parents Helping Parents, Listen to Me! Summer Institute at Stanford, Day Break Cares Adult Day Care, and Sunny Days Pre-school. Sabrina served for one year as president of the SJSU Chapter of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association and was awarded the California Speech Language and Hearing Association Outstanding Student Award in 2018. After graduate school, Sabrina worked at a private pediatric clinic providing individual and group speech and language therapy. She was a clear fit for our team when she came on board to Gold Speech in 2023. Sabrina's areas of experience are expressive/receptive deficits, articulation disorders, childhood apraxia of speech, ASD, and early intervention. She also has a special interest in pediatric feeding disorders and is passionate about treating children who have difficulty with certain textures, chewing or swallowing a variety of foods. Sabrina loves to partner with parents and empower them with knowledge that is practical, evidence-based, and suits the lifestyle of the family. She strongly believes in forming a strong rapport with little ones and that therapy should be FUN! In her free time, Sabrina enjoys yoga, walking/hiking, tennis, hula dancing, reading, cooking, traveling, and spending time with her husband of 33 years, two adult children, and granddaughter!