About Apraxia Kids

Sarah White is a nonprofit consultant with over 15 years of experience working in finance, administration, development, and communications for social service, health care, higher education, and other nonprofit organizations.  Her experience and MBA in Nonprofit Management give Sarah a unique perspective on how each aspect of a nonprofit – from program service delivery and website development, to technology and human resources (and everything in between) – impacts an organization’s bottom line and its ability to accomplish its mission.  Sarah is also fluent in Spanish and has experience living and working in Mexico.  Sarah is a native Texan where she lives with her husband and daughter who has Childhood Apraxia of Speech.  In her free time, Sarah enjoys reading, volunteering, and traveling.

Lou LaVecchia joined Apraxia Kids as a board member in 2016.  His son Jayden was diagnosed with severe Apraxia of speech at 4 years old, presently Jayden has been declared resolved.  Lou has a proven record of working with his school district to improve the appropriate services for children in need of speech services.  He has presented seminars at the 2017 & 2018 Apraxia Kids National Conference.  He works to raise awareness through local events, including attending walks for Apraxia.

Lou achieved a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and Organization from the University of Central Connecticut.  He currently is the vice president of All Seasons Landscaping Inc. (ASL) a construction company located in Connecticut.  There he is responsible for coordinating and directing all field operations as well as managing all administrative operations.

Alyson is a graduate from Emory University with a degree in Political Science and Spanish. She was a former child with Apraxia and now serves as an adult advocate. Understanding the firsthand struggles, she is dedicated to apraxia awareness and assisting families facing the disorder. She enjoys attending and speaking at Apraxia Kids Events, as well as writing her next Apraxia-related blog post. She previously volunteered with Girl Scouts of America as a Troop Leader and Girl Scout Gold Award Committee Member. In her free time, she loves reading, going to the movies, and watching the San Francisco 49ers hopefully winning a game.

Ruth Stoeckel, PhD, CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN and specializes in the assessment and intervention of children with apraxia of speech. With 30 years of experience, Dr. Stoeckel has delivered services to children in schools, outpatient clinics, and rehabilitation hospital settings. She is often asked to render 2nd opinions on CAS diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment progress. Dr. Stoeckel has presented lectures, workshops and advanced training on Childhood Apraxia of Speech on an international level, including the United States, Canada, and Australia. Additionally, Dr. Stoeckel has authored and delivered numerous web-based courses focused on CAS. She has co-authored articles on CAS assessment and treatment in numerous peer-reviewed journals.

He holds a Masters in Healthcare Management and Bachelors in Political Science. Claudio is currently a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, active with the CT ACHE chapter and serves on the Board of Directors of the New England Society for Healthcare Strategy.

Mark Conroe grew up as the second of 4 children; his dad was in the military.  He attended West Point for 2 years and then transferred to Stanford University where he received a BS and MS in Civil Engineering.  He was a varsity athlete in college (tennis player) and worked with kids while attending college.  After working for 2 years, he then went back to get his MBA at Stanford University.  Upon graduation in 1985, he has spent the past 33 years working for both regional and national real estate development companies.  He has managed companies which built billions of dollars of projects (as the President, CEO, managing partner).  He has built several companies from ground up, growing one to 75 employees and another to 50 employees.  He has built real estate projects throughout the US (in 30 cities).  He has built and managed his own firm for the past 18 years.  He has been married for almost 10 years and has two boys, ages 7 and 8.  His 8-year-old has apraxia.  He was diagnosed at 2 years old.  He attended many therapy sessions for speech, fine motor and gross motor skills until he was about 5 years old.  He still has some issues but overall has done exceptionally well in working with his apraxia.

Stephanie Fera is an associate practicing in the firm’s public sector labor, employment, and municipal group.  Prior to joining CFWW+S, Stephanie was employed by other Pittsburgh law firms handling civil litigation and labor and employment matters.   In the course of her practice, she has successfully represented clients in a variety of matters in the Pennsylvania state and federal courts.  She has counseled clients relating to discrimination and harassment claims, wrongful termination, and policies and procedures of employment.  She has represented counties and municipal clients in grievance arbitration, collective bargaining, interest arbitration, and unemployment compensation matters.

Stephanie obtained her law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.  While there she served as executive editor of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review.  She also served as a teaching assistant in legal writing.  Prior to law school, she obtained her undergraduate degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and spent several years in retail management where her role involved various human resource functions and responsibilities.  That experience prompted her interest in practicing labor and employment law.  Stephanie was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2017 and 2018.

Sue Freiburger is a Board Member of Apraxia Kids and the parent of a child with severe Childhood Apraxia of Speech. She has a background in scientific research, with an MSPH from UNC Chapel Hill and she currently works as an environmental consultant doing human health risk assessment for Jacobs. Sue attended the first Apraxia Kids National Conference in 2002 and was impressed with the high quality, research based information that the organization presented. As her son’s apraxia began to improve with intensive speech therapy, Sue wanted to give back to the organization that had helped their family so much when he was first diagnosed. She coordinated the first Apraxia Walk in Pittsburgh in 2008 and, when other parents around the country expressed the desire to help spread awareness, she developed the apraxia walk program. She is proud of all of our Apraxia Stars and grateful to the many volunteers who give so much of their time and talent to make the Apraxia Walks special events that celebrate our children each year.

Mr. Mills holds a B.S. degree in Mathematical Economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an M.B.A from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. After graduating from the United States Military Academy, Mr. Mills served in the United States Army as an aviation officer. Prior to joining RCF in May, 2016, Mr. Mills held positions in various fundraising and client services, including most recently as Managing Director at Brooklands Capital Strategies, a division of TPG and Ares Management. Prior to Brookland Capital, he was the Head of Investor Relations and Marketing at Oak Hill Capital, and started in the industry with Probitas Partners.

“First and foremost, I am interested in helping in any way I can!  My background is in organizational leadership, operational efficiency, marketing and business development over the last 25 years.  I have learned and hopefully enhanced these skills both in the Army and in the private sector, primarily in financial services (private equity) firms.”

A board member of Apraxia Kids since 2013, Lincoln Purdy is a Vice President with Starr Marine, a division of the Starr Indemnity & Liability Company. Based in Boston, he currently serves as the worldwide product manager for Starr’s Marine Liability and Hull insurance practices. Lincoln graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, CT where he met his wife, Nancy. They reside in Franklin, MA with their two children. Their daughter, now a proud college graduate, was diagnosed with CAS at age 3 and it was while doing on-line research to find help for her that Lincoln first became aware of Apraxia Kids.

Amy is a treatment clinician and CARES representative at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. She has extensive experience working with children with developmental delays, motor speech disorders, autism spectrum disorders, and language disorders. She holds her Certificate of Clinical Competency and is licensed in Minnesota. She has been responsible for providing supervision for other speech-language pathologists and graduate students.

In addition to PROMPT training, she has post graduate training and experience in auditory processing, Fast ForWord, Relationship Development Intervention (RDI), childhood apraxia of speech, and feeding. Past experience included work with adults and junior high school students. Amy has a special interest in motor speech disorders.

Elaine Dolgin-Lieberman, MA, CCC-SLP, is a pediatric speech language pathologist working in private practice, with special interest in treating children with motor speech sound disorders. She is a graduate of Apraxia Kids’s Intensive Training Institute (Boot Camp) 2011 and is recognized by Apraxia Kids as having Advanced Training and Clinical Expertise in Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Elaine is a graduate supervisor and Professional Instructor in the Graduate Communication Disorders Program at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry where she teaches an annual summer elective on Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Elaine has provided workshops on evidenced- based therapy strategies locally and at Apraxia Kids National Conferences. Elaine is a member of the Professional Advisory Council.

Maria Grigos is an Associate Professor in in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, & Human Development. Dr. Grigos is director of the Communicative Sciences and Disorders masters program and directs the Motor Speech Laboratory at NYU. Her scholarly work uses kinematic, acoustic and perceptual methods and pursues two lines of research. The first examines speech motor development in children with speech sound disorders, which includes studying the efficacy of speech intervention for children with apraxia of speech. The second examines changes in speech production and facial movement in adults following facial transplant surgery, together with an interdisciplinary team from the NYU Langone Health System. Funding from the National Institutes of Health, NYU Steinhardt and Apraxia-Kids has supported her research. Dr. Grigos holds clinical certification from the American Speech, Language and Hearing Association, and is licensed in speech-language pathology in New York State. Dr. Grigos earned a Bachelor of Science from New York University, and both a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Dr. Iuzzini-Seigel received her B.F.A in Studio Art and Socio-Cultural Anthropology at SUNY at Binghamton and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Science at Indiana University-Bloomington. She joined the faculty at Marquette University in the fall of 2015. Dr. Iuzzini-Seigel’s research centers on speech development and its disorder with specific focus on Childhood Apraxia of Speech. She is the Director of the Communication, Movement, and Learning Lab where she aims to identify factors that contribute to disorder onset and resolution for children with communication disorders. Her current research takes a multilevel approach to determine the relation among procedural learning and speech, language, and motor deficits in children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Dr. Iuzzini-Seigel is also interested in communication and motor performance in bilingual individuals, including bilingual children with communication disorders.

Rebecca received a B.S. (Psychology, 1973) from Louisiana State University, and an M.A. (Social Sciences, 1974) and Ph.D. (Psychology: Cognition and Communication, 1981) from the University of Chicago. She completed postdoctoral training at the University of Arizona and Johns Hopkins University before joining the faculty at University of Vermont in 1986.  During her 23-year tenure at UVM, she achieved the rank of Professor and served in several administrative capacities. In 2008, Rebecca joined Ohio State at the rank of Professor and since 2009 has served as chair of the Graduate Studies Committee.  Her research/teaching interests focus on assessment and treatment of children’s communication disorders, especially speech sound disorders.  She has authored and co-edited numerous publications, including 6 books, and is director of the Children’s Communications Laboratory. Rebecca holds the ASHA CCC-SLP, is an ASHA Fellow, a Board Recognized Specialist in Child Language, and a former associate editor of AJSLP.

Dr. Megan Overby, an Associate Professor at Duquesne University, specializes in childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), speech sound disorders, literacy, and telepractice. She has over 20 years of experience as a speech-language pathologist in schools, hospitals, agencies, and university clinics in addition to having maintained a private practice. Dr. Overby’s research in CAS has focused on potential early red flags of the disorder, its social consequences, and associations between CAS and literacy development. In addition, she was the primary investigator in a grant-funded study of the home language environment of young children with CAS. She presents regularly at conferences and workshops on assessment and literacy topics related to CAS and has published her research in multiple journals and textbook chapters. At Duquesne, Dr. Overby teaches courses in speech sound development and assessment.